Knowing, discerning, and acting in pedagogical assessment: The legacy of Leonor Santos

Abstract

This text has been written as a consequence of the disappearance of our dearest colleague Leonor Santos, a professor and researcher who stood out for her recognized and unusual personal and academic qualities, and its purpose is to present and discuss significant aspects of the legacy she left us in the field of evaluation and, particularly, pedagogical assessment. Four texts were reviewed that I considered relevant in terms of their scope and the nature of their contents and that seemed to me to translate well Leonor Santos’ thoughts regarding theoretical construction and the complexity of pedagogical assessment; the quality criteria for formative assessment; and the relationships between formative and summative assessments. The analysis carried out allowed, among others, to identify the following characteristics of the work left to us by our dear colleague: a) the emphasis given to knowledge and conceptual clarification to discuss issues of interest and to progress in theoretical and practical terms; b) the remarkable consistency of her texts, always with a logical, coherent thread, highlighting the essence of the issues under analysis and always supported by empirical research that she always carried out; and c) her systematic concern for discussing issues that are not often discussed within Portuguese academic circles.