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Liz McDowell and Say Sambell focus on the importance of assessment for learning. Rather than simply adding new assessment techniques to existing entrenched practices that are seen to encourage learner dependence on their teachers and assign learners a passive role in the assessment and learning process, the authors argue that, to be successful, changes towards assessment for learning have to be more comprehensive, focusing on the entire learning environment. Based on their work at the Centre for Excellence in Assessment in Learning at Northumbria University, they introduce six elements of a productive and positive assessment for learning environment designed to intentionally foster student autonomy in learning and learning for the longer term.

Chapter 3 presents three assessment approaches (assessment of learning, assessment for learning and assessment as learning), a number of assessment types, and how assessment can be integrated into instruction. This chapter points out that although the three approaches are characteristically different, they can all contribute to student learning. A connection has then been made between the three approaches and different types of assessment. To integrate assessment into instruction, ideas have been offered regarding the way lessons are planned. Some examples have been given to elaborate on this.

This chapter presents a conceptual framework for assessment. It summarizes some of the key concepts associated with assessment in the service of learning and develops the theoretical bases for the collection of practices which follow. The framework highlights three key concepts which underpin the collection: assessment tasks as leaning tasks; student involvement in assessment; and the notion of feedback as ‘feedforward’.

In Chapter 10, three school cases are included with the aim of deepening teachers’ understanding of assessment for learning. There are two main parts in this chapter. The first part concerns the assessment practices of the three project schools, followed by a deep-thinking section for teachers to link theory to practice. The second part describes the assessment practices of the three teachers working at the three different project schools.

This chapter draws out some of the wider implications of the framework and the practices and examines some of the progress which has been made within the theme of assessment change. It examines some inhibiting factors impeding the rejuvenation of assessment processes and suggests some strategies for tackling these challenges.

This chapter explores the effects of California's mathematics reform as a learning policy. It examines whether students' learning has improved in schools where teachers had substantial opportunities to learn using data from the 1994 administration of California Learning Assessment System (CLAS).

This chapter probes the patterns of teachers' ideas and practices in relation to teachers' opportunities to learn. First, it outlines measures of teachers' ideas about mathematics instruction, their classroom practices, and their familiarity with and attitude toward reform. It then examines the link between teachers' learning opportunities and their ideas and practices, as well as teachers' experiences with the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS). Finally, the chapter considers whether state-sponsored professional development among teachers influenced the implementation of reform.

This chapter explores the back-to-basics move promoted by a pair of bills—the ABCs bills—with the aim of arriving at a more balanced curriculum. At roughly the same time, Governor Wilson signed a bill—AB 265 (The California Assessment and Achievement Act)—that created a new statewide assessment system that was intended to replace the California Learning Assessment System. The bill promoted the use of off-the-shelf standardized tests in order to test basic skills mastery and provided funds for the development of new statewide testing program in academic subjects for several levels. The chapter looks at several programs, attempts at reform, and implementations that have taken place in more recent years. It looks at, for example, the CDE and the Mathematics Program Advisory, a program that intended to provide guidance to teachers and schools. It touches on MathLand—one of the progressive, innovative curricula that was approved in 1994, and explores other important and notable events of that time.

This chapter explores the nature and extent of influences on learning by examining the instruments that policymakers used to urge teachers to learn. It first discusses the survey on which the analysis is based and what it tells about teachers, their schools, and students. The goal of the survey was to situate the original Michigan State University case studies in a wider picture of mathematics practice in California elementary schools. The chapter then discusses the instruments that were deployed by policymakers to support teachers' learning. The policy instruments include curriculum materials, professional development, professional networks, and the California Learning Assessment System (CLAS).