Formative assessment at the crossroads: Conformative, deformative and transformative assessment
Abstract
The theory and practice of formative assessment seems to be at a crossroads, even an impasse. Different theoretical justifications for the development of formative assessment, and different empirical exemplifications, have been apparent for many years. Yet practice, while quite widespread, is often limited in terms of its scope and its utilisation of the full range of possible approaches associated with formative assessment. The paper reviews these issues and explores them in relation to the development of formative assessment in higher education. HE is taken as ‘test case’ of the paradoxical implementation of formative assessment, whereby the aim is, ostensibly, to develop independent and critical learners, while in practice highly conformative assessment procedures are being designed and developed. The paper argues that developers also need to attend to the divergent possibilities inherent in formative assessment, if their aspirations for a more transformative practice are to be realised.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
There is still no clear consensus on what the term 'formative assessment' encompasses.
“Although there is still no clear consensus on what the term “formative assessment” encompasses”
From Formative assessment: A systematic review of critical teacher prerequisites for classroom practice (2020) · cites this paper as Torrance, 2012
Formative assessment is broadly accepted as a good classroom practice for teachers.
“it is broadly accepted as a good classroom practice for teachers”
From Formative assessment: A systematic review of critical teacher prerequisites for classroom practice (2020) · cites this paper as Torrance, 2012
The guidance available to teachers is often limited to generic principles, or at times even inappropriate, resulting in limited use of formative assessment in practice.
“However, the guidance available to teachers is often limited to generic principles (Van der Kleij et al., 2018;Elwood, 2006), or at times even inappropriate (Van der Kleij et al., 2018), resulting in limited use of formative assessment in practice (Torrance, 2012).”
From Formative assessment: A systematic review of critical teacher prerequisites for classroom practice (2020) · cites this paper as Torrance, 2012
A key conclusion of several reviews is that how teachers implement formative assessment is critical for its potential to enhance student learning.
“A key conclusion of several reviews of formative assessment (Black & Wiliam, 1998;Torrance, 2012) is that how teachers implement formative assessment is critical for its potential to enhance student learning.”
From Formative assessment: A systematic review of critical teacher prerequisites for classroom practice (2020) · cites this paper as Torrance, 2012
Cites
Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511815355 · Cited by 33,219 · see citing works
Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007) · Review of Educational Research · doi:10.3102/003465430298487 · Cited by 12,905 · see citing works
Assessment and Classroom Learning
Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998) · Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice · doi:10.1080/0969595980050102 · Cited by 8,152 · cited 3× · see citing works
“Current interpretations and exemplifications of formative assessment, also known as ‘assessment for learning’, are often linked to Black and Wiliam’s ( 1998a ) review of the literature, subsequent developments by the UK Assessment Reform Group ( 2002 ) and associated work by Black and colleagues (e.”
BackgroundInfluentialNicol, D. J., & Macfarlane‐Dick, D. (2006) · Studies in Higher Education · doi:10.1080/03075070600572090 · Cited by 5,846 · see citing works
Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems
Sadler, D. R. (1989) · Instructional Science · doi:10.1007/bf00117714 · Cited by 4,285 · see citing works
Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards through Classroom Assessment
Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (2010) · Phi Delta Kappan · doi:10.1177/003172171009200119 · Cited by 4,231 · see citing works
Developing the theory of formative assessment
Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (2009) · Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability · doi:10.1007/s11092-008-9068-5 · Cited by 3,301 · cited 5× · see citing works
“@Practice in a classroom is formative to the extent that evidence about student achievement is elicited, interpreted and used by teachers, learners, or their peers, to make decisions about the next steps in instruction that are likely to be better, or better founded, than the decisions they would have taken in the abs…”
BackgroundInfluentialThe Role of Assessment in a Learning Culture
Shepard, L. A. (2000) · Educational Researcher · doi:10.3102/0013189x029007004 · Cited by 2,161 · cited 2× · see citing works
“More recently, interest in developing classroom assessment in the USA has merged with debates about formative assessment more generally such that US, and indeed other international interpretations of formative assessment, are now largely co-terminous with UK interpretations (Sadler, 1998; Shepard, 2000; Shavelson et a…”
BackgroundFormative assessment: a critical review
Bennett, R. E. (2011) · Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice · doi:10.1080/0969594x.2010.513678 · Cited by 1,498 · see citing works
The Impact of Classroom Evaluation Practices on Students
Crooks, T. J. (1988) · Review of Educational Research · doi:10.3102/00346543058004438 · Cited by 1,369 · see citing works
Beyond feedback: developing student capability in complex appraisal
Sadler, D. R. (2010) · Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education · doi:10.1080/02602930903541015 · Cited by 1,138 · see citing works
Teachers developing assessment for learning: impact on student achievement
Wiliam *, D., Lee, C., Harrison, C., & Black, P. (2004) · Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice · doi:10.1080/0969594042000208994 · Cited by 664 · cited 3× · see citing works
“( 2004 ) reporting empirical development work deriving from the original Black and Wiliam (1998) literature review, claim that:”
BackgroundResult
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
The power of internal feedback: Exploiting natural comparison processes
Nicol, D. (2021) · Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education · doi:10.1080/02602938.2020.1823314 · Cited by 402 · see citing works
Formative assessment: A systematic review of critical teacher prerequisites for classroom practice
Schildkamp, K., van der Kleij, F. M., Heitink, M. C., Kippers, W. B., & Veldkamp, B. P. (2020) · International Journal of Educational Research · doi:10.1016/j.ijer.2020.101602 · Cited by 330 · see citing works
Characterizing College Science Assessments: The Three-Dimensional Learning Assessment Protocol
Laverty, J. T., Underwood, S. M., Matz, R. L., Posey, L. A., Carmel, J. H., Caballero, M. D., Fata-Hartley, C. L., Ebert-May, D., Jardeleza, S. E., & Cooper, M. M. (2016) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0162333 · Cited by 262 · see citing works
A critical review of the arguments against the use of rubrics
Panadero, E., & Jonsson, A. (2020) · Educational Research Review · doi:10.1016/j.edurev.2020.100329 · Cited by 191 · see citing works
Assessment and the Co-regulation of Learning in the Classroom
Allal, L. (2020) · Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice · doi:10.1080/0969594x.2019.1609411 · Cited by 176 · see citing works
Student Perceptions of Assessment Feedback: A Critical Scoping Review and Call for Research
Van der Kleij, F. M., & Lipnevich, A. A. (2021) · Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability · doi:10.1007/s11092-020-09331-x · Cited by 189 · see citing works
Afghan English teachers’ and students’ perceptions of formative assessment: A comparative analysis
Golzar, J., Momenzadeh, S. E., & Miri, M. A. (2022) · Cogent Education · doi:10.1080/2331186x.2022.2107297 · Cited by 17 · see citing works
Dialogism in feedback literacies: a critical review
Myers, T., & Buchanan, J. (2025) · Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education · doi:10.1080/02602938.2025.2478159 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
- Authors
- Torrance, H.
- Affiliations
- Manchester Metropolitan University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Torrance, Harry
- ORCID
- Torrance, Harry
- Venue
- Oxford Review of Education
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2012-06
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 323-342
- ISSN
- 0305-4985 (ISSN-L)
- 1465-3915
- OpenAlex
- W2169512166
- Cited by
- 217
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 20 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 20 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 49.75
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Oxford Review of Education (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Student Assessment and Feedback
- Social Sciences › Education › Evaluation of Teaching Practices
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational and Psychological Assessments
- Keywords
- formative assessment, transformative assessment, higher education assessment, independent learners, assessment design, theory-practice gap
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
