The following checklist is an example of the sorts of questions that might be asked about assessment at the institutional level:

  1. Is there university-wide policy requiring a standards-based approach to assessment? Has that policy been disseminated, staff development associated with it implemented and some monitoring of its effect undertaken?
  2. Does assessment policy discuss the importance of assessment for learning and establish that a positive impact on student learning is a pre-requisite for effective assessment?
  3. Is assessment for learning framed in ways that include students obtaining rich feedback on their work from multiple sources? Are there other forms of assessment for learning considered that involve processes beyond those of providing feedback?
  4. Are recording systems for marks sufficiently robust that they do not require a percentage as the default? Do they allow for graded and ungraded assessment decisions to be undertaken at the level of the assessment task as well as for the course unit/module as a whole?
  5. Are there effective programs for both new and continuing academic staff about assessment? Are these programs oriented towards an emphasis on assessment for learning and how assessment interacts with learning?
  6. Are there good, just-in-time, resources available for all staff to assist them in the effective design of assessment tasks whenever they need them? Do these resources assist staff in building the capacity of students to judge their own work?
  7. Do quality assurance processes incorporate a review of assessment practices in conjunction with a review of teaching and learning practices?
  8. Are there mechanisms for the collection of data about student experience of assessment as well as data about experiences of teaching and learning? Do such mechanisms address more than asking about feedback?
  9. Is effective innovation in assessment given as much weight in promotion procedures as innovation in other aspects of teaching and learning? Is assessment given explicit attention in teaching criteria?
  10. Do institutional awards for excellence in teaching explicitly include assessment practices as a ground for an award?
  11. Does assessment policy (and associated guidelines) emphasise the importance of building assessment for longer-term learning.
  12. Are graduate attributes formulated in ways that draw attention to enabling skills that students require to take responsibility for their own development (eg. self-monitoring, judging own work, …)?