ABSTRACT
Using the sub-Saharan ethic of ubuntu as a conceptual lens, this chapter focuses on the experiences of 50 kindergarten to Grade 12 (K–12) teachers who were involved in emergency remote (ERT) teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were interviewed in the summer of 2020 about their experiences of assessing their students. They expressed profound unease with the quality of assessment that they were able to enact during ERT. They faced difficulty ensuring that their assessments in the moment were sufficient to gauge student needs, that their grading was accurate (i.e., reflective of students’ actual knowledge, skills, and understanding) and equitable (students’ academic needs were being met), and that their determination of student well-being met their standards of care. Ubuntu highlights the role of assessment in creating and maintaining a healthy classroom community and the role of community in supporting caring, accurate, and equitable assessment. Implications for teacher education and assessment in online environments are provided.
