Resources

John Gardner, Queen’s University, Belfast
Bryn Holmes, Concordia University, Montreal
Ruth Leitch, Queen’s University, Belfast

The full version of this review is available to download in pdf format - see box below. On this page you'll find the executive summary.

Executive summary

Social justice refers to the concept of a society affording individuals and groups fair treatment and an impartial share of the benefits of that society. It is crucial in relation to children and young people who have little control over their environment or circumstances, and have little say over much of what happens to them in schools in the name of testing and assessment.

While aspects of educational assessment may contribute to the impacts of social injustice, it must be emphasised that its inequities pale to insignificance in the face of the impact of a whole litany of adverse circumstances that many of our most disadvantaged young people experience. These can include any combinations of sub-standard accommodation, low income, community environments wracked by criminality, violence and substance abuse, poor health and life expectancy, dysfunctional family life, lack of value put on education and, indeed, a poor quality of education provision itself.

Assessment may be categorised as having two main purposes, which in some circumstances may be combined in the same assessment process: assessment to support learning (assessment for formative purposes) and assessment of learning outcomes (assessment for summative purposes).

Disadvantage in assessment contexts may arise from environmental factors (eg poor quality schooling, inadequate access to schooling, poverty) or personal attributes that are treated by others in an unfair fashion (eg language and culture differences, gender). Several widely accepted codes of practice serve to advise on fair practices in assessment, and these include the AERA Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing and the JCTP Code of Practice (references in following text). Articles 3 and 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child also offer the potential to safeguard students from unfair practice and to give them a voice in assessment processes that may affect their lives. This will be increasingly important in high stakes assessment contexts.

E-assessment currently offers solutions to some types of disadvantage through the use of assistive technologies, but can be improved through the further development and appropriate adoption of such processes as automated marking, universal design, adaptive testing, parallel translation. Handheld technologies provide increasingly flexible means of accessing learning resources and activities. They also provide a means for dynamic engagement with personalised assessments such as coursework, research projects and e-portfolios.

E-assessment also has considerable potential to individualise traditional assessment contexts through adaptive testing, and to provide an increasingly sophisticated menu of assessments that enable a student’s full range of learning to be assessed. Ultimately, the prospect exists for current Web 2.0 tools to develop further and support disadvantaged students with personalised learning networks. These will provide low-stakes assessment systems that endeavour to put a premium on learning, motivation and self-esteem. They will also enable students to choose how and when they wish to be assessed instead of restricting them to the assessment provisions laid down by conventional curricula and qualifications frameworks.

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