Analyzing Assessment Practices for Indigenous Students

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to review common assessment practices for Indigenous students. We start by presenting positionalities—our personal and professional background identities. Then we explain common terms associated with Indigeneity and Indigenous and Western worldviews. We describe the meaning of document analysis, the chosen qualitative research design, and we explicate the delimitations and limitations of the paper. The review of the literature revealed four main themes. First, assessment is subjugated by a Western worldview. Next, many linguistic assessment practices disadvantage Indigenous students, and language-specific and culture-laden standardized tests are often discriminatory. Last, there is a pervasive focus on cognitive assessment. We discuss how to improve assessment for Indigenous students. For example, school divisions and educators need quality professional development and knowledge about hands-on assessment, multiple intelligences, and Western versus Indigenous assessment inconsistencies. Within the past 20 years, assessment tactics for Indigenous students has remained, more or less, the same. We end with a short discussion addressing this point.

A Holistic Approach to On-Reserve School Transformation: Pursuing Pedagogy, Leadership, Cultural Knowledge, and Mental Health as Paths of Change

“…Services are revised as needed through student progress monitoring, and assessments are used to compare results to curriculum/student learning goals. In our assessment process and with the assessment results and associated interpretations we used for providing guidance toward improved teaching-learning transactions, we were very sensitive and referential to the importance of communicative interactions, student growth, social relationships, and the diversity of learning as advised by those who have considered and have reported limitations of assessment practices for indigenous students (e.g., Preston & Claypool, 2021). Moreover, we were very conscious of how standardized testing is problematic for indigenous students due to the bias of westernized knowledge in the development and use many tests (Nelson-Barber & Trumbull, 2007; Philpott, 2006).…”

Methodologies to reveal young Australian Indigenous students’ mathematical proficiency

“…Internationally, there are gaps in current research surrounding assessment practices for Indigenous students (Preston & Claypool, 2021). In a systematic review, Miller and Armour (2021) analysed the methodologies of 28 empirical studies which examined the impact of teaching and learning strategies on Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student outcomes.…”

“…Drawing on sociocultural perspectives in this study, it is acknowledged that any assessment involves social negotiation (Preston & Claypool, 2021). The pursuit of equitable assessment for Indigenous students is "more of a sociocultural issue than a technical matter" (Klenowski, 2009, p. 89).…”

Climbing Back into a Canoe in Deep Water

“…By this I mean, an assessment conducted by someone other than the student. If the student determines one is necessary and wanted, the teacher might consider allowing the student to decide when the assessment takes place because in some Indigenous cultures, according to Preston and Claypool (2021), "it is Cultural and Pedagogical Inquiry, Summer 2023, 15(1), pp. 12-22 ISSN 1916-3460 © 2023 University of Alberta http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/cpi/index considered disrespectful to attempt a task before one can perform it relatively well" (p. 8).…”