The theory of culturally responsive assessment suggests that cultural minorities may suffer discrimination through specific modes of assessment such as high stakes testing. As an alternative, a number of culturally responsive modes of assessment have been proposed such as Creativity Assessment (Kim & Zabelina, 2015), Peer Assessment (Topping, 2009) and Self-Assessment (Taras, 2001) among others. Indeed, in areas of the United States, for example, culturally responsive modes of assessment are increasingly being used with, for example, indigenous youth (Demmert, 2001; Nelson-Barber & Trumball, 2007) and other ethnic minority students (Aceves & Orosco, 2014; Qualls, 1998). In Europe however, culturally responsive assessment practices are less prevalent and consequently less discussed, with some exceptions (e.g., Mitakidou, Tressou & Karagianni, 2015). Indeed, no study in Europe has looked at the various challenges and assessment strategies that teachers use to integrate cultural responsivity into their student assessments and compare the relative merit of these strategies.
As such, this report provides an exploratory analysis of methods of assessment and strategies that are used to assess diverse students in four European countries as well as the challenges and barriers to embedding culturally responsive assessment techniques in teachers’ practice. The first part of the paper provides an overview of literature relating to Culturally responsive assessment. Next, the research method used in the study is discussed. Leading on from this, using parametric and non-parametric techniques, a comparative analysis of findings derived from a survey of culturally responsive assessment practices in Austrian, Irish, Turkish and Norwegian schools is described. Finally, the paper concludes with a discussion of research findings derived from the preceding parts of the report.