I am hoping that this summer will see the beginning of the change with regard to our obsession with assessment.

As an adult I really “enjoy” the way that the Microsoft Educator Community assessments work. It has surprised me to find that I like collecting the badges and ...

...think that the way that the assessments are set works – for me anyway. Sometimes I work through the material and other times will go straight to the test. You have to get 80% to pass but you can take the test as many times as you like (with the questions being shuffled)....

That, and this summers exam fiasco, got me thinking. What is the point of school assessment? Who do they benefit? Do they really provide the best way of assessing young people today?....

#examscot

My thoughts have got as far as… pupils sit short assessments at the end of the module – like with the Microsoft assessments – you have to achieve a high percentage to pass – but you can resit as many times as you like. Ideally, pupils could sit a wide ... #examscot

Range of options from a broad curriculum that covered traditional subject matter alongside more skills based areas. They would build up a digital portfolio and somehow this could be used for access to life beyond school. #examscot @examscot

...This would mean that pupils would have more freedom to choose (some of the modules could be online/self-taught), could take the tests when they are ready and could retake tests if they needed to. For a pupil looking to apply for a ... #examscot @examscot

...particular degree at university, they would need to ensure that they had the appropriate portfolio – at the correct level. .... #examscot @examscot

...If there continued to be a need for ranking of pupils – for different universities – you could use the number of times a test had to be sat before it achieved the “80%” pass rate. #examscot @examscot

...How you could prevent cheating? – no idea (except the UKCAT and driving theory tests must be reasonably confident of their methods). How could schools/colleges manage such a diverse system – again, I’ve no idea. On the other hand, ... #examscot @examscot

...I do think that the system we currently have in unfair in many respects – particularly after this summer. I do believe that new systems can be found and that any problems in how they work can be solved. #examscot @examscot

@examscot