Aligning formative and summative assessments: A collaborative action research challenging teacher conceptions

•Effective formative assessment is aligned to the summative assessment system.•AVET formative assessments are misaligned to new outcome-based summative assessments.•Assessment innovations require explicitly challenging teacher conceptions.•Bottom-up alternated with top-down activities effectively illuminate conceptions.•Required conceptual changes for more aligned assessment practices are identified.

Assessment innovations require explicitly challenging teachers’ assessment conceptions. In changing towards outcome-based curricula, aligning formative to new summative assessments is a challenge. This study, conducted in Dutch Agricultural Vocational Education and its new outcome-based summative assessments, aims to provide concrete insights into what teacher conceptions hinder the development of aligned formative assessment practices. In a structured collaborative action research, practitioners, researchers and consultants analyse teachers’ formative practices, identify underlying current conceptions and their misalignment to the new summative assessment system. An iterative process resulted in an overview of current conceptions versus required conceptions, showing required conceptual changes that are prerequisite for teachers to change towards formative assessment practices that are aligned to the new outcome-based summative assessment system.