ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses syntheses of research from human development, various fields of psychology and neurosciences, and the learning sciences that together are currently being captured as the Science of Learning and Development or SoLD. The review of SoLD findings is the basis of recommendations for a broader view of assessments in education with regard to outcomes and design. While most assessments in education focus on cognitive outcomes, SoLD leads to a consideration of a broader conception of what contributes to displays of knowledge competencies. Contributions to displays of knowledge include multiple dimensions of identity, perceptions of tasks and settings, the emotional salience attributed to experiences of learning and testing, epistemological orientations, growth mindsets, and one’s sense of self-efficacy. SoLD also affirms that how learning unfolds across multiple spaces is not restricted to schooling, occurs across multiple timescales, and is differentiated within and across where learners are in the life course. The chapter includes exemplars of assessments and related pedagogical practices that build on these understandings from SoLD. The argument fundamentally is that in order for educational assessments to help stakeholders better understand contributions to learning, such assessments need to be designed to better capture the breadth of what is entailed in human learning and development.
