Peter Campbell of Transform Education had this to say about drawing a distinction between Assessment of Learning vs. Assessment for Learning and it’s something we all should be thinking about:

Under NCLB, even really good assessment practices, when operating under the weight of "accountability," can become about covering one’s derriere. Inevitably, and quite logically, students may focus only on those things they can demonstrate they know and that they are good at. Teachers may focus only on those things they can demonstrate they can teach with predictable, positive outcomes. Neither can afford to show process or ambiguity, and certainly neither wants to show a lack of knowledge or competence or even – heaven forbid – that they are wrong about something.

So what effect might this have on quality, substantive, in-depth teaching and learning? It’s not hard to imagine.

I think this is an important point to remember — even in progressive schools with portfolio or exhibition or capstone.

The purpose of assessment of our students is — first and foremost — for them. It is the culmination of a specific learning process, and only after it has served the purpose for the student should we then even think about what the aggregate data can tell us about our schools.

If we kept our focus on the individual student at all times, how different might our assessments be?