In the context of significant reforms to the curriculum for New Zealand schools, this article presents an early line of findings from an ongoing ethnographic multi-case study investigating New Zealand primary school teachers' enactment of informal formative assessment. Data were gathered through observations, interviews, and document collection in…

Assessment is critical in postsecondary education, as it is at all levels. Assessments are classified into four types: diagnostic, summative, evaluative, and formative. Recent trends in assessment have migrated away from summative to formative evaluations. Formative evaluations help students develop expertise and concentrate their schedules, ease…

"Fast Feedback" is a feedback system for primary student writing. Developed in line with a Writer(s)-Within-Community model, and empirical research in the fields of writing instruction, feedback and self-regulation, this system uses individualized goals and focused feedback in the expectation that it will accelerate student progress. In…

With the upcoming review of the National Certificates of Educational Achievement (NCEA) and the removal of National Standards, it is time to reconsider how we approach assessment. In this edition of Assessment News I argue that it is time to put assessment for learning (AfL) and the assessment-capable teacher and student "front and…

Teachers and students' interactions in the classroom include a large number of questions, some of which are a key part of formative assessment. Questions can lead to an extended dialogue between the teacher and the student, potentially facilitating a better understanding of the students' conceptions and providing teachers with information to guide…

Portfolios are widely used in New Zealand for documenting children's learning; there is now an increasing move to online ePortfolios. This article presents findings from a doctoral study which investigated the impact of the introduction of ePortfolios in an early childhood education setting where traditional paper-based portfolios were previously…

There is an identified and growing need for a levelled diagnostic basic facts assessment tool that provides teachers with formative information about students' mastery of a broad range of basic fact sets. The Individual Basic Facts Assessment tool has been iteratively and cumulatively developed, trialled, and refined with input from teachers and…

Assessing student learning is a complex process requiring teachers to have deep knowledge of the curriculum, assessment, and pedagogy. Changing political climates mean that teachers are expected to respond to new approaches or systems and adjust their classroom practice accordingly. Teachers often engage in professional learning (PL) to assist…

Romania's education system has made impressive strides over the past two decades, with an increasing share of students mastering the basic competencies that they need for life and work. But these average improvements mask significant disparities in learning outcomes and attainment, with an increasing share of students leaving education early…

The purpose of this study was to establish whether and how authentic assessment activities and learner autonomy converged to productively engage both the teacher and learners in shared authenticity. The study employed case study methodology to investigate the phenomena within an online course in ICT designed for continuing professionals in…

Within the Asia-Pacific community, the New Zealand Ministry of Education has been one of few educational authorities to adopt an Assessment for Learning (AfL) framework and actively promote formative uses of assessment. This paper reports the results of a qualitative study in which eleven New Zealand secondary teachers in two focus groups…

How do teachers assess children in the early childhood center? Research has indicated that early educators and children benefit most from "formative assessment." Formative assessment provides teachers evidence to inform the curriculum. An assessment is considered formative when the feedback from learning activities is used to adapt the…

This research draws on the experiences of a group of tertiary teachers who compiled a multi-purpose portfolio as an assessment component of a postgraduate certificate in tertiary teaching at a New Zealand University. The research was initially undertaken in response to feedback from some of the participants that the experience of compiling a…

This paper examines the assessment practices of teachers working with students with special educational needs in New Zealand primary and secondary regular and special schools. A national survey was used to identify current assessment practices used by teachers working with students designated, through a resourcing policy, as having high and very…

While the potentials of virtual worlds to support experiential learning in medical education are well documented, assessment of student learning within these environments is relatively scarce and often incongruent. In this article, a conceptual framework is proposed for formatively assessing dispositional behaviours in scenario-based learning…