Assessment literacy: definition, implementation, and implications

This paper explores the current notion of assessment literacy and describes delivery and evaluation of an intervention to support its development in two different cohorts in a veterinary curriculum. Before the intervention, two cohorts (Cohort A, first-year students; Cohort B, third-year students) were surveyed on their expectations and understanding of assessment. The new students expressed uncertainty about their understanding of the assessment process: 51% disagreed that they had a good understanding. As expected, more experienced students had a better understanding, although 30% still disagreed that they had a good understanding of the process. A workshop supporting the development of assessment literacy was implemented, giving students an opportunity to evaluate authentic student work of differing standards. Most of the students in both cohorts found the session helpful in terms of their understanding of different standards in assessments (92% and 97%), and most found it helped them understand how to prepare for the degree examination better (75% and 87%). Student grades were recorded in the workshop involving Cohort B, revealing a large variation in students' ability to grade other students' work accurately, with bias ranging from 22% to -25%. Finally, faculty views on student preparedness for assessment were also explored and compared to student views. Disagreement existed between faculty regarding perceived student preparedness for assessment, and significantly more faculty than students thought that students had a good understanding of how their assessments would be graded. The implications of these results for future work and faculty development are discussed.