Clearly, calculators were not a fad and are not going away. So we must think about what role calculators should play in students' learning, and subsequently what role they can play in assessment. Know which tool to use. Basic facts are important. But it is equally important for today's students to know and demonstrate their ability to select the appropriate tool to help them solve a problem, whether it be their own intellect, paper and pencil, a calculator, or something else.
Calculators can aid struggling students.
If you know that a student is struggling with computation, you don't need another experience to tell you that again. Using a calculator to overcome the computation hurdle can provide a way for such students to show you what they do know and can learn about mathematics. Tackle the right questions. Mathematics is more than computation. With calculators, students can spend less time thinking about steps in an algorithm and more time thinking about the underlying mathematics.