In the post-COVID educational environment, assessment offers ways to gain crucial insights into student thinking and learning and areas that require support to make progress toward learning goals. While careful design and implementation of assessment is necessary for student success, creating a strong assessment culture in schools is often overlooked but equally important.
SOUGHT is collaborating with National Center for the Improvement of Educational Evaluation (NCIEA) explore the characteristics of a healthy evaluation culture. The first step is to consider the idea of school culture and how it supports the related concept of assessment culture.
The importance of school culture
School culture is the set of implicit assumptions, beliefs, and expectations that drive activities and behaviors within a school. This includes the Unwritten rules about decision making and the types of achievements that are valued and celebrated.. Research indicates that Reforms often fail in schools when they clash with or ignore existing school culture..
Similarly, assessment culture is determined by the underlying beliefs and expectations that students, educators, and leaders have about assessment practices. In the same way that school culture can support or inhibit efforts to implement new ideas, a school's assessment culture can influence whether assessment practices, directly or indirectly, positively impact teaching and learning.
Contrasting perspectives on evaluation culture
We can view the different components of assessment culture on a continuum, ranging from less supportive to more supportive of teaching and learning. Let's imagine a school where students talk about assessment as a process that confirms whether they are intelligent (or not). Compare that to another school where students view assessment as a process that identifies strengths and weaknesses that inform what they will do next. We know Students who adopt a growth mindset are better equipped to tackle challenging work, deal with learning setbacks, and have agency over their learning.. In other words, using formative assessment as a learning tool fosters this growth mindset in students.
Let us now consider the contrasting experiences of teachers. In one school, the limited professional learning opportunities related to assessment focus solely on the administration of acquired products. At another school, assessment-related continuing professional learning opportunities prioritize formative assessment practices that are integrated into the student learning experience.
The research is clear: Formative assessment has beneficial results for student learning. Teachers often receive training on summative assessments or test preparation, but not enough professional development is provided for effective formative assessment practices. When a school's testing culture focuses on test preparation rather than best practices for classroom assessments, teachers and students are left out.
School and district leaders influence the assessment culture across the school system. When school or district goals prioritize test performance over a comprehensive demonstration of student understanding, this often leads to a restricted curriculum. This focus on “teaching to the test” restricts students' access to an enriching educational experience.
First step to change the evaluation culture
Because of the potential impact of assessment culture on practice, educators and leaders must identify the cultural aspects operating within their school or district. Because assessment culture is built over time and is often based on assumptions about assessment that are not explicitly articulated or shared by everyone in a school, understanding and changing a school's assessment culture takes time.
One way to begin examining testing culture is to ask people how they feel about the different types of assessments used in their school. Hold conversations and gather input from a wide variety of people in the school community, including students, families, teachers, support staff, and school leaders. Provide multiple avenues for stakeholders to share their thoughts and opinions, such as anonymous surveys, structured focus groups, or open discussions.
The process of examining assessment culture through conversations helps schools and districts identify factors that support or potentially limit the effective use of assessment evidence. By understanding your assessment culture, you can develop a strategy to change assessment-related practices (e.g., assessment selection/development, use of evidence, professional learning, etc.) to more effectively support student learning. .
ISTE is partnering with assessment experts at the National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment, with funding from the Walton Family Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, to explore the concept of assessment culture and refine a set of continuous assessment culture. The ultimate goal is to support districts in identifying key aspects of assessment culture (i.e., making them visible) and facilitate changes in school assessment practices to more positively impact student learning.
