Project overview
The project took the form of a series of five expert seminars and two consultation conferences concerned with the role that assessment by teachers can play in assessment systems. The outcomes included short, targeted reports, including recommendations for policy and practice, of the role that assessment by teachers can play in assessment systems.
The proposal built upon the work of the Assessment Reform Group, which has shown that while assessment can be used formatively to help pupils’ learning, assessment systems relying on tests have a narrowing impact on teaching and the curriculum, and a negative impact on pupils’ motivation for learning. These effects need not follow if teachers have a greater role in summative assessment, using their knowledge of pupils to provide information relevant to the full range of goals of education ‘ not just those easily tested.
Through the seminars, this project brought together information from the analysis of current practice, the views of participants in and users of assessment, and what research evidence about the benefits and challenges of using assessment by teachers for summative purposes.