Provides direct measures of student outcomes relative to performance standards, determining what students know, understand, and can do at a certain point in time, and is essential to:

• an ongoing dialogue between teachers and learners, centred on the questions of: Where am I going? How am I going? Where to next?

• the provision of effective and timely feedback with clearly defined objectives that are focused on student process and effort and encourages student self-regulation

• guiding students towards the next step and thereby building confidence so that further progress is possible