Assessment that doesn't turn off students

Skimming reddit revealed some thoughtful blog posts about the challenges of using assessment to support student learning. I highlight the following to provide a taste of the problem. One blog author describes the difficulty of turning formative assessment into a school exercise that turns off student engagement in learning by continually teaching to student deficits. The author recommends giving students more agency through project-based learning and better tools for self-assessment. The author is careful not to abandon the school-like "diagnostic" approaches to formative assessment entirely. Achieving a balance between diagnostic and self-guided assessment seems to be the goal to best support student learning.