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Notes:

Let me sum up the argument so far and introduce what follows. We need to position assessment as a contributor to learning. This means thinking about it quite differently. It doesn’t mean we have to ditch concerns about fairness and consistency, but it does mean we have to take into account a wider set of concerns.
Assessment is necessarily about far more than measuring the performance of students because of its influence on what students do both now and in the future.
Assessment must be conceptualised in terms of its influence on study and the formation of student.
The design of assessment follows from the design of learning environments.
So, what principles should great assessments designs follow? Naturally, they should pick up the concerns we have discussed and focus them on the creation of tasks that serve to support the formation of learning outcomes and look beyond the immediate task to equip students for the future. Some features are ones that are very familiar and are unchanged from earlier conceptions, but it is important to note that it is the conception of assessment that is shifted. The way I am thinking incorporates some features from the past, but overall it is qualitatively different. It acknowledges the immediate accountabilities we are faced with, but it engages with the longer term accountability we have to our students in preparing them for learning after graduation.