Assessment

1. Assessment

2. What is assessment ? Assessment is the ongoing process of gathering, analysing and reflecting on evidence to make informed and consistent judgements to improve future student learning.

3. Activity • In pairs or small groups, brainstorm the assessment strategies used in your school/classroom.

4. Three main purposes for assessment Assessment for learning occurs when teachers use inferences about student progress to inform their teaching. (formative) Assessment as learning occurs when students reflect on and monitor their progress to inform their future learning goals. (formative) Assessment of learning occurs when teachers use evidence of student learning to make judgements on student achievement against goals and standards. (summative)

5. Assessment for learning: • (1) • establishes a classroom culture that encourages interaction and the use of assessment tools • occurs throughout a learning sequence and is planned when teachers design teaching and learning activities • involves teachers sharing learning intentions and explicit assessment criteria with students • involves teachers and students setting and monitoring student progress against learning goals • requires teachers to ascertain students' prior knowledge, perceptions and misconceptions

6. Assessment for learning: (2) • involves teachers focusing on how students learn and how to scaffold their learning • involves teachers adapting teaching practice to meet student needs • provides sensitive and constructive feedback to students on their performance • involves teachers making formative use of summative assessment

7. Activity • In pairs or small groups, select two characteristics of Assessment for learning and discuss how these may be demonstrated in your classroom.

8. Assessment as learning: • (1) • involves students monitoring their learning and using feedback from this monitoring to make adjustments and changes to their skills and understandings • establishes students’ role and responsibility in relation to their learning and assessment • empowers students to consider strategies for learning and taking action • involves students in self-assessment and peer-assessment

9. Assessment as learning: • (2) • promotes students’ self-esteem and self-confidence through an understanding of how they learn to learn • develops students’ capacity to reflect on the learning and to contribute to their future learning goals • enhances students’ life-long learning skills • emphasises the process of learning as it is experienced by the student

10. Activity • In pairs or groups of three, use a venn diagram to discuss the relationship between assessment for learning and assessment as learning.

11. Assessment of learning: • enables students to demonstrate what they know and can do • describes the extent to which a student has achieved the learning goals, including the Standards • uses teacher judgements about student achievement at a point in time • is supported by examples or evidence of student learning • ensures consistent teacher judgements through moderation processes • is used to plan future learning goals.

12. Activity • In pairs or small groups discuss the types of assessment of learning used in your school. • How is the information/data from these used?

13. Activity • Consider your brainstorm list of assessment strategies. • Can you now categorise these into the 3 purposes for assessment? (for,as, of)

14. Questions for future consideration • Do our assessment practices make use of all three main purposes for assessment? • Do our assessment processes allow for a balance of assessment for, as and of learning? • How can assessment for and as learning (formative) assist students when it comes to assessment of learning (summative)? • What processes could our school use to align its assessment processes to the assessment advice provided by the Department?