This study examines Chinese tertiary award-winning tutors' perceptions and reported practices of classroom-based assessment. Seventeen tutors in the final stage of a national university teaching contest were individually interviewed. An interview framework was developed using three process dimensions of assessment for learning (AfL). A sequential and iterative analysis of resulting data was conducted based on Miles and Huberman's protocols for qualitative analysis. Participants demonstrated a complex set of connections between perceptions and practices around issues of sharing standards, delivering feedback and response to external assessments. Results deviate from widely promoted principles of AfL and classroom-based assessment espoused in the international literature; in doing so, they challenge existing research and assumptions about the standardised and international nature of award-winning instructors' assessment practices. Findings are discussed in relationship to understanding best practices in tertiary assessment, given emerging tertiary education markets. Practical implications for the further development of learning and assessment practices and theoretical implications for the AfL theory are also discussed.
[Copyright of Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2015.1066306]

Hong Kong has an assessment for learning policy and a cultural context that emphasizes examinations. In addition to associating student grading with improvement, important improvement-oriented conceptions have been identified among Hong Kong teachers and which were not fully instantiated in Brown’s Teachers’ Conceptions of Assessment (TCoA) inventory. An expanded Chinese-TCoA inventory was administered to 601 teachers (85% primary school) in Chinese. The intended 10 factor structure had poor fit to the data. Exploratory factor analysis (MLE, oblimin rotation) identified 7 factors. Confirmatory factor analysis of 7 inter-correlated factors, with 28 items, had acceptable fit (χ2=1061.87; df=329; χ2/df =3.23, p=.07; gamma hat = .92; RMSEA=.061; SRMR=.056). The strongest inter-correlation (r=.74) was between assessment is for school quality & control and assessment is for teacher quality & control. Correlations >.60 were seen between assessment is examinations and assessment is for student personal development and teacher quality & control and between assessment is for school quality & control and assessment is for student personal development. Factor inter-correlations among these 4 factors and the remaining three (assessment is irrelevant, assessment has error, assessment improves learning) were less than .60. Teachers gave mean scores over moderately agree to Improve Learning and Error, weak agreement was given to Personal Development, School Quality & Control, and Examinations. Disagreement was given to Irrelevance and Teacher Quality & Control. We conclude that, in keeping with the highly selective system, Hong Kong primary school teachers predominantly conceived of assessment as examinations for improved learning, rather than as a means of personal development and reject it as a means of teacher quality assurance.

School-based assessment (SBA) refers to the assessments conducted in the process of learning within the school. In Hong Kong, SBA has been promoted in the education system. Through analyzing a case study, this paper aims to explore: (1) the current practices of SBA in the case study school, (2) the support for and effects of SBA practice; and (3) the issues emerging in SBA practice. The purpose is to provide a living example for those teachers and policy makers who favour the use of SBA to enhance students' learning in schools.

The traditional assessment landscape in Hong Kong has been changed since a large scale educational reform was launched six years ago. Recommendations for change encouraged more diverse forms of student assessment. However, the traditional examination-oriented culture within a Chinese context has added difficulty to the implementation of assessment reform in Hong Kong. This paper reports a case study of four project schools. It investigates how teachers experimented with assessment reform in school policy and practice. The focus lies on how teachers express their understanding of student assessment reform in classroom practice. The findings show how teachers understand student assessment, how they put their ideas of formative assessment into practice, and the challenges they face in the reform process.

In recent years, educators in Hong Kong have raised concerns about the examination culture that pervades the school system. Their arguments have focused on the detrimental effect that examination preparation has on student learning, and they advocate the introduction of less formal alternative practices that promote assessment for learning. The government, prompted by the impact of globalization and new technology on the economy that demand a more sophisticated workforce, has encouraged schools to adopt these new approaches to assessment. However, early indications suggest that there is considerable resistance to these moves from teachers and parents. Teachers tend to have difficulty in assimilated the new philosophy of assessment into their pedagogical beliefs and practices, while parents are concerned that informal assessment will undermine the value of standard, formal testing as a fair and objective means for determining social advancement. This paper discusses these tensions and presents a small-scale study that provides insights into current assessment practices in the classroom. It concludes that, given the tensions, informal assessment for learning needs to be implemented gradually in Hong Kong to ensure acceptance and sustainability.
[Copyright © 2012 North-West University.]

香港自 2001 年推行以“學會學習”為主題的教育改革。在學生評估機制上，最明顯的新措施是由 2004 年起，在中、小學以公開考試的形式設置“全港性系統評估”。本研究嘗試深入剖析小學三年級“全港性系統評估”中文科閱讀和寫作考卷的內容和題型特點，製成量表；然後用作探討 2004 年和 2011 年出版的小學三年級中文科教科書在內容上跟公開考試考查內容關聯的程度。研究結果有助教育界人士瞭解“全港性系統評估”對學校日常教學實況的影響。