Assessment to support learning

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the purposes and uses of classroom assessment by teachers or teacher assessment as it is better known (not to be confused with the assessment of teachers). At the heart of the matter lies the distinction between formative and summative uses of assessment information, and the basic argument that teacher assessment may be successfully used in both contexts. A primary aim of this chapter is therefore to clarify the often confusing terminology that misleadingly promotes the view that the method of assessment has to be exclusively formative or summative. School, that is classroom-based teacher assessment is compared to external testing in terms of the different roles they play and the advantages and disadvantages they each have.