Formative Assessment: learning and teaching by responding

1. Formative Assessment: learning and teaching by responding John Pryor

2. This lecture • Teaching grandmothers to suck eggs. • Tracing some ideas that have grown mostly within an English educational context through dialogue with teachers and learners. • Talking in terms that make the ideas accessible to Icelandic teachers. • Asking you to relate this critically to own educational experience • Asking you to think about how it might help you to improve your practice.

3. When you think of Assessment You think of summative assessment = the assessment that comes at the end of a piece of work and which sums up what has been learnt – it measures, sorts, and makes decisions about success and failure.

4. Formative Assessment? • Forming judgements about student performance and learning BUT • Takes place during the teaching and learning process • Embedded in teaching and learning • Aims to affect that process • Assessment for learning or assessment for results?

5. Guiding Conceptualization • All assessment is in some way formative in that it impacts on future performance. • Formative Assessment attempts to have a positive effect. • All assessment is a social process – this aspect is salient in FA.

6. Formative and summative assessment • Relationship is problematic and shifting in practice • The dual nature of judgement: Pronouncing judgement Exercising judgment

7. Starting in the Classroom • A queue of three children is waiting to see Chris, who is sitting on a chair. Bella is the first in line. She has handed over her handwriting book and is holding a sheet of paper in her right hand. Throughout the beginning of the interview Bella has her left hand up to her head and is fiddling with her hair, twisting it round her finger. Her body is arched with her chest thrust forward and her buttocks back. • Bella I had to do them (*lot) = • Bella points to book • Chris = would that be fair to say this is probably not your best page in this book • Chris looks up from book to Bella, nodding as she speaks • Bella mmm • Bella nodding • Chris did you find it a bit tricky today • Bella mmm • Bella nodding • Chris why - cos they ‘re quite long words • Bella mmm • Bella nodding • Chris OK - • Pause for six seconds while Chris writes in Becky’s book • Chris I can see you’ve tried Bella - well done - good

8. Bella stops fiddling with her hair. and now holds piece of paper in both hands. She straightens her body. • Chris - so long as you try - all right I’m gonna give you a team point for that cos I can see you’ve tried and you’ve had to cross out and do it again so it must’ve been quite hard- yes ~ - well done - now - when your mum came to see me the other day - she she was not happy that your last topic book about animals was not finished - a lot of things were - and you came and said you were going to try harder - and I’ve looked at your topic book this time - and most of the things are nearly finished aren’t they ~ • Bella nods • Chris in fact most of them are so you actually have made a big difference haven’t you - • Chris takes piece of paper from Bella • Chris so your Mum should be pleased - so what’ve you got to do next • Bella (**) (*some writing) = • Chris is it your card • Bella (**) I’ve finished my card • Chris and I’ve got it haven’t I - yep - • Bella I’m not go = • Chris = right so which one of those things then - have a look then go for put that away - look through your topic book and see what needs doing yes • Bella walks off.

9. Chris sees another child then Mario reaches front of the queue. He hands over his book. • Chris Mario where’s the bit of paper you were copying from please • Mario walks off and returns with paper to Chris’s right hand side. Chris opens out book and pats it. • Chris - come on Mario - you should have that already - come and stand here • Chris points to left hand side. Mario moves round. Chris touches Mario on arm. • Chris right did you find this a bit tricky by the looks of it • Mario mmm • Chris mmm - seventeen - nineteen - twenty - two oh OK - what did you find the hardest thing about it - • Mario hardest thing - was that one • Mario points to the book • Chris was it - is it - is it cos the words are quite long - • Mario mmm • Chris and you find (*that they) keep going - and you want to s/ = • Mario yah and you get yer finger aching • Chris yeah - OK • Mario holds up his hand and waves his finger. Chris writes in book. At this point another teacher enters and engages Chris in a conversation about the whereabouts of the ancillary. Whilst the other teacher is still talking but has retreated towards the door, Mario says loudly • Mario (*) that’s the best I’ve done in my book

10. Chris - just a (*moment then) Mario • Meanwhile the other teacher continues to speak without interruption • Chris ah well - well - exciting stuff • Chris’s intonation is flat. • Chris sorry Mario - what did you say • Mario that’s the best piece of writing • Chris well I was going to say that - yes - I mean I mean - sometimes it’s looked a bit neater , but - I think as you’ve tried so hard I think I’m going to give you a team point = • Bella returns showing her topic book to Chris from a distance • Bella (**) • Chris looks up at Bella and points with finger at book • Chris right - well - what you need to concentrate on is - about twenty-nine colours if you can - you know how to mix them • Chris shuts Mario’s book and taps ion it . • Chris right Mario well done - team point - put that away - look in your basket for what you’ve got to do next • Mario turns and begins to go • Chris what about your mother’s card - your mother’s day card • Mario turns back • Mario (*) I’ll do that

11. What is going on? • What is Bella learning from this? • What is Mario learning? • What makes for the difference? • Can you translate this to Iceland?

12. A Conceptual Continuum To find out if the student knows, understands, can do Convergent and Divergent Assessment To find out what the student knows, understands, can do

13. CONVERGENT ASSESSMENT • Teaching session goes according to plan; • recording via check lists; • closed questioning and tasks; • Fixed, specific criteria closely related to official ones; • contrasting errors with correct responses; • authoritative judgmental or quantitative feedback; • feedback focused on task completion; • usually follows I-R-F sequence; • mainly accomplished by teacher.

14. Convergent IMPLICATIONS • Learner as recipient of assessment • Fitting learner to (linear) curriculum • Strong classification and framing • Possibly constructivist but also might conform to behaviourist or ‘banking’ model

15. DIVERGENT ASSESSMENT • flexible planning involving students; • open forms of recording; • open tasks with ‘helping’ questions; • holistic view of criteria subject to debate and negotiation; • focus on miscues; • exploratory, provisional or provocative feedback; • reflection on task and context; • dialogue between and amongst learners - exploratory talk - exploratory talk • teachers accomplished by learners, peers and teacher - in the zone of proximal development.

16. Divergent IMPLICATIONS • learners as initiators of assessments as well as recipients. • view of assessment as collaboration between teachers and students; • possibility of weak or oscillating framing and of minimization of asymmetry of power relations; • accords with social constructivist, situated or sociocultural learning theories.

17. How does this relate to your practice?

18. Processes: Criteria • T communicates or negotiates task criteria (what has to be done in order to complete the task) or negotiates them with S • T communicates or negotiates quality criteria (what has to be done to do the task well) or negotiates them with S

19. Processes: Observation • T observes S at work (process) • T examines work done (product)

20. Processes: Questioning • T asks principled question, (seeks to elicit evidence of what S knows, understands or can do: substance). S responds • T asks for clarification about process: what has been done, is being done or will be done; S replies • T questions S about how and why specific action has been taken (meta-process and metacognitive questioning). S responds.

21. Processes: Feedback • T critiques a particular aspect of the work or invites S to do so. • T supplies or invites information, correction or a counter suggestion. • T gives and/or discusses evaluative feedback on work done with respect to: task, and/or effort and/or aptitude/capability (possibly with reference to past or future achievement: ipsative).

22. Processes: Feed forward • T suggests or negotiates with S what to do next. • T suggests or negotiates with S what to do next time and discusses ways of recognizing similar contexts for knowledge in future

23. Processes: pronouncing judgement • T assigns mark, grade or summary judgement on the quality of this piece of work or negotiates an agreed one with S. • T rewards or punishes student, or demonstrates approval/ disapproval.

24. How does this relate to your practice?

25. NEGOTIATING Negotiating understandings of TASK AND QUALITY CRITERIA MAKING TASK AND QUALITY CRITERIA EXPLICIT UNDERSTANDINGS OF TASK AND QUALITY CRITERIA QUESTIONING 'Helping' and 'testing' questions OBSERVATION Processes and products But how does this relate to who I am and who I want to be? FEEDBACK AND JUDGEMENT

26. QUESTIONING 'Helping' and 'testing' questions OBSERVATION Processes and products NEGOTIATING Negotiating understandings of TASK AND QUALITY CRITERIA COLLABORATIVELY UNDERSTANDINGS OF TASK AND QUALITY NARRATING CRITERIA IDENTITIES FEEDBACK AND JUDGEMENT REALIZATION THROUGH ACTION METACONTEXTUAL REFLECTION RECOGNITIONTHROUGH REFLECTION

27. QUESTIONING 'Helping' and 'testing' questions QUESTIONING 'Helping' and 'testing' questions OBSERVATION Processes and products OBSERVATION Processes and products NEGOTIATING NEGOTIATING Negotiating understandings of TASK AND QUALITY CRITERIA Negotiating understandings of TASK AND QUALITY CRITERIA COLLABORATIVELY UNDERSTANDINGS OF UNDERSTANDINGS OF TASK AND QUALITY TASK AND QUALITY NARRATING CRITERIA CRITERIA IDENTITIES FEEDBACK AND JUDGEMENT FEEDBACK AND JUDGEMENT REALIZATION THROUGH ACTION METACONTEXTUAL REFLECTION RECOGNITIONTHROUGH REFLECTION

28. The discourses, educational texts and metadiscourses of formative assessment on socio-cultural context Educator identities: assessor, teacher, expert, learner Mediating artefacts: Tools and Signs The construction of texts, disciplinary, narrative and metacontextual Subject Object Outcome Learning – the renegotiation of identities Student identities: differing current and prospective identities Between and amongst teachers and students Division of Labour Community Rules . Institutional, disciplinary, familial and friendship communities as well as aspirational reference groups . What is legitimate in this context as the formative assessment is enacted and how this relates to wider social structures

29. Completing task in hand How can I get this done? Concrete How can I get this done well? Thinking about improvement How might I do this better How did I do that? Reflective/ discursive Making sense of criteria What does better mean? Who decides that? Why do they think it is better? How does this relate to power issues? Developing the learner identity How am I implicated in this? How does this relate to my identity? Existential/ discursive Who am I? Who do I wish to be?

30. Questions?

31. Please contact me: John Pryor j.b.pryor@sussex.ac.uk http://www.sussex.ac.uk/education/profile7478.html