As China continues to involve teachers in the implementation of an assessment for learning or formative assessment policy, a clearer understanding of how they conceive of the purposes and functions of assessment is necessary. This paper synthesises eight interview and survey studies, which have examined how diverse samples of practicing teachers…

This small-scale, mixed-methods study aims to investigate academics' understanding of formative and summative assessment methods and how assessment literacy impacts on their teaching methods. Six semi-structured interviews and a scrutiny of assessments provided the data and results suggest that while these academics understand summative…

Scotland, in common with many countries internationally, has been learning how to align ideas from research with policy and practice. This article considers what Scotland learned from large-scale evaluations of its Assessment is for Learning (AifL) programme and the extent to which this evidence was used to inform future learning within the…

This paper considers feedback in the context of modularised programmes in higher education in the UK. It is argued that the self-contained nature of modular assessment may limit feedback dialogue between staff and students to assignment-specific issues, and may impede student progress towards holistic programme-level aims and outcomes. A feedback…

In this commentary, I interpret Xinying Yin and Gayle Ann Buck's collaborative action research from a social-cultural perspective. Classroom implementation of formative assessment is viewed as interaction between this assessment method and the local learning culture. I first identify Yin and Buck's definition of the formative assessment, and then…

Reflection is a critical factor in solving design problems. Using good methods to observe designers' reflection is essential to inform the design of the learning environments that support the development of design problem-solving skills. In this study, we have developed and validated a novel self-reporting questionnaire as an efficient instrument…

Recent research has highlighted the lack of a uniform definition of formative assessment, although its effectiveness is widely acknowledged. This paper addresses the theoretical differences and similarities amongst three approaches to formative assessment that are currently most frequently discussed in educational research literature: data-based…

A detailed rubric initially designed as a scoring instrument for grading APA-style empirical research reports was tested for its ability to help students improve their scientific writing skills. Students who used the rubric while preparing their reports wrote a higher quality report than did students who did not. Students also improved the quality…

Authentic open-ended problems are increasingly appearing in university classrooms at all levels. Formative feedback that leads to learning and improved student work products is a challenge, particularly in large enrollment courses. This is a case study of one first-year engineering student team's experience with teaching assistant and peer…

Most formative assessments rely on the performance status of a student at a particular time point. However, such a method does not provide any information on the "propensity" of the student to achieve a predetermined target score or whether the student is performing as per the expectations from identical students with the same history of…

This study investigates the relative efficacy of using linguistic micro-features, the aggregation of such features, and a combination of micro-features and aggregated features in developing automatic essay scoring (AES) models. Although the use of aggregated features is widespread in AES systems (e.g., e-rater; Intellimetric), very little…

Nowadays, there is a consensus that inquiry-based learning contributes to developing students' scientific literacy in schools. Inquiry-based teaching strategies are promoted for the development (among others) of the cognitive processes that cultivate problem solving (PS) competence. The build up of PS competence is a central objective for most…

This report is focused on an evaluation of the measurement properties of the scale scores and teacher ratings that result from the use of the GOLD assessment system with children in kindergarten classrooms. Several states have chosen to implement GOLD widely for kindergarten entry assessment. The purpose of this report is to examine statistical…

There is limited research on the quality of assessment moderation in large classes. Effective moderation practices can improve reliability, as well as reduce marker bias, attenuate prevalence of 'hard' or 'soft' markers, increase student and staff confidence in marking, and enhance the development of staff. This article shares a marking moderation…

Assessment in the much-discussed digital divide in Scandinavian technologically advanced schools, is the study object of this article. Interaction is studied to understand assessment; and to see how assessment can be didactically designed to recognise students' learning. With a multimodal, design theoretical perspective on learning teachers' and…