Fairness in Assessment

"Fairness means that an assessment should 'allow for students of both genders and all backgrounds to do equally well. All students should have equal opportunity to demonstrate the skills and knowledge being assessed.'"
http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/assment/as5relia.htm

In order for assessment to be considered to be fair, teachers need to ensure that assessments truly math the learning objectives and also ensure that the consequences serve students and their learning; if a student does poorly on an assignment, it is only right that the student understands why they did poorly and how to correct their mistakes for next time.

Fairness in Assessment is based on how reliable and how valid an assessment is. In order for a student's work to be judged, the student needs to know what they are being asked for. Also, students' assignments need to be assessed one by one, it isn't fair to base a student's work on what kind of work they typically hand in or their behavior. Assessment needs to be consistent because if not students will slack off and not reach their full potential.