Balance and Tensions in Assessment Purposes Assessment for learning, assessment as learning, and assessment of learning all serve valuable, and different, purposes. It is not always easy, however, getting the balance right. If we want to enhance learning for all students, the role of assessment for learning and assessment as learning takes on
a much higher profile than assessment of learning. Traditionally, the focus of classroom assessment has been on assessment of learning—measuring learning after the fact, using the information to make judgements about students’ performances, and reporting these judgements to others. Teachers traditionally have also been using assessment for learning when they built in diagnostic processes, formative assessment, and feedback at various stages in the teaching and learning process, though it was often informal and implicit. Systematic assessment as learning—where students become critical analysts of their own learning—was rare. Although some teachers have incorporated self-assessment into their programs, few have systematically or explicitly used assessment to develop students’ capacity to evaluate and adapt their own learning.
The first pyramid illustrated in Fig. 2.1 shows the traditional relationship of the three approaches to one another, assessment of learning being the predominant focus. The second pyramid suggests a reconfiguration of the balance among the three approaches, one that emphasizes assessment as learning, and assessment for learning. Assessment of learning has an important role to play, but is used only when summative judgements are required. It is purpose that dictates how assessment is constructed and used. If the purpose is enhancing learning, the assessment needs to give students an
opportunity to make their learning apparent without anxiety or censure. If the purpose is checking learning for reporting, teachers need to be especially concerned about the quality of the assessment, and how it might be used by others. It is very difficult, and sometimes impossible, to serve three different assessment purposes at the same time. It is important for educators to understand the three assessment purposes, recognize the need to balance among them, know which one they are using and why, and use them all wisely.
