Introduction

There are growing demands for K-12 teachers to take more accountability for the measures they use, practices they do and decisions they make for the purposes of increasing student achievement (Ellis & Bond, 2016), upholding school learning outcomes (Volante & Jaafar, 2008) and improving classroom practices (Volante & Jaafar, 2010). Often, school administrations use assessment of learning practices such as standardized testing to enforce these demands (Ellis & Bond, 2016) because they produce public grades and marks that can be assessed, compared and measured against established standards (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2010). Since assessment of learning practices are high stakes (Levy-Feldman, 2022), teachers in particular face pressures to use them in order to avoid negative consequences.

This phenomenon has sparked numerous movements that call for changes to classroom assessments . These movements, such as the alternative assessment movement (Ellis & Bond, 2016) and the un-grading movement in North America (Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology, 2022) have placed a spotlight on the benefits of incorporating assessment as and for learning practices into the classroom, namely their potential to enhance student learning (Ludwig, 2014; Lin & Lin, 2015). In particular, assessment literacy has gained increasing popularity as one of the ways to make those benefits a reality in the classroom.

The Significance of Assessment Literacy

Assessment literacy refers to a high level of knowledge and skill about assessment practices, theories and philosophies that demonstrate understanding of assessment purposes and functions, capacity to effectively communicate assessment results and ability to use those results acc0rdingly (Stiggins, 2000, as cited in Ellis & Bond, 2016); DeLuca & Klinger, 2010; Ludwig, 2014). It includes elements such as content knowledge of different types of assessments (Lin & Lin, 2015), the function of rubrics (Ellis & Bond, 2016), pedagogical knowledge about assessments and analytical skills to interpret assessment results (Ludwig, 2014). Unfortunately, many teachers – pre-service, in-service and experienced – are not receiving targeted, adequate professional training to develop these skills or knowledge, even though research suggests that it is highly beneficial for teachers to do so (Volante, 2009; Izci, 2016; DeLuca & Klinger, 2010). In particular, K-12 teachers are lacking in assessment literacy in terms of planning, knowledge and implementation.

Formative assessments

In terms of formative assessment, these challenges may reveal themselves as inadequate feedback (Ludwig, 2014), defaulting to summative assessments out of pressure (Izci, 2016), lack of teacher confidence (Volante, 2009) or inaccessible classroom conditions (Izci, 2016), no modeling of appropriate learning strategies (Padmanabha, 2021) or disbelief in student capacity to assess themselves (Yildirim & Bilican Demir, 2022). In these cases, students could be unaware of what they are supposed to do and how they are supposed to be navigating the learning activities, which could create frustration.

In turn, this frustration could reveal the level of inaccessibility of the learning activities, with respect to the Universal Design for Learning principles (CAST, 2010). If students are not receiving constructive feedback from their teachers, for example, they may not develop the self-regulation skills and behaviours and self-assessment skills (Yildirim & Bilican Demir, 2022) to understand their own learning progress. While teachers may be able to address that (Davis & Autin, 2020), it would take ample resources, time and professional development (Izci, 2016), all of which K-12 teachers are already currently lacking opportunities for. It follows that formative assessments, then, may not be created and administered successfully.

The Issue: Ineffective Use of Formative Assessments

The lack of assessment literacy and resources as well as the unequal use of assessment approaches encourages teachers to use formative assessments ineffectively. As a result of this ineffectiveness, teachers are contributing to classrooms that lack inclusivity and do not enhance student learning experiences.

This is seems to cause numerous issues that we want to explore in this book:

1. K-12 teachers are lacking the incentives to develop their pedagogical knowledge about assessment as and for learning approaches.
2. Ineffective formative assessments are contributing to the development of negative attitudes towards and perceptions of towards assessment from both teachers and students
3. K-12 teachers are lacking the targeted professional development opportunities to develop their assessment literacy.

References

CAST (2010, January 6). UDL at a glance. [Video]. https://youtu.be/bDvKnY0g6e4

Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology. (2022). Ungrading: A radical old idea, picking up steam. University of British Columbia. https://ctlt.ubc.ca/2022/03/31/edubytes-ungrading/

Cho, J., & Trent, A. (2005). “Backward” curriculum design and assessment: What goes around comes around, or haven’t we seen this before? Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education, 9(2), 105-122. http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/scholarly-journals/backward-curriculum-design-assessment-what-goes/docview/61912738/se-2

Davis, T. C., & Autin, N. P. (2020). The Cognitive trio: Backward design, formative assessment, and differentiated instruction. Research Issues in Contemporary Education, 5(2), 55-70. http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/scholarly-journals/cognitive-trio-backward-design-formative/docview/2488229751/se-2

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Ellis, A. K., & Bond, J. B. (2016). Assessment. In Research on educational innovations (5th ed.). (pp. 66-78). 77Routledge.

Izci, K. (2016). Internal and external factors affecting teachers’ adoption of formative assessment to support learning. International Journal of Social, Behavioral, Educational, Economic, Business and Industrial Engineering, 10(8), 2541-2548. http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/scholarly-journals/internal-external-factors-affecting-teachers/docview/1871571123/se-2

Levy-Feldman, I., & Libman, Z. (2022). One size “doesn’t” fit all educational assessment in a multicultural and intercultural world. Intercultural Education, 33(4), 380-390. https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2022.2090174

Lin, P., & Lin, Y. (2015). Identifying Canadian teacher candidates’ needs for training in the use of inclusive classroom assessment. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 19(8), 771-786. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2014.970669

Ludwig, N. W. (2014). Exploring the relationship between K-12 public school teachers’ conceptions of assessment and their classroom assessment confidence levels (Order No. 3579798). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1513993136). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/dissertations-theses/exploring-relationship-between-k-12-public-school/docview/1513993136/se-2

Ontario Ministry of Education. (2010). Growing success: Assessment, evaluation and reporting in Ontario schools. (1st edition). http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/policyfunding/growSuccess.pdf

Volante, L. (2009). Assessment of, for, and as learning within schools: Implications for transforming classroom practice. Action in Teacher Education, 31(4), 66-75. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/scholarly-journals/assessment-as-learning-within-schools/docview/860370339/se-2

Volante, L., & Jaafar, S. B. (2008). Educational assessment in Canada. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 15(2), 201–210. https://doi-org.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/10.1080/09695940802164226

Volante, L., & Jaafar, S. B. (2010). Assessment reform and the case for learning-focused accountability. The Journal of Educational Thought, 44(2), 167-188. http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/scholarly-journals/assessment-reform-case-learning-focused/docview/863244056/se-2

Yildirim, O., & Bilican Demir, S. (2022). Inside the black box: Do teachers practice assessment as learning? International Journal of Assessment Tools in Education, 9, 46-71. http://search.proquest.com.uproxy.library.dc-uoit.ca/scholarly-journals/inside-black-box-do-teachers-practice-assessment/docview/2861323110/se-2