Assessment for Learning: the practical implications

1. Assessment for Learning:the practical implications A contribution from Ruth Sutton March 2008

2. My task and intent • My task: to offer you ideas to stimulate reflection and conversation, and then respond to your questions • I will: review the key points of what we know from 20 years of research about Assessment for Learning, and explore the practical implications for teaching • The conversations that follow will be guided to: • encourage you to see how many of the AFL strategies you are already using, and • how you might adopt more

3. My intent: what’s the point? My intent is to keep things simple and practical, while recognising that making assessment for learning work and last in our schools is not easy or quick. AFL challenges some of our assumptions and our habits around teaching and learning, and hard-wired habits are hard to break

4. My criteria for a successful session today are: • You are clear what Assessment for Learning is really about, and why it’s worth pursuing • You have reflected on your own current teaching and found some connections between what you already do, or have at least thought about, and the strategies I’m suggesting • You’ve decided to ‘change one thing’ for yourself, or preferably with some of your colleagues, and understand that it may take a while before you feel fully confident about a different way of planning, or questioning, or marking and providing feedback. Whichever area you choose to focus on, it will mean involving your students, intentionally and thoughtfully.

5. OK then! Let’s get going… back to basics

6. Assessment of learning Checks learning to date Audience beyond the classroom Periodic Uses numbers, scores and grades Criterion/standards referenced No need to involve the learner Assessment for learning Suggests next learning Audience is teachers and learners Continual – conversation and marking Specific feedback, using words Self-referenced, ‘ipsative’ Must involve the learner – the person most able to improve learning Assessment: 2 Key Purposes

7. Why bother making this distinction? • The word ‘assessment’ has been used in our language to mean ‘judgement’, and we need to re-capture its original meaning which was much more about feedback than about ‘measurement’ • Many of us, and most children, parents and community members still react to ‘assessment’ with anxiety • So we need to be clear what kind of ‘assessment’ we’re talking about, and how the two purposes differ from each other

8. The importance of ‘purpose’ • Many teachers spend many hours each week marking students’ work • What’s the ‘purpose’ of marking? Is it for ‘grading’ (the left hand column) or for ‘improvement’ (on the right)? • If it’s for improvement, we may need to think again about why and how we ‘mark’, to make sure that we don’t waste our own time • We also need to think again about how much and how often we ‘grade’ for reporting. The purpose of reporting should be improvement: if not, why do we do so much of it?

9. Actually… maybe we should avoid the word ‘assessment’ altogether What else could we call ‘Assessment for Learning’ to clarify its real purpose? The Winnipeg Inner City project was entitled ‘Feedback for Learning’

10. The research base • We need a sound research base before we embark on something so important, and think about changing some of the fundamentals of teaching • AFL research spans 25 years, from the 1970s to now, and right across the planet • The basic principles are widely understood, but they are not so widely acted upon • Let’s look at a good summary of the principles

11. The AFL ‘Big 5’ Principles(UK Assessment Reform Group, 1999) • “The provision of effective feedback to students • The active involvement of students in their own learning • Adjusting teaching to take account of the results of assessment • Recognition of the profound influence assessment has on the motivation and self-esteem of students, both of which are crucial influences on learning • The need for students to be able to assess themselves and understand how to improve”

12. Let’s take these principles one at a time and unpick the practical implications

13. ‘The provision of effective feedback’ • To understand what ‘effective’ means, we have to remember that the purpose of AFL is improvement, not measurement, so effective feedback must be aimed at that • Take a minute: think and talk about the kind of feedback you’ve had over the years that most helped you make your work or performance better

14. Here’s what the experts say effective feedback should be… • Specific • Connected to clear criteria • Timely: received and acted upon as soon as possible • Indicative of next steps • Followed through • ‘Descriptive’ rather than ‘evaluative’

15. Descriptive Facts, not judgements Explicitly related to clear shared criteria Usually in words Includes specific next steps Evaluative Judgements, without specific detail General and overall, rather than relating to specific criteria Usually numbers (scores, grades) but can be words too, eg. ‘Good job’ Provides general goals, eg ‘Pay attention to punctuation’ but not specific advice What’s the difference between ‘descriptive’, and ‘evaluative’?

16. Sounds easy, but…… • Most of the feedback we received as school learners ourselves was ‘evaluative’, so that’s what we’re used to • Much of the feedback we provide to our students is ‘evaluative’, so that’s what we’re used to • Much of the feedback our students receive is ‘evaluative’ so that’s what they’re used to • Much of what is expected of us by school, district and provincial systems is ‘evaluative’ information • Providing ‘descriptive’ feedback takes more thought, and probably more time, so why should we change?

17. Why should we change to ‘descriptive’ feedback? • Because it enables more students to improve their work faster, and achieve more • Because it makes more students think more about their learning, and take greater responsibility for improvement • Because, after the initial struggle to change our habits, we can do a better job by working differently, not working harder

18. AFL Principle #2‘The active involvement of students in their own learning’ • These words were chosen with care: it could have said, ‘The active involvement of students in their own assessment’, but it didn’t • The message is, AFL works best where the students are encouraged to be involved in the learning process, from the start • This starts with the teacher checking what students already know, what they don’t know, and their ‘misconceptions’, and then adjusting their teaching accordingly • It has huge implications for teachers’ planning; we need to plan for learning, not for ‘coverage’!

19. AFL Principle #3‘Adjusting teaching to take account of the results of assessment’ Another implication for planning….now we want teachers to check, as they go along, for students’ understanding, and be flexible enough to adapt their teaching to meet the learners’ needs, not just plough on regardless, driven by coverage of the programme

20. How do we check as we go along? Many teachers already use simple techniques to check what’s happening in students’ heads: * ‘Thumbs up/down/sideways’ to indicate levels of grasp * Asking a key question and using students’ answers as a guide * ‘traffic lights’ shown by students to communicate easily how they’re feeling about the learning What matters is that the students are expected to reflect and respond honestly, and the teacher is able to act upon their responses

21. Planning for Learning or Planning for Coverage? It’s a big issue, and one to discuss when we break for conversation

22. AFL Principle #4‘Recognition of the profound effect assessment has on the motivation and self-esteem of students, both of which are powerful influences on learning’ What does it look like and feel like in a classroom where students’ motivation and their self-respect as learners are treated as ‘powerful influences on learning’? How about this…..

23. The well-motivated classroom • Students’ prior knowledge and experience are identified and respected in designing what we teach • Students’ varied learning styles are incorporated into deciding how we teach • Students are encouraged to understand the criteria that will be used to judge their work • Students are offered an opportunity to improve their work after feedback, just once or as much as the teacher believes is manageable and useful • Students support their peers, and expect to be supported by them • Teachers have high expectations of their students

24. Where does ‘intrinsic motivation’ come from? Self efficacy Believing in yourself as a learner Effective Feedback and the chance to act upon it ‘Locus of control’ Having some control over factors that influence your success Intrinsic Motivation Achievement

25. We are all learners! What we know about intrinsic motivation applies to us as well….

26. AFL Principle #5‘The need for students to be able to assess themselves and to understand how to improve’ Here again, the wording is deliberate…our job is to make sure that students are ‘able’ – and willing – to assess themselves If we’ve paid attention to the previous four principles, this one should take care of itself…

27. Practical implications of AFL Principle #5 • Teachers need to ‘coach’ students to become effective in critique and correction of their own and each others’ work • Students may have trouble separating feedback from friendship: first they need to learn the skills of applying criteria to work, before looking at the work of people they know • It’s essential that students understand the criteria they’re using • ‘Co-construction’ of criteria is a great place to start: the teacher uses her subject expertise to guide students towards the criteria that need to be applied, but the wording of the criteria is provided by the students • Exemplars of work are more useful to students than words on their own to illuminate and illustrate the criteria they are expected to use

28. ‘Feedback for Learning’ in Winnipeg2000-03: some key lessons • Teachers’ skills, confidence, thoughtfulness and willingness to work together are the keys to classroom change • Many fine teachers are reluctant to see themselves as leaders • Teachers have to believe that changing hard-wired habits will have a pay-off for them as well as their students: ‘what’s in it for me’ is a legitimate question • School leaders are the main change-agents in their own schools: what they understand about AFL, and what they do and say about it, matters • Schools need courage, confidence, good feedback and perseverance • Sustainable whole-school change takes years, not months, to achieve

29. Winnipeg’s ‘Ten Steps to Heaven’ • Teacher is clear about purpose and task • Teacher knows how to ‘state, share and show’ learning expectations • Teacher designs and explains ‘enabling tasks’ – that enable students to learn what we want them to learn, not just keep them busy • Teacher and students ‘co-construct’ criteria, together • Students check their work, while the task is in progress

30. ‘Ten Steps to Heaven’ Cont. • Students say what’s OK and what’s not • Students identify a next step • Students continue, and correct work so far • Students reflect periodically, with guidance from the teacher where necessary, on what they’ve learned, and how they learned it 10. Students present their learning and achievement to an audience

31. Ten steps: actions help us to remember 1. Task (clenched fist) 2. Purpose (hand on heart) 3. Share (spread your hands) 4. Small steps (down the arm) 5. Get working (turn around) 6. Look and check (binoculars) 7. Idea for improvement (finger in air) 8. Take a step towards (step forward) 9. Look back to reflect (look over shoulder) 10. Present learning (raise your arms)

32. Questions for discussion In the early years of schooling: 1. How can children be encouraged to reflect on their learning, in the simplest terms and the most basic activities? 2. How does Assessment for Learning connect with other important goals of early learning? 3. What are the roadblocks we need to watch out for at this stage?

33. Questions for discussion In elementary classrooms: • What are the most effective and manageable ways of increasing students’ involvement in their own learning? • How can/do we incorporate AFL strategies into our teaching plans? • How can/do we involve students in self and peer assessment? What successes and difficulties have we experienced?

34. Questions for discussion In secondary classrooms: • How can/do we resolve the dilemma around planning for learning vs. planning for coverage? What’s the best first step towards this? • How do/could we involve students in self and peer assessment? What successes and problems have we encountered in implementing self and peer assessment?

35. Questions for discussion For school leaders: • What do we need to do, say and ‘model’, systematically and regularly, to sustain teachers’ implementation of AFL? 2. What ‘evidence’ of AFL implementation will we look for across the school? (You’ll need to be quite specific about this)

36. Off-line discussion and responses We will leave you with your facilitators for 25 minutes: • Discuss any or all of the suggested questions • Decide the questions and suggestions you wish to email back to me.

37. Planning for learning……not for ‘coverage’ “But the dog’s not whistling” “I taught the dog to whistle!”

38. Teaching isn’t the same as learning! “I said I taught him, I didn’t say he learned it!”

39. Planning for coverage • We start by looking at the ‘requirements’ and plan to fit them all in • This usually means teaching too much, too fast • We know even before we start that some of the students won’t be able to keep up • We’re frustrated by being set up to fail

40. Planning for coverage Content is fixed Timing is tight Inflexible Students’ questions only matter if they’re within the required framework Looks neat and tidy All the space is filled Predictable and safe Planning for learning Content is decided after checking with the students Timing is looser More flexible Students’ questions provide opportunities for teaching and leaning Looks messy Some spaces are left blank: ‘it depends what crops up’ Less predictable and feels riskier

41. How do we plan for learning without taking too many risks? Find out about prior learning • We may find that we don’t need to teach some stuff • We may discover misconceptions that will need to be corrected before students can learn what we plan to teach them • Students will feel that the teaching is more tailored to their needs, and are more likely to engage with it

42. Be selective, and prioritise • Decide which bits of what you want to teach are essential: they support future learning and can’t be omitted or rushed Discuss these choices with others: we need to be sure, and we need to share ways of getting these bits across to our students Highlight these aspects so you can see how they are spaced out across the programme

43. Discuss and decide which bits are ‘important’: this means you believe they support current and future learning You are confident in these areas and know that you do a good job with them Your students usually enjoy this work and benefit from it Mark these bits in a different colour

44. Look at what’s left You now have to decide which bits are ‘expendable’, which means that you will not plan to teach them to all your students. You may have resources to help students learn these bits, which can be offered to those students who want, need, or could benefit from them, but not be part of your class teaching programme

45. Minimising the risk • Don’t go beyond 10% of the given curriculum as expendable. This may mean going back and tweaking your plans to include some bits that should not be left out • Make these decisions collectively wherever possible, pooling your expertise about the subject area to share the responsibility and ideas • Decide how you are going to deal with the expendable bits

46. The expendable bits • Don’t throw these bits away, just park them at the edge of your plans, accessible if you have the time and need to include them • Develop resources to enable some students to learn these bits without direct whole-class instruction • If the pace of learning speeds up (which it might) – then you can cover the ‘expendable bits’ with more of the students • Keep your focus on learning rather than teaching: the quality of students’ learning, motivation and confidence is more likely to increase their performance than the quantity of your teaching

47. Co-construction of success criteria • Students can engage successfully in self- and peer-assessment only if they properly understand the criteria that will determine the success of their work • For this understanding to be achieved, the following pre-conditions are important….

48. Pre-conditions for successful self and peer assessment • Teachers need to consider the distinction and connection between what they want students to DO, and what they want them to LEARN • Both activities and the learning expectations will have to be explained to the students. This is not easy as much of it will be ‘abstract’, and teachers will need to think about, plan and share their strategies for these explanations, taking account of students’ different starting points and learning styles

49. Co-constructing the success criteria • Students find it useful, where possible, to see exemplars of the expected work, rather than descriptions of the expectations in words • From a range of exemplars, provided the teacher, the students are encouraged to identify the characteristics of successful work, and the range of quality for each, or some, of these characteristics • The teacher will guide the students as much as he/she feels necessary, trying to ensure that the final wording of the success criteria is arrived at by the students themselves • The teacher and students together then test out the criteria by applying them to some work, and amend where necessary

50. Separating feedback from relationship • Many students find it difficult initially to provide objective and accurate feedback to their peers, because of their over-riding concern for relationship. They will need practice with ‘neutral’ work to develop the skill of critique, before tackling peer assessment • Teachers may also coach their students in providing effective feedback • Once the students are clear about the criteria, and have practised the skills of both critique and feedback, they are ready for self and peer assessment