Editorial: Transparency in assessment: exploring the influence of explicit assessment criteria

In many schools and higher education institutions it has become common practice to shareassessment criteria with students. Sometimes it is required for accountability purposes, at othertimes criteria are used as ameans to communicate expectations to students. Although it is generallyand widely accepted that explicit assessment criteria should be shared with students, challengesto that assumption have been made. On the one hand, research has shown that explicit criteriamay positively affect student performance, reduce their anxiety, as well as support students’ useof self-regulated learning strategies. On the other hand, there are fears that explicit criteria mayhave a restraining influence on students’ learning, as well as limiting their autonomy and creativity.Taken together, the question guiding this Research Topic is when, and under which conditions,transparency in assessment is productive for learning. The contributions to this Research Topicvary from conceptual approaches to more empirical oriented intervention studies.