The Five Essential Roles of Assessment Practitioners

Assessment practitioners are tasked with a range of responsibilities from enhancing teaching and learning to improving institutional effectiveness and providing quality assurance, yet little is known about the roles and related skill sets needed to undertake these tasks. Through an examination of job postings coupled with a review of the current literature, one-on-one interviews with four leaders in the field of assessment and an exploration of our own professional experience, this paper proposes a framework of five essential roles for assessment practitioners including assessment/method expert, narrator/translator, facilitator/guide, political navigator and visionary/believer.