Introduction

In recent years, the topic of assessment strategies, practices and approaches has gained increasing popularity in the domains of the general public, education research and public policy. In particular, there have been ongoing discussions about their use and effectiveness on student learning. In their book, “Research on Educational Innovations”, for instance, Ellis & Bond (2016) argue that the assessment movement, which refers to the growing demand for alternatives to summative assessment, has put a spotlight on critiques of standardized testing and the lack of large-scale empirical studies on alternative assessments. Similarly, Volante & Jaafar (2008) discuss the prevalence of large-scale assessments and how their related policies have resulted in two streams of accountability: Accountability for learning outcomes for the school and public policy and accountability for improvement on the part of students by way of teacher liability.

These growing conversations have sparked a new focus on K-12 teachers’ and their assessment practices, particularly the importance of increasing their use of formative assessments. Our group wants to explore how this has become a challenge for some K-12 teachers and, as a result, they are using formative assessments ineffectively and contributing to learning environments that are not inclusive. In this book, we’ll be exploring assessment in-depth, covering what it is, how it’s used and what makes it challenging to do well. We’ll also be using specific pedagogical approaches to contextualize our issue. Finally, we’ll explore an innovative digital tool that we believe can address our issue.

References

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

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