Published May 25 and last modified May 30, 2026.
Assessment in education consists of two primary components: assessing the learner to enhance their learning, and for the instructor to assess the learning in order to improve the whole educational experience.
All too often, education focuses narrowly on assessing outcomes rather than embedding assessment into the learning process in a student-centric manner. To leverage assessment, we must pivot the focus to the former of assessing for the purpose of supporting the learner’s learning.
I believe it is crucial to first acknowledge the learner’s prior experiences and the wider cultural context of high-stakes assessment before I can cultivate a positive low-stakes approach to assessment. Particularly in the United States of America, assessment has long carried with it outdated hereditarian theory, social efficiency models, behaviorism and a misguided emphasis on objective measurements of intelligence and memorization of information. These persistent beliefs and prior experiences create psychological risks to students’ self-worth and confidence in learning. As Shepard (2000) explains, utilizing assessment to enhance learning demands a shift in the learning culture and social meaning of evaluation.
To truly leverage assessment that supports the learning process, it must pivot towards supporting each and every learner’s journey through a foundation of trust, equity, and a collaborative approach. Through cultivating a learning environment that is collaborative, learner-centered, and setting a tone of mutual support, trust between the instructor and learner can be built.
Trust and mutual respect allows the learner to view the instructor as a partner in growth. Crucially, a fair and equitable assessment practice is necessary at the core of the assessment practice in order to build and sustain this relationship of trust both between the learner and instructor and the wider class community as a whole.
To actively support the learning process, assessment must be timely and actionable. When assessment is on-going and embedded throughout the learning experience, feedback becomes a dynamic part of the learner’s experience. When assessment is embedded into the continuous loop of learning, the learner is able to gauge their progress and understand what actions or focus is necessary to move forward, while also providing valuable information for the instructor to provide scaffolding, strategies, or possibly to adjust the learning design entirely to support all the learners.
Further, assessment must be actionable rather than passive. Without utility in the information created, the assessment risks devolving into mundane busy-work. When grounded in a growth mindset of continuous development, actionable feedback ensures that all learners whether they are already meeting the learning objectives or not, are able to develop their self-directed learning skills, to push their boundaries, and stretch their capabilities in exciting directions. Ensuring that assessments are actionable and useful requires intentional and thoughtful design.
To provide effective, well designed assessment, I utilize Backwards Design and Iterative Design methods. Starting with measurable and clear learning objectives and working backwards ensures that the assessment is aligned with learning and creates useful data that can be applied to enhance outcomes. Yet, we as instructors must not only utilize iteration and improvement focused practices, we must also embody and model them for the learners. Through modeling and displaying how assessment is used to iterate and improve your own teaching, the learner gains valuable insights into how they are a part of the collaborative learning environment. When instructors demonstrate using an assessment to improve themselves or the course itself, the learner can truly transform their perspective on the role of assessment in their learning and become a catalyst for demonstrating to all the value that assessment holds for the learning experience.
References
Shepard, L. A. (2000). The role of assessment in a learning culture. Educational Researcher, 29 (7), 4-14.
Image Attribution
Anemone123. (2017). Team spririt teamwork community [Photograph]. Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/photos/team-spirit-teamwork-community-2447163/
Andrey_and_Olesya. (2023). Lamp beam table lamp reading [Illustration]. Pixabay. https://pixabay.com/illustrations/lamp-beam-table-lamp-reading-7898064/
Leave a Reply