By way of introduction, I can say the word "assessment" is not very attractive for me, because a number of key issues arise from my mind; nervous, fear to fail, angry to be typecasted or that my potencial could be neutered as a result of be assessed (or more suitable tested). There is a clear distinction between assessement and test, which is actually what makes me feel like that, the thing is that both concepts are mistakenly taken as synonims.
For the great majority of people assessment must be presented in any academic context, and after reading to Genesee and Upshur I agree; it seems to me that assessment is like doing research for going a step further in the process of teaching and learning. The gist of the matter is that the objectives of the assessment are limited to get a score to fill an academic requirement at the end of the course, which actually would be testing.
To reach the decision making stage, I really want to believe that the teacher asked to his students which got a low score in the test if they were tired the day of the test, or just that he took into account all the different contexts in which each student in his class live, in order to enhance the student learning and his own performance as a teacher.
But not, may be it happens in institutions which I do not know, because I have been assessed...or tested... for about 20 years of my life, and no one took into account my context and background when I got a low score. I want to think that those procedures are used for a special case in which a special student has serious problems in his performance. So, I was not as bad as them.
When we look classrooms with 40-50 students, it seems to me that commitment must exists not only from the teacher (who is a key agent) but from institutions and beyond, the educational system, not only testing but also and really important, assessing students; and as a result of a good assessment, it can be useful to improve teacher instruction and to enhance students learning process.
