Abstract:
The New Zealand education system has undergone radical change in a number of areas in recent years. Policies for assessment at both local and national levels outline clearly that assessment is to be carried out for both formative and summative purposes and contend that in some contexts information from a single assessment task can be used for both purposes. These purposes are presented as complementary rather than contradictory, ignoring a body of literature which states that one set of assessment data used for two or more purposes creates problems and tensions.
School Entry Assessment (SEA), a kit containing three nationally standardised, performance based activities has been designed to assess some of the key knowledge and skills of new entrant children. Recently introduced in New Zealand primary schools, the kit focuses on the areas of emergent literacy, oral language and numeracy. An analysis of documentation accompanying SEA reveals that the information from assessment tasks is intended to be used for both formative and summative purposes.
This paper reports on the results of an investigation into how selected schools in the Auckland area make use of the data gained from SEA, examines some of the issues surrounding the formative and summative uses of such information and explores schools’ underlying reasons for becoming part of a non mandatory scheme.