Teacher assessment literacy, generally defined as a set of knowledge and skills a teacher needs to effectively enact assessment in the classroom, has been a priority in the educational policy and educational research agenda for decades. For a long time, it has been identified with standardized measurement and classroom testing. The interest in this topic is related not only to the accountability pressures and the identification of assessment as a lever for school and system reform but also to the need for teachers to support student learning by developing and implementing responsive assessments within their classrooms. Considerable efforts have been made to prepare novice and expert teachers in understanding how to deal with aspects of assessment practice and how to use the assessment results. Although the research on teacher assessment literacy is quite wide, it continues to demonstrate how teachers struggle with assessment, especially when they are required to transfer new approaches and theories into the actual classroom context. This systematic review synthetizes the literature on teacher assessment literacy considering how it has been defined and studied over the last 10 years (2013–2022). Documenting and comparing the different expressions and definitions of assessment literacy used in the 42 selected studies, this systematic review offers a detailed overview of the changes that occurred in the conceptualizations of assessment literacy. Along with the analysis of the theoretical/conceptual frameworks and research methods used to investigate teacher assessment literacy, the scrutiny of its foundational components represents a useful base to orient pre- and in-service teacher education. Against the backdrop of strengths and weaknesses of this review, research priorities and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Over the years the debate on the aims, approaches, and impacts of formative assessment has never stopped to grow. Parallel to this growth is the awareness that it is crucial to understand what conceptions teachers have of assessment in order to guarantee more effective teacher education. This paper tries to connect these two fields of research: formative assessment and teacher education through an analysis of teachers’ conceptions: What do teachers think about assessment? What aims do they pursue through it? Do teachers really distinguish between formative and summative assessment? On the backdrop of the formative assessment literature, the article reports on an exploratory research study. Limitations and issues are analysed in order to shed light on teacher education implication and on future educational research paths in the educational assessment field.

The present article reports a systematic review of the assessment literacy concept in the higher education field. The purpose of the review is to provide an updated overview of theory and research on this topic. Despite the recent changes in culture and practice in the higher education field, assessment literacy is frequently defined as a concept in its infancy. While the K-12 education and teacher training sectors have produced a consistent amount of research, assessment literacy seems to be under-conceptualized in the higher education sector. The imprecise conceptualization, ambiguous language, circularity, and lack of definitions have considerable implications for educational research and faculty members’ assessment practices. Despite the limitations of a systematic review study, this article provides a critical conceptual framework that can inform further research on assessment literacy in higher education.

Despite the strong criticisms, mass student surveys play an important role in the quality assurance process of national higher education systems. While some national higher education systems have a long history of using student surveys to inform teaching and course quality improvement (e.g. the UK, Australia), in Italy, where the quality assurance system has been put in place at both state and institutional levels, a national student survey has never been implemented. As a consequence, higher education institutions have used, and still use, only student evaluations of teaching. If, on the one hand, these local surveys tend to overlap with the rationale and structure of a national survey, on the other hand, they prevent universities from comparing quality indicators. Given the strong drive to use student surveys as a quality assurance mechanism, the present article reports a study aimed to design and probe a new questionnaire to be used at the national level. A total of 572 final year students enrolled in a public university participated in the study. Data were examined using a principal component analysis. Study results could set the groundwork for a critical debate on changes and improvements in the quality assurance process.