Overview of Assessment OF and Assessment FOR Learning – James W. Pellegrino

Featured Presentation

This presentation will consider a set of critical issues related to understanding educational assessment and the potential it has to support (or hinder) teaching and learning. The first part of the presentation will consider the nature of educational assessment including the various contexts in which it is used, the purposes served including formative, summative and program evaluation functions, as well as how these functions can and should relate to each other. The second part of the presentation will consider issues related to federal law, college and career readiness standards, and the nature of high quality assessment. The focus will be on how policy mandates impact the nature of assessment practice and how this interacts with changing conceptions of what is to be assessed such as college and career readiness standards, and the criteria by which we should judge the quality of the assessments that are then put into practice. The third part of the presentation will consider the components of a balanced and comprehensive assessment system and how states and districts can move forward in the design and implementation of such systems.

Framing Questions

1. What are the conceptions of assessment that most people you know, including policy makers, educators, parents, and the general public, have about educational assessment?
2. To what extent do those conceptions help or hinder the process of designing and implementing high quality assessments as part of normal educational practice?
3. What would it take for a state like Michigan to design and implement a coherent and balanced assessment system tied to college and career readiness standards? What are the opportunities as well as the barriers?