Sociocultural Implications for Assessment I

Abstract

In this chapter, I develop the implications of the earlier chapters – on sociocultural and situative perspectives – for the practice of classroom assessment. In chapter 11, Moss, Girard, and Greeno further develop the implications of these perspectives for assessment that crosses the boundaries – from the classroom to the school and from the school to the district, external organization, or beyond – to serve purposes of professional learning, evaluation, and accountability. Perhaps the central message of the previous chapters on sociocultural and situative (SC/S) perspectives is that if we want to foster learning and opportunity to learn (OTL), we need to understand the dynamic “relationship between learners and their learning environment” (Gee, this volume, chapter 4). This includes the relationship between learners and the physical and conceptual tools in their environment; it also includes the relationship between learners and the other people in their environment. In fact, from an SC/S perspective, learning is routinely conceptualized in terms of changes in these relationships. Learners participate more proficiently in the community's activities, disciplinary concepts take on new meanings as they are put to work in solving problems, and so on. Even if one views learning as change in mental representations, the mental representation can only be acquired and demonstrated through interactions between learners and the tools and/or other people in their environment. There is no unmediated access to learning (Gee, this volume, chapter 4).

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