Professor Paul Black

My research interests include assessment - both formative and summative - and the school curriculum in science and in design and technology.

I took my first degree in physics, and subsequently obtained my PhD in crystallography at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge in l954. Between 1956 and 1976 I was a faculty member in the Department of Physics in the University of Birmingham (England), but my interests gradually moved from research in physics to research and development in science education. I left Birmingham in 1976 to become professor of science education and director of the Centre for Science and Mathematics Education, at Chelsea College in London, and when Chelsea College merged with King's in 1985 I became the head of the King's Centre for Educational Studies, King's College London (KQC). I retired in 1995, but am still active in research and development work.

I have been a visiting professor of Education at Stanford University, California. For many years I was involved closely with curriculum development work with the Nuffield foundation in science and in design and technology, at primary, secondary and tertiary levels. I was chair of the government's task group on assessment and testing in 1987-88, and deputy chairman of the national curriculum council from 1989 to 1991. I have served on three committees on the USA national research council. I am currently engaged in research and development work to improve classroom practices in formative assessment.

You can see a selected list of my publications since 1993 here.

You can also download, at the bottom of this page, a copy of The Nature and Value of Formative Assessment for Learning, which gives a broad overview of the work of the King's group on assessment for learning.