grantor:
University of TorontoThis interpretive case study compared the relationships between assessment and curriculum, and their consequences on teacher instruction and student assessment in the classrooms of two research sites. One research site was in an early, the other was in a more advanced stage of use with an assessment innovation (the Toronto Benchmark Program). The Program emphasized mastery learning, and standards of performance at key stages in students' education. In the early site, where the curriculum was found to be content-driven, the assessment procedures had limited interaction with classroom instruction. Assessment practices were mainly summative, and instruction was growth-centred. In the advanced site, where the curriculum was standards-driven, the assessment and instructional procedures interacted with each other to a greater extent. The assessment was mainly formative, and instruction was information-centred. Simultaneously, data emerged that clarified how contextual, and background factors influenced classroom use of the innovation. This study may be relevant for practitioners as well as researchers since technical and management dimensions of change have been portrayed through the "first-voice" experiences of those most closely associated with the development, implementation, and consequences of an assessment innovation.Ph.D
