Changes in the Assessment Process in Swedish Compulsory School Classrooms

This paper investigates and analyses changes in the assessment process in Swedish classrooms between two consecutive years in two schools, with students aged 11-13 years. The assessment process is defined as the relationship between learning goals, teaching, and assessment. The first year, there were quite significant differences in the assessment process between the two schools. The second year, end-of-term grading was introduced, and national tests were administered in several subjects. The studiedclassroomslargely consisted of the same individual students and teachers in both consecutive years. The study is based on classroom observations, interviews and document analysis. The results indicated that the changes in the assessment process concerned the more frequent and detailed communication of learning goals and knowledge requirements, greater emphasis on students’ understanding, more focus on discipline in schoolwork, and increased documentation of students’ subject knowledge. The changes highlight that the assessment process in the two schools had more similarities in year 6 than in year 5. The conclusion is that the implementation of end-of-term grading and national tests, which are both based on new syllabuses and knowledge requirements, have strongly contributed to the changes.