Introduction by the Series Editors.-  Acknowledgements -- List of Contributors -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- About the Contributors -- SECTION 1: Theory of Self Directed Learning Oriented Assessment -- 1. Assessment Reform in the Asia-Pacific Region: The Theory and Practice of Self-directed Learning Oriented Assessment -- 2. Assessment, Standards-Referencing and Standard Setting -- 3.  Rapid Dynamic Assessment for Learning -- 4. Standardized Diagnostic Assessment Design and Analysis: Key Ideas from Modern Measurement Theory -- 5. Application of the DINA Model Framework to Enhance Assessment and Learning -- 6. Theory of Self-Directed Learning-Oriented Assessment: A Non-Technical Introduction to the Theoretical Foundations and Methodologies of Cognitive Diagnostic Assessment -- 7. Getting to the Core of Learning: Using Assessment for Self-monitoring and Self-regulation -- 8. Metacognitive Self-Confidence in School-Aged Children -- SECTION 2: Tools for Implementing Self Directed Learning Oriented Assessment -- 9. Using Item Response Theory as a Tool in Educational Measurement -- 10. A Concurrent-Separate Approach to Vertical Scaling -- 11. Student-Problem Chart: An Essential Tool for SLOA -- 12. Using User-defined Fit Statistic to Analyze Two Tier Items in Mathematics -- 13. Dynamic Assessment of Learning Potential -- 14. Exploiting Computerized Adaptive Testing for Self-Directed Learning -- SECTION 3: Case Studies of Self Directed Learning Oriented Assessment in the Region -- 15. Learning Assessment Reform in Thailand -- 16. Concerns of Student Teachers: Identifying Emerging Themes through Self-assessment -- 17. Informing Learning and Teaching Using Feedback from Assessment Data: Hong Kong Teachers’ Attitudes towards Rasch Measurement -- 18. Accelerated Approach to Primary School English Education in China: Three Case Studies -- 19. Physical Education in Higher Education in Hong Kong: The Effects of the Intervention on Pre-service Sports Coaches’ Attitudes towards Assessment for Learning used in Sports -- 20. The Case of St Margaret’s Girls’ College: How SLOA Promotes Self Assessment and Peer Assessment to Enhance Secondary School Student English Learning -- Index.

The Asia-Pacific region needs to maximize the benefits of education to enable it to compete in an economic future dominated by innovation, in which assessing student progress must be an empowering rather than delimiting factor. This detailed exposition of the theoretical basis and application tools of self-directed learning-oriented assessment (SLOA) reflects the very latest research championed by the Assessment Research Centre at The Hong Kong Institute of Education. Featuring a range of relevant case studies, it explores the varied theoretical issues related to SLOA and offers an integrated view of the system fully in line with the constructivist paradigm of learning which advocates formative rather than summative assessment. Many of the initiatives outlined here are firsts in the region. SLOA is already being applied in many schools with links to the ARC. It is an approach to assessment that acknowledges the centrality of self-directed learning and which positions assessment as a tool to enable and enhance self-directed learning. It draws on several theories of learning and assessment, including the constructivist notion that learning is best achieved when students take ownership of their educational process, setting their own goals and monitoring their own progress towards those goals. SLOA has been the research and service approach of the ARC since 2005. In the intervening years the centre has developed a number of tools to facilitate SLOA learning and assessment, including vertical ability scales, teacher-friendly computer software and packages for self-directed learning.