The Purpose of Assessment

Developing a Whole School Assessment Policy

The purpose of this publication is to support a school in developing an efficient and effective assessment culture and supporting policy/documentation across the school. This will enable coordinators and teachers to develop their expertise in managing assessment and assessment for learning respectively.

It will reference the best-practice pedagogy, developed using evidence-based research, in order to establish a shared understanding and assist a school with the articulation of a meaningful, effective, and efficient approach to Assessment for Learning, and of Learning.

The structure of this publication broadly follows the inquiry process. After some reflections on assessment in education, it will investigate and offer suggestions for using assessment as a powerful tool to support student development.

It responds to the following questions:

What is assessment?

Why do we do assess?

What are we assessing?

When should we assess?

How do we assess effectively? How do we assess efficiently?