This dissertation, "A Comparison of Teachers' and Students' Perceptions of the Purpose and Value of Assessment Within Project Work" by Kit-ling, Lena, Chow, 周潔玲, was obtained from The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong) and is being sold pursuant to Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License. The content of this dissertation has not been altered in any way. We have altered the formatting in order to facilitate the ease of printing and reading of the dissertation. All rights not granted by the above license are retained by the author. Abstract: ABSTRACT of thesis entitled A Comparison of Teachers' and Students' Perceptions of the Purpose and Value of Assessment within Project Work Chow Kit Ling Lena For the degree of Master of Education at the University of Hong Kong August, 2004 This study explores the perceptions of teachers and students of assessment within project work. Project work has been stipulated as a key learning task to help students develop independent learning capabilities in the current curriculum reform in Hong Kong. To support this, the reform calls for a new mode of project assessment focusing on learning process and feedback. The research objectives were to: (1) unveil and compare teachers' and students' perceptions of the purpose and value of project assessment; (2) identify factors that explained their varied perceptions of assessment; and (3) develop a grounded theory of the ways that participants' perceptions were affected. The study takes the form of an interpretative investigation of a case study using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Data were collected from a questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews, supplemented by document analysis. Grounded theory is used to derive theory inductively from data collected. The findings reveal that both teachers and students perceived the objectives of project work as being to help students improve learning skills and develop an active and self-learning attitude, which were broadly speaking congruent with the intended official purposes. Teachers' and students' perceptions of the value of assessing project work were generally positive, although the actual improvement was not as great as teachers had expected. Their perceptions of the top four important purposes and ratings of values of assessment of project work were similar. Differences were found but the discrepancies were relatively small. Several factors such as teachers' beliefs and experience, students' abilities and attitudes, and school's assessment policy and design of project programme were identified as possible explanations of varied perceptions of teachers and students. A few issues such as the role of a teacher- advisor, lack of clarity of assessment criteria and insufficient time for progress meetings were noted as affecting participants' perceptions of the project assessment negatively. A model developed from the data is expected to provide a framework for individual teachers, project work leaders in school and education officers to consider, when designing and implementing project work and its assessment, to understand participants' perceptions at the frontline. Understanding of the factors in the model can facilitate implementation and help to avoid problems. To implement formative assessment successfully, summative assessments and beliefs of both teachers and students need to change in order to cope with the new expectations in education. School policy, teachers' understanding and interpretation of the role of assessment, and teachers' professional development are important catalysts. i DOI: 10.5353/th_b3015294 Subjects: Project method in teaching - China - Hong Kong Grading and marking (Students) - China - Hong Kong Junior high school teachers - China - Hong Kong - Attitudes Junior high school students - China - Hong Kong - Attitudes