Activity 2: Purposes of assessment

The reasons for assessment are quite complex but it is important to be clear about why you are assessing because it impacts on the way you assess and the outcomes that ensue. It is generally considered that the two most important purposes for assessment are to:

• Provide feedback during the process of learning to improve learning (formative diagnostic assessment). This occurs throughout the teaching semester, both formally and informally.
• Make judgements about the level of student learning at the end of a semester or course of study (summative assessment). Results of summative assessment are used to grade students for the purposes of accreditation in a course.

Rowntree (1987, pp. 16-31) has identified several other purposes for assessment from the teacher's point of view:

• Selection by assessment
• Maintaining standards
• Motivation of students
• Provide feedback to students
• Provide feedback to the teacher
• Preparation for life

He goes on to suggest that attitudes to assessment purposes and practices depend on teachers' beliefs and understandings about what education is as reflected in the way it is practised (1987, pp. 31).

Which of the purposes listed above are most applicable to the work you do?