Implementing Assessment for Learning: A Continuum for Teacher Professional Learning

• In Event: Professional Development Assessment

Abstract

Assessment for Learning (AfL) has emerged as a focal area of teacher practice, with policy mandates across jurisdictions supporting its implementation. While procedural and selective implementation of AfL has been observed (the letter of AfL), promoting a spirit of AfL appears far more challenging. Little is known about how teachers develop AfL capacity to cultivate this “spirit of AfL.” This study describes a learning continuum that represents the likely processes of integration of AfL into teachers’ practices. Interview and observational data (n=88) were analyzed to describe five developmental stages demarcating shifts in teachers’ AfL conceptual understandings and practices. The resulting learning continuum provides an empirical foundation for responsive teacher education that facilitates teachers’ continued learning towards more meaningful AfL implementation.

Authors

• Don A. Klinger, Queen's University - Kingston

• Christopher DeLuca, Queen's University - Kingston

• Allison Elizabeth Anne Chapman, Queen's University