In Preparing for a Renaissance in Assessment, Sir Michael Barber (Deliverology 101 and Deliverology in Practice, forthcoming) and Peter Hill discuss the current state of assessment, and how new technologies such as adaptive learning, automated marking, and intelligent learning systems can be used to move education from a system of standardized tests to a system where students’ knowledge and attributes are “meaningfully monitored or measured.”
From the Foreword:
For an assessment renaissance to be meaningful, it also needs a total cultural shift within society to accept the different ‘what’ and ‘how’ of assessment. The current mindset of assessment is all about test scores, irrespective of whether the meaning of the test scores is well clarified. In realising the outcomes of the assessment renaissance, there may not always be a test score to contend with. It may just be a series of qualitative descriptions of the extent to which a student may have demonstrated various attributes that cannot be quantified. Can society accept such assessment outcomes?
Barber and Hill offer and eight-part “Framework for Action” for bringing about this necessary renaissance in assessment, which is outlined in the infographic below:
Barber, M. & Hill, P. (2014). Preparing for a Renaissance in Assessment. London: Pearson.
Read the full document, Preparing for a Renaissance in Assessment here: https://research.pearson.com/content/plc/prkc/uk/open-ideas/en/articles/preparing-for-a-renaissanceinassessment/_jcr_content/par/articledownloadcompo/file.res/Preparing_for_a_Renaissance_in_assessment.pdf
Hill, P. and M. Barber (2014) Preparing for a Renaissance in Assessment, London: Pearson.
