Effective assessment informs and supports the learning and teaching process, helping to raise attainment and achievement. All involved should understand and take appropriate account of the three main types of assessment:
Assessment for learning is essentially formative. It is the process of seeking and interpreting evidence so that learners, parents/carers and teachers can decide, through high quality dialogue, where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go next and how best to get there.
Assessment as learning is essentially evaluative. It is about using assessment to learn how to learn and thus encourage the development of autonomous learners. In effective assessment as learning, learners through self and peer assessment identify and reflect about their own evidence of learning. Personal learning planning provides a supportive framework for these processes.
Assessment of learning is essentially summative. It is about measuring, analysing and reporting performance. Effective assessment of learning provides information about individual skills and knowledge leading to awards which are passports to opportunities in life, work and education.
For further information about what a school does in order to make its assessment system effective, see the Appendix (JPG 50Kb) (c. Assessment is for Learning).