In consideration of educational tests: evil, necessary, or beneficial?

Tests have a reputation for creating anxiety, not being accurate about what students actually know or can do, or for being unfair to those from minority or disadvantaged backgrounds. In this webinar, Professor Gavin Brown from Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland takes a balanced perspective, suggesting that despite unwelcome side effects, schools and teachers need tests to know what students can or cannot do. This knowledge allows them to adjust teaching and curriculum appropriately.

Professor Brown has extensive experience in developing diagnostic tests for use in schools, including the e-asTTle test system, and has written extensively about teachers’ and students’ beliefs about assessment and feedback. He is the author of Assessment of Student Achievement (2018).