Stiggins, R. (2010). Essential formative assessment competencies for teachers and school leaders. In H. Andrade, & G. Cizek (Eds.), Handbook of formative assessment. New York: Routledge.

Tan, K. H. K. (2017). Curriculum and assessment leadership for learning. In K. H. K. Tan, M. Heng, & C. Lim (Eds.), Curriculum leadership by middle leaders: Theory, design and practice (pp. 58- 72). London: Routledge.

Tay, H. Y. (2017). The role of HODs in assessments. In Tan, K. H. K., Heng, M. A., & Ratnam-Lim, C. (Eds.), Curriculum Leadership by Middle Leaders: Theory, Design and Practice (pp 73-87). Abingdon: Routledge.

Tay, H. Y., & Tan, K. H. K. (2019). What does assessment require of school leadership? In B. Wong, & P. T. Ng (Eds.), Education leaders in action: Case studies of leadership challenges in Singapore schools. Springer.

Tay, H.Y., Tan, K. H. K., Deneen, C. C., Leong, W. S., Fulmer, G. W., Brown, G. T. L. Brown (2019) Middle leaders’ perceptions and actions on assessment: the technical, tactical and ethical, School Leadership & Management, DOI: 10.1080/13632434.2019.1582016

Tay, H. Y., Tan, K. H. K., Deneen, C. C., Leong, W. S., Fulmer, G. W., & Brown, G. T. L. (2020) Middle leaders’ perceptions and actions on assessment: the technical, tactical and ethical, School Leadership & Management, doi: 10.1080/13632434.2019.1582016

Assessment leadership has often been associated with school leaders (SL), comprising principals and vice-principals. This study aimed to examine the under-researched assessment leadership role of Middle Leaders (ML) instead. Data was drawn from a larger, mixed-methods project that involved a self-report questionnaire administered to principals, MLs and teachers across twelve schools as well as observations and one-to-one interviews with one ML each from seven schools. The study found that Assessment for Learning (AfL) has gained some traction among the MLs because of the assessment practices they value, they rate more highly those more associated with AfL, particularly Student Involvement and Engagement; compared with Grading / Reporting which is more directly related to summative assessments. In particular, the study found that MLs used three dominant approaches in their assessment leadership – Technical, Tactical and Ethical. Technical leadership was seen in their focus on overseeing the technical aspects of assessment, particularly in aligning assessment to curriculum goals and expecting teachers to deliver on grading and reporting, for accountability purposes. In response to various tensions encountered in their work, the MLs also exercised tactical and ethical leadership. These findings highlight how MLs’ perceptions and actions are influenced by and mediate policy implementation in schools.

Tay, H. Y., & Tan, K. H. K. (2019). Assessment Leadership. In Wong, B., Hairon, S., & Ng, P. T. (Eds.), School Leadership and Educational Change in Singapore (pp 51-68). Springer.

How can Singapore principals negotiate the many complexities associated with assessment change to bring about better learning in their schools? This chapter discusses the assessment challenges of three principals at a primary school, secondary school and a junior college. By analysing their stories, it is argued that in order to bring about sustainable and structural assessment reform in schools, principals must exercise a threshold level of assessment leadership. The four characteristics of such leadership involve bringing about irreversible change, being coherent and integrative, being a catalyst for transforming the direction and value of education, and provoking new and unfamiliar thinking in others.