It has been mandatory since March 2015 for New Zealand schools to use the "English Language Learning Progressions" (ELLP) (Ministry of Education, 2008) to determine English language learners' eligibility for Ministry funding of ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) programmes and support. Teachers are expected to "use a…

Registered nurses today are required to maintain a portfolio of evidence of their competence to practice. This evidence collection commences at undergraduate level with nursing programmes requiring portfolio's as assessments, which are often submitted in hard copy. This paper describes the outcome when a small group of tutorial staff introduced…

There are still no major assessment and diagnostic tools that educators can use to properly assess our Inuit students' learning. Cultural safety as it is currently defined in New Zealand educational research (Macfarlane et al., 2007) is necessary in creating a classroom community that encourages the appreciation of culture and worldview, and…

While teaching methods tend to be updated frequently, the implementation of new innovative assessment tools is much slower. For example project based learning has become popular as a teaching technique, however, the assessment tends to be via traditional reports. This paper reports on the implementation and evaluation of using website development…

This article is premised on research that suggests there is a gap between technology use for teaching and learning and the technology used in assessment. Digital technology such as blogs, Facebook, Twitter, podcasts, and news feeds are increasingly used in teaching and learning. On the other hand, assessment is often only in traditional essay form…

Portfolios are widely used in New Zealand for documenting children's learning; there is now an increasing move to online ePortfolios. This article presents findings from a doctoral study which investigated the impact of the introduction of ePortfolios in an early childhood education setting where traditional paper-based portfolios were previously…

This research reports intercultural dialogue of meaning making in literacy by lecturers, engaged with an assessment moderation process of early childhood education (ECE) preservice teacher education across Australia, New Zealand and Sweden. The purpose of the dialogue was to inform pedagogical and conceptual knowledge in their courses. The…

Teachers of year 0/1 students in English-medium schools in New Zealand (1896 schools) were invited to participate in a survey focussed on assessment of new entrant children's oral language and emergent literacy skills, with an estimated 21% response rate (N = 745). Teachers indicated using a variety of methods for assessing children's skills at…

Psychologists working in education in Aotearoa/New Zealand work in diverse educational environments making day-to-day decisions informed by evidence-based practice. As a relatively small professional group with a complex work programme, they contribute to the assessments and decision-making processes of children and young people across multiple…

Exciting developments for New Zealand education have provided opportunities recently for teachers and other educators to express their professional aspirations in assessment. The mantle of fostering teachers' professionalism through strong relationships across the education sector and relevant stakeholder groups, and the provision of timely…

This article reports on an exploratory two-stage sequential mixed methods research study that investigated the views of university educators on the introduction of assessment methods other than essays, exams and dissertations within taught Masters programmes. In the first stage, interviews were conducted internationally with 45 participants and…

The PM Benchmark Reading Assessment Resource (PM Benchmarks) provides information about primary students' level of achievement in reading accurately, fluently, and in understanding unseen texts. As part of the assessment, students have to orally retell what they have read and orally answer comprehension questions. This oral use of language…

In 2012 a new education monitoring system called the National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement (NMSSA) began collecting information about the achievement of Year 4 and Year 8 students enrolled in English-medium schools. Over the last 5 years it has had contact with over 20,000 students from more than 1,000 schools. This Assessment News…

Practicum visiting and the assessment of students' practicum form a significant component of the teacher educator role. Teacher educators are tasked with making judgements regarding the quality of students' teaching practice, as well as their attributes, dispositions, skills and knowledge, and ultimately their readiness to enter the teaching…

Assessment literacy is a core professional requirement across educational systems. Hence, measuring and supporting teachers' assessment literacy have been a primary focus over the past two decades. At present, there are a multitude of assessment standards across the world and numerous assessment literacy measures that represent different…