Reconfigurations of Assessment? A Sociological Perspective on AI-based Assessment in Education

AI is increasingly used in educational assessment. Teachers employ LLM-based tools to evaluate assignments, formative assessment tools give feedback to learners and yield learning analytics, and AI-based standardised tests measure individual competencies. Although assessment plays a vital role for learners’ futures, these developments have hardly been addressed. Critical Edtech Studies, on the one hand, have profoundly investigated AI’s arrival in teaching and learning, but have dealt with specific questions of assessment rather marginally. Sociology of Assessment, on the other hand, has widely neglected the use of AI. In response to this gap, this article addresses the role of AI in educational assessment from a sociological perspective. Combining insights from both Sociology of Assessment and Critical Edtech Studies, it develops the conceptual framework of assessment ecologies to capture potential reconfigurations of accountability, professional practice and equity in education – and thus contributes to the emerging sociology of AI in education.