The classroom assessment cycle within the alternative assessment paradigm: exploring the role of the teacher

Abstract

This review paper explores the role of the teacher in classroom assessment within the parameters set by the demands and expectations of the new, alternative assessment paradigm. After briefly outlining the underlying philosophy of this new paradigm, classroom assessment is presented as a cycle of four interrelated phases – namely, ‘planning the activity’, ‘gathering the evidence’, ‘interpreting the evidence’ and ‘using the evidence’. Within each phase, teachers’ classroom assessment practices are discussed in relation to how these compare with what is needed in order to bring assessment at the service of learning, which lies at the heart of our new understanding of assessment. The realisation that, generally speaking, teachers’ assessment practices remain firmly anchored to the traditional assessment theories and policies sends a clear signal that something needs to be done unless we want to risk reversing, with grave consequences for learning, the whole assessment reform process.