Perspectives on assessment at school

Anna Kožuh

Summary:  In this paper, different concepts of assessment in institutional education are taken into consideration. The analysis uses views and observations regarding assessment and grading characteristics at schools that are described by various authors. This at the same time means that the text is a generalised discussion and does not refer to a particular school system and its assessment policy. The discourse is inspired by a variety of solutions both within and outside Europe to seek a model of better practices in the field of assesment. The author of the paper does not intend to devise any systemic regulations. It is only an attempt of indicating solutions, which, due to a number of socio-economic conditions, may be chosen or modified in school practice. They can also be used merely as a theory which, when confronted with the experience of particular educational systems, can improve them in the future. These concepts represent the starting point for finding the answers to some of the dilemmas concerning the problem of assessing student's knowledge. This paper develops arguments and argues that summative assessment, which is based on objectively verifiable knowledge standards and on the indicators and assessment criteria derived from them, is well linked with and complemented by formative assessment. The latter is not confined to an assessment of student performance but, instead, documents a student’s progress and the development of key personality characteristics that represent important objectives of every educational process. This implies that formative assessment should be understood as a supplement to summative assessment. The complementary and linking relationship between these two types of assessment could be used to provide more comprehensive guidelines for a student's individual development, as well as for the critical assessment of one's own learning process and knowledge acquired.