Many of the books listed in the section above giving an overview of assessment and key issues cover summative purposes.
Statutory requirements, information and guidance about national assessment are published annually by each jurisdiction. For England, the Standards and Testing Agency, an Executive Agency of the Department for Education, sets the test to assess children in education from early years to the end of key stage 3.
Cooper and Dunne explore the difficulties that children have when faced with maths tests and tasks couched in 'everyday realistic situations'. Drawing upon test and interview data the authors conclude that 'realistic' items prevent children demonstrating the knowledge and understanding that they possess.
Cooper, B., & Dunne, M. (1999). Assessing Children's Mathematical Knowledge: Social Class, Sex and Problem-Solving, Buckingham: Open University Press.
A booklet by the Assessment Reform Group considers how to arrive at a comprehensive summative assessment system based on teachers’ judgements.
ARG (2006) The Role of Teachers in the Assessment of Learning, London: Institute of Education. http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/sites/default/files/files/The-role-of-teachers-in-the-assessment-of-learning.pdf
A book that promotes the development of teacher assessment, drawing on the analysis of more than a dozen research projects, is:
Gardner, J., Harlen, W., Hayward, L and Stobart, G. with Montgomery, M. (2010) Developing Teacher Assessment, Maidenhead: Open University Press.
