Bennett, R. (2011). Formative assessment: A critical review. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 18(1), 5-25.

Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Assessment and classroom learning. Assessment in Education, 5(1), 7-74.

Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B. & Wiliam, D. (2003) Assessment for learning in the classroom: Putting it into practice, Open University Press: Maidenhead.

Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B., & Wiliam, D. (2004). Working inside the black box. Phi Delta Kappan, 86(1), 8-21.

Boud, D. (2000). Sustainable assessment: Rethinking assessment for the learning society. Studies in Higher Education, 22(2), 151-167. DOI: 10.1080/713695728

Moss, C., & Brookhart, S. (2009). Advancing formative assessment in every classroom. Alexandria: ASCD.

Tan, K. H. K. (2013). A framework for assessment for learning: Implications for feedback practices within and beyond the gap. ISRN Education, 1-6.

Tan, K. H. K. (2017). Asking questions of (what) assessment (should do) for learning: The case of bite-sized assessment for learning in Singapore. Educational Research for Policy and Practice, 16(2), 189-202

Tan, K. H. K. (2013). A Framework for Assessment for Learning: Implications for Feedback Practices within and beyond the Gap. ISRN Education, 1 - 6.

Three recurring emphases in the literature on formative assessment are (a) the importance of assessment design in prompting and sustaining students’ learning, (b) giving students feedback that enables them to improve their work, and (c) clarity of standards to articulate the gap between past and desired performances. Much has been written on how each of these is important in designing and using assessment for learning. But there is considerably less attention (if any) on how these emphases should confluence each other. In this paper, I propose a framework for assessment for learning (AfL) wherein assessment standards (vertical axis), task design (horizontal axis) and feedback practices (incline) form a “triangle of practices” that construct the “space” for enhancing learning. Implications for formative assessment to extend learning beyond its triangulated frame are discussed.

Taras, M. (2012). Where is the Theory in Assessment for Learning? The Online Educational Research Journal.

The term “Assessment for Learning” seems to signal its affiliation to both assessment and learning. This could be one reason why it has captured the imagination and following of educationalists worldwide. Despite the volume of literature, it is still difficult to understand where it is situated theoretically. This paper examines the discourses which situate it in the domain of learning and subsequently, that of assessment and shows that its principal supporters and developers have failed to use either to positive effect. It also suggests that an artificial rift between learning and assessing has proved destructive and that processes and theories of learning and assessing are complementary and mutually supporting. Aligning these is an efficient means of providing “Assessment for Learning” with the theory it needs.

Swaffield, S. (2011). Getting to the heart of authentic assessment for learning. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 18(4), 433-449. DOI:10.1080/0969594X.2011.582838

Assessment for Learning (AfL) has gained increasing international prominence in both policy and practice but some of its proliferation, notably the national strategy in England, has been accompanied by distortion of essential features. This paper presents an understanding of authentic (in the sense of genuine) AfL informed by literature and particularly by two major research projects. Assessment for learning is characterised by information being used to inform learning and teaching, its focus on learning conceived broadly, and actively engage progressively more autonomous students. It is distinctive in its timescale, protagonists, beneficiaries, the role of students, the relationship between student and teacher, and the centrality of learning to the process – all of which can but may not necessarily be features of formative assessment. An examination of the document setting out the National Assessment for Learning Strategy in England reveals the ways that it is at odds with authentic assessment for learning.

Wiliam, D. (2011). What is Assessment for Learning? Studies in Educational Evaluation, 37, 3-14.

The idea that assessment is intrinsic to effective instruction is traced from early experiments in the individualization of learning through the work of Benjamin Bloom to reviews of the impact of feedback on learners in classrooms. While many of these reviews detailed the adverse impact of assessment on learning, they also indicated that under certain conditions assessment had considerable potential to enhance learning. It is shown that understanding the impact that assessment has on learning requires a broader focus than the feedback intervention itself, particularly the learner’s responses to the feedback, and the learning milieu in which the feedback operates. Different definitions of the terms ‘‘formative assessment’’ and ‘‘assessment for learning’’ are discussed, and subsumed within a broad definition that focuses on the extent to which instructional decisions are supported by evidence. The paper concludes by exploring some of the consequences of this definition for classroom practice.