Signs of Change: Assessment Past, Present and Future Another Time, Another Place.Examinations Then and Now In the Temple of Literature in Hanoi, Vietnam, a series of stone stelae records the names of the handful of illustrious examination candidates who, in each century, passed the national examination to become a Doctor of Literature. Beginning in the 11thcentury,theexamswereconductedpersonallybysuccessivekingswhopursued Confucian ideals that found expression in the enormous value placed on the pursuit of wisdom and learning. In the 21st century we are both puzzled and impressed by this tradition. Puzzled by such an explicit commitment to a meritocracy in an essentially feudal society; impressed by this enthusiasm for learning and the pursuit of wisdom at the highest level of society. Yet, there are also important similarities between the 11th and 21st centuries. Then, as now, assessment was associated with excellence, high standards, pr- tige and competition-success for the chosen few; disappointment for the majority. Then, as now, the pursuit of excellence was embedded in a social context that favoured the elite and determined success in terms of the predilections of the p- erful. Then, as now, the purpose of the assessment, the way it was conducted and its impact on society all re ected the social and economic priorities of the day.

Acknowledgements About the contributors List of figures List of tables Preface Signs of change: Assessment past, present and future Patricia Broadfoot Chapter 1 Framing assessment today for the future: Issues and challenges J. Joy Cumming and Claire M. Wyatt-Smith Part 1 Creativity and innovation in assessment: New skills and capabilities, and changing communication practices Chapter 2 Assessment in the perspective of a social semiotic theory of multimodal teaching and learning Gunther Kress Chapter 3 Transforming K-12 assesment: Integrating accountability testing, formative assessment and professional support Randy Elliot Bennett and Drew H. Gitomer Chapter 4 Assessment issues and new technologies: ePortfolio possibilities Glenn Finger Chapter 5 Towards theorising assessment as critical theory Claire Wyatt-Smith and Stephanie Gunn Part 2 Building social capital: Difference, diversity, social inclusion Chapter 6 Fairness in assessment Caroline Gipps and Chapter 7 Assessment, gender and in/equity Susan M. Brookhart Chapter 8 Assessment, disability, student engagement and responses to intervention Deb Keen and Michael Arthur-Kelly Chapter 9 Assessment challenges, the law and the future J. Joy Cumming Part 3 Assessment in context: Geography, policy and practice Chapter 10 Teachers¿ use of assessment data Chapter 11 A problematic leap in the use of test data: From performance to inference Chapter 12 Educational assessment in Norwaya¿''a time of change Chapter 13 Articulating tacit knowledge through analyses of recordings: Implications for competency assessment in the vocational education and training sector Ann Kelly Chapter 14 Defining standards for the 21st century Graham Samuel Maxwell Index