Building a Strong Assessment Culture That Supports Learning and Teaching: A Situational Analysis

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 4:20 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Enhancing Educational Equity: Innovations and Insights in Classroom Assessment (Table 8)

Abstract

Ensuring effective learning and teaching requires a strong assessment culture in schools where teachers and students are supported to use assessment to increase student outcomes. However, building a strong assessment culture requires a deeper analysis of the personal, social-emotional, conceptual, paradigmatic, practical, contextual, structural, organisational and policy contexts of the school to determine the best strategies to enact and achieve the aim of assessment reforms. We worked with school leaders and teachers of five schools and used situational analysis to explore various elements influencing their schools’ assessment culture. In addition, we used the activity theory to understand the patterns of social activities and the relationships of various elements to develop a strong school assessment culture.

Authors

• Dennis A. Alonzo, University of New South Wales

• Mary Teague, University of New South Wales

• Katie Osborne-Crowley, University of New South Wales