Assessment as a Relational Ecosystem: What Three Longitudinal Projects Reveal Through ACCELERATE

Assessment in higher education is shaped by competing demands for accountability, equity, transparency, and responsiveness amid the rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence. Although instructors often espouse learning-centered and equity-motivated assessment values, their practices across feedback, grading, and policy frequently remain misaligned with these commitments. This article synthesizes findings from three longitudinal research and faculty development projects using ACCELERATE as an analytic lens. Across contexts, misalignment emerged not from individual resistance or lack of expertise, but from interconnected institutional and social forces, including workload pressures, institutional systems, disciplinary norms, emotional labor, and uncertainty. The synthesis advances a conceptual model of assessment as a relational ecosystem, demonstrating that assessment reforms endure only when supported by transparency, trust, coherence, and iterative community-based learning. Implications highlight how faculty developers, academic leaders, and assessment offices can strengthen assessment cultures by addressing ecosystem-level conditions rather than relying on isolated technical interventions.