Effective Reporting for Formative Assessment

Abstract

Assessment should have a purpose. As Zumbo (2009) stated, in the context of discussing validity, ‘it is rare that that anyone measures for the sheer delight’ (p. 66) going on to concede that measurement is ‘something you do so that you can use the outcomes’ (p. 66). Within educational contexts, there are many ways testing might be expected to used and improve schooling (Haertel, 2013), as well as many ways users might anticipate using test results (Hopster-den Otter, Wools, Eggen, & Veldkamp, 2016). One key use, perhaps the primary use, of educational assessment is the support of student learning (Popham, 2000). Given such improvement purposes for tests, validity requires that reports on student performance be well aligned to the test (and the test well aligned to the intended curricular goals) and well designed to ensure understanding (Tannenbaum, this volume). In any system that expects teachers to monitor and respond to student learning, teachers are important users of test information. In such systems, the teacher’s role is primarily to mediate test score information into appropriate instructional decisions (e.g., pace of progress, student grouping, task and activity design, selection of curricular resources, etc.). The focus of this chapter is on the communication of test results to teachers in ways that foster interpretations and actions that align with those intended. Shepard (2001, 2006) makes it clear that most educational assessment is carried out in classrooms by teachers and that significant improvements are needed in how testing might continue to play a part in that process. Teachers are expected to make a series of qualitative interpretations about observed student performances, as well as interpretations of test scores (Kane, 2006). These interpretations occur as teachers interact with students in the classroom and are not simply recorded for later interpretation. While modern directions in assessment design focus on ensuring that a robust theory of learning or cognition is present (Pellegrino, Chudowsky, Glaser, & National Research Council, 2001), it seems more appropriate in evaluating test reports for teachers to focus on theories of effective communication and instructional action. Within educational settings, the first goal of a diagnostic test score report should be to ensure that the test reports inform teachers’ decision-making about ‘who needs to be taught what next’ (Brown & Hattie, 2012). Extensive research on feedback (Hattie & Timperley, 2007) shows that 8 Effective Reporting for Formative Assessment The asTTle Case Example