Spotlight

BERRY, Rita Shuk Yin
Hon. Associate Professor, Assessment Reserach Centre,
Hong Kong Institute of Education,
Hong Kong

Dr Rita BERRY is currently a Research Fellow of the Assessment Research Centre, Hong Kong Institute of Education. She has been an Associate Professor and became an Honorary Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Hong Kong Institute of Education following her relocation to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with her husband. Dr Berry obtained her doctoral title from the University of Exeter in the UK and her teaching qualifications in Hong Kong. She has led many external and internal funded research projects, including the widely recognised substantial external grant research project entitled “Assessment for Learning in Hong Kong Schools”. She is currently involved in two other projects with one focusing on linking Assessment for Learning with IT application in the classroom (GRF) and the other about field experience for pre-service teachers. She has disseminated the research findings of her projects in books, book chapters, and journal articles. The most recently published books include Berry, R. & Adamson, B. (Eds.) (2011). Assessment Reform in Education: Policy and Practice. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer and Berry, R. (2008). Assessment for Learning. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. Her latest journal articles include: Berry, R. (2011). Assessment Trends in Hong Kong: seeking to establish formative assessment in an examination culture. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 18(2), 199-211. Berry, R. & Adamson, B. (2012). Assessment reform in Hong Kong Schools. Special issue on International Comparative Perspectives on Assessment in Education, electronic journal SA-eDUC; Hargreaves, E., Berry, R., Lai, Y.C. & Leung, P. (2013). Teachers’ experiences of autonomy in Continuing Professional Development: Teacher Learning Communities in London and Hong Kong. Teacher Development, 17(1), 19-34. Two new publications (forthcoming, 2013) will have a focused discussion on Assessment for Learning (AfL) in one and Assessment as Learning (AaL) in the other. Her research interests include, in addition to AfL and AaL, classroom and school-based assessment, curriculum development and implementation, and teaching and learning concepts (e.g. learner autonomy and learning strategies) as well as TEFL. She has won the Best Article Award (by Guangdong Education Department, China), Devoted Service Award (Community Youth Club, Education Department, Hong Kong) and was listed in the 2013 Pearl Anniversary Edition for her outstanding achievements in the field of education by the Marquis Who’s Who Publications Board. Some of her publications can be accessed through her website: http://www.ritaberry.net/. Dr Berry offers different kinds of professional upgrading training for teachers, senior school personnel, educators in and outside Hong Kong. Dr Berry developed and coordinated various modules and programmes. The programme she most recently developed and coordinated was MEd “Assessment & Evaluation” specialization. She has a particular interest in linking assessment with teaching and learning, for example, integrating assessment strategies in curriculum and lesson plans to facilitate teaching and learning. Dr Berry provides consultancy services including being the consultant of a key assessment project in China, a thinking academy, and a number of projects. She has been an external examiner for PhD thesis of renowned universities. She reviews articles for international peer-reviewed journals, book proposals and book chapters for prestigious publishers, research proposals for UGC GRF and PPR applications, and research papers for international conferences including AERA and AARE. She has been an expert reviewer for a number of QEF projects. She gave numerous keynotes and public speeches in various educational occasions as well as being the discussant of keynotes in international conferences.
 
Title of Presentation
 
“Rethinking Assessment with Purpose in Mind”
 
Assessment is an intensely debated subject in education around the world. For centuries, assessment has been mainly used for selection and accountability purposes. The diverse requirements of various stakeholders regarding the information produced by assessment processes have led to strains and tensions in education systems. The last half a century saw a number of education reforms that placed assessment reforms as an important issue on the reform agenda. The highlights of this agenda include reducing excessive use of tests and examinations, and using assessment to understand and support learning, as well as using student information to improve teaching. However, some assessment practices in the classroom are much less effective than others in promoting the kinds of learning outcomes that are needed by students to-day and in the future. This session calls for rethinking the purpose of assessment. Other than for selection and accountability, assessment can be used as a tool to support learning and enhancing teaching – a conception that has come to be referred to as “Assessment for learning (AfL)”. The session will first present the changing views of assessment over time. It then delineates the conceptions of AfL through the presentation of an AfL framework which is supported by fifty AfL indicators. Knowing that teachers are an important agent to effect change, it is necessary to empower teachers with the new initiatives in their teaching and student learning.  In an investigation conducted in Hong Kong, the framework was incorporated into a teacher professional development programme. There was evidence to show that the training was useful for improving teaching and learning and that AfL can work for the betterment of teaching and learning when teachers are well informed of the AfL concepts and well equipped with the skills to translate the concepts into classroom practices.