While integrated STEAM education has been shown to support the cultivation of critical global competencies, teachers have identified classroom assessment as a key barrier to facilitating integrated learning. This research investigated how exemplary teachers navigated classroom assessment challenges and practices within integrated STEAM education…

Over the past two decades, creativity has emerged as one of the core 21st century learning objectives within K-12 education systems around the world. While some literature has demonised assessment as something that inhibits creativity, a growing body of research supports feedback-driven teaching--also known as formative assessment or…

This article reports research that identified and analyzed assessment for learning strategies employed by six Canadian music educators to support and develop student creativity. Findings include descriptions of creativity-nurturing practices organized into four categories: (a) developing assessment criteria; (b) encouraging creative processes; (c)…

Assessment is one of the thorniest aspects of teaching for creativity. Nevertheless, research suggests there is tremendous potential for nurturing creativity through assessment. This article identifies how music educators can leverage assessment for learning (formative assessment) as a powerful tool for cultivating creativity within a variety of…

Systemic disruptions from COVID-19 have transformed the assessment landscape in Canada and across the world. Alongside repeated shifts to emergency remote teaching, large-scale assessments and summative evaluations were cancelled in many jurisdictions, and repeated concerns were raised about ensuring equity and access to quality education. This…

Currently, kindergarten education is shaped by two priorities: (1) the recognition that early learning must maintain a developmental orientation and support socio-personal growth; and (2) a growing emphasis on standards-based curriculum and the use of assessment to support children's learning. While some researchers have argued these two…

This study explored how elementary teachers leveraged and structured student-involved formative assessment to promote metacognition and self-regulation. Research has suggested a connection between formative assessment practices (e.g., self-assessment and peer-assessment) and metacognition. However, this connection has limited empirical support,…

Over the past 15 years, "assessment for learning" (AfL) has emerged as a key area of teacher practice with policy mandates around the world supporting teachers' implementation of the underlying components of this pedagogical approach. While procedural and selective implementation of AfL strategies has been observed within research (i.e.,…

As one of the most high-stakes practices in education, grading has been the subject of significant debate and research over the years. However, it is only recently that researchers have started to explore the teaching and learning values embedded in grades by looking at grading policies. This study examined grading polices in China by focusing on…

Assessment for learning (AfL) has become a widespread approach across many educational systems. To date, AfL research has emphasized teachers' knowledge, skills, and practices, with few studies examining students' responses to an AfL pedagogical approach. The purpose of this research was to focus directly on students' perspectives on their use and…

Given the longstanding role of grades in education, and their increased use for high-stakes decisions including student mobility, admission, selection, and accountability, this paper presents a systematic review of grading policies across all 10 Canadian provinces and 3 territories. In total, 23 policies were inductively analyzed for their…

This paper examines the challenges associated with promoting and modeling assessment for learning within initial teacher education programs. Based on their experiences teaching in a variety of higher education institutions within Canada and the United States and on a critical synthesis of literature, the authors identify three broad constraints…

Using a cross-case analysis of three distinct participatory program evaluations, this paper contributes to current discourse on how evaluators create opportunities for learning. Although each team of evaluators intended to promote planned process use, post-evaluation discussions amongst them identified evidence where use emerged throughout the…