Summary
Contents
Key Concepts in Educational Assessment provides expert definitions and interpretations of common terms within the policy and practice of educational assessment. Concepts such as validity, assessment for learning, measurement, comparability and differentiation are discussed, and there is broad coverage of UK and international terminology. Drawing on the considerable expertise of the authors, the entries provide: - clear definitions; - accounts of the key issues; - authoritative and reliable information; - suggestions for further reading
Created to support students of education on undergraduate and postgraduate courses, and established education professionals including those who are members of the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors (CIEA), this book is an accessible guide for anyone engaged in educational assessment.
Tina Isaacs is Director of the MA in Educational Assessment at the Institute of Education, London.
Catherine Zara was most recently Director of the MA in Educational Assessment and Director of the BA (Hons) in Post Compulsory Education and Training at the University of Warwick.
Graham Herbert was most recently Director of the CIEA.
Steve J. Coombs is Head of Department for Continuing Professional Development at Bath Spa University, which offers an MA in Educational Assessment.
Charles Smith is senior lecturer in economics and education at Swansea Metropolitan University of Wales Trinity Saint David.
Purposes of Assessment
Purposes of Assessment
Educational assessments have multiple purposes, some of which have the potential to conflict with each other. In the 1990s the main purposes of educational assessment were defined as: to support learning (formative); to aid progression, certification or transfer (summative); and for accountability (summative). Recently, people have begun to question the stark distinction between formative and summative purposes, arguing that summative results can be used in many ways, including some formative uses. Paul Newton has defined over 20 educational assessment purposes. He and others have highlighted the dangers of using assessments for purposes for which they were not intended, which can lead to the undermining both of the assessment itself and of student learning.
In 1994 Wynne Harlen (cited in Broadfoot, 2007) ...