About the Editors.- About the Contributors.- PART 1: Assessment in Education: Implications for Leaders.- 1. Student Assessment in a Civil Society; Charles F. Webber and Shelleyann Scott.- 2. Assessment as a Dimension of Globalisation: Exploring International Insights; Donald E. Scott.- 3. Monitoring, Accountability, and Improvement, Oh No! Assessment Policies and Practices in Canadian Education; Don A. Klinger.- 4. Fairness in Educational Assessment in China: Historical Practices and Contemporary Challenges; Xiaomei Song.- 5. Concerns with Using Test Results for Political And Pedagogical Purposes - A Danish Perspective; Jens Dolin.- 6. Redefining Assessment in Contemporary Classrooms: Shifting Practices and Policies; David F. Philpott.- PART 2: Assessment at the District/School Leadership Level.- 7. Current Policies Surrounding Assessment in Alberta — Future Implications; E. Nola Aitken and Art J. Aitken.- 8. Leading Assessment: The Triple-A Framework for Educational Leaders; Johanna de Leeuw.- PART 3: Leadership Assessment-related Knowledge and Behaviours.- 9. The Assessment KSA Learning Journey: Expanding the 4L – Life-Long Learning Leader–Framework; Shelleyann Scott, Donald E. Scott and Charles F. Webber.- 10. Grading and Reporting Student Learning; E. Nola Aitken.- 11. Principal Leadership and Challenges for Developing a Sch
ool Culture of Evaluation; Maria Luz Romay, Constance Magee, and Charles Slater.- 12. Formative Assessment in High School Communities of Practice: Creating a Culture of Inquiry, Introspection, and Improvement; Dianne Yee.- Index.
This book provides key insights into how educational leaders can successfully navigate the turbulence of political debate surrounding leading student assessment and professionalised practice. Given the highly politicised nature of assessment, it addresses leaders and aspiring leaders who are open to being challenged, willing to explore controversy, and capable of engaging in informed critical discourse.
The book presents the macro concepts that these audiences must have to guide optimal assessment policy and practice. Collectively, the chapters highlight important assessment purposes and models, including intended and unintended effects of assessment in a globalised context.
The book provides opportunities to explore cultural similarities and particularities. It invites readers to challenge taken-for-granted assumptions about ourselves and colleagues in other settings. The chapters highlight the cultural clashes that may occur when cross-cultural borrowing of assessment strategies, policies, and tools takes place. However, authors also encourage sophisticated critical analyses of potential lessons that may be drawn from other contexts and systems.
Readers will encounter challenges from authors to deconstruct their assessment values, beliefs, and preconceptions. Indeed, one purpose of the book is to destabilise certainties about assessment that prevail and to embrace the assessment possibilities that can emerge from cognitive dissonance.