Assessment for Learning Elspeth Harley DECD

1. Assessment for LearningElspeth Harley DECD How do our assessment practices help children to see themselves as confident, competent, powerful learners?

2. What is your image of the child you are assessing? ‘Our image of the child is rich in potential, strong powerful, competent and most of all connected to adults and other children’ Malaguzzi in SACSA, 2000:47

3. Assessment • ‘sits inside the curriculum and assessments not only describe learning and development in the early years, they actively foster young children’s learning and development’ Carr, 2001

4. Assessments should ‘Note what children are doing when they are at their best’ Carr, 2001

5. Children’s lively minds • Lillian Katz • We over estimate children academically and under estimate them intellectually “ one of my worries about the growing focus on academics and school readiness in programs for young children is it keeps many teachers from seeing children’s innate lively minds at work”.

6. Keeping it Complex Keeping it Connected Keeping it Credible Margaret Carr 2001 3 C’s of Assessment

7. James Greeno (1997:p 9) • ‘should we consider the major goals and outcomes of learning primarily as collections of sub skills or as successful participation in socially organised activity and the development of children’s identities as learners’? • A complex, sociocultural, view of learning outcomes requires assessment to keep it complex.

8. Keeping Assessment Complex(Carr, M 2001) It is important to try to capture and protect the complexity of what children might be learning NOT A balance between simplicity and complexity is a dilemma for us all On one hand we don’t want to be writing records that are so complicated we lose any capacity for seeing the big picture simple checklists are much less time consuming, but if what we record is too simple, then we will not in any way do justice to or respect children’slearning

10. If assessment is to make a difference it should connect with place, family and community and a clearly articulated image of the child as a learner Keeping assessment connected(Carr 2002)

11. Keeping Assessment Credible • The credibility of any assessment practice depends on what is being assessed. • We need to ask whether we are assessing valuable or powerful learning: learning that will stand learners in good stead both now and later

12. Formative assessment ‘Assessment is the way in which in our everyday practice we observe children’s learning, strive to understand it, and then put our understandings to good use’ (Drummond, 1993, p.13)

13. Cowrie (2000) summarises the formative assessment process as …. noticing, recognising and responding It is the responsive process that plays a vital role in children’s learning

14. Formative assessment implies that there are …… What next’s or possible lines of development PLODs

15. It would be absurd to proceed with formative assessment …… ‘without first calling into question our teaching (pedagogy) and without seeking, as a priority, to make the teaching experiences more interactive and richer in spontaneous feedback’ (Perenoud, 1991, p.84) What did formative assessment look like in your centre this week?

16. Group task • DECD Policy and Requirements under the National Standard and the Law • Think about the formative assessment processes you have discussed: how will they contribute to meeting policy and law requirements?

17. We cannot espouse one view of the competent child, and then use a different set of criteria for assessment The connection between assessment and children’s identities as learners (a sense of themselves as capable people and competent learners) is important Assessment should be clearly connected to our view of competence

18. What can children tell us about themselves as competent learners?

19. Purdie and Hattie (1996, p.24) ‘There is evidence from many research studies that learners’ beliefs about their capacity as learners can affect their achievement’

20. Empowerment • The early childhood curriculum empowers the child to learn and grow • Assessment contributes to empowerment when the assessment format encourages self assessment: children setting their own goals and knowing whether they are satisfied with the outcome • Self assessment by the child/student has to be seen as essential (Black and William, 1998, p.55)

21. Performance goals – learning goals • Performance goals – are about trying to gain favourable judgements or to avoid unfavourable judgements about your competence. They usually include not being prepared to make a mistake, and or believing that your ability is a fixed commodity • Learning goals – are about trying to improve your competence. They usually include being prepared to try challenging tasks that you may fail the first time and believing that you can improve your ability by effort

22. Research by Dweck and Smiley (1994) Found that when children have taken on learning goals they; ‘experience more positive affect during challenging tasks, make self instructing and self motivating statements, focus on effort and strategies and maintain or enhance their on-task performance’

23. Assessment of the kind that takes away control from the learner increases performance goals and leads to ‘surface’ learning

24. Being ‘learning fit’ Claxton (2002, p. 12) describes children who are ‘learning fit’ as knowing: • What’s worth learning • What you’re good at learning • Who can help • The best learning tool for the job • How to face confusion Revisiting stories about their own learning, where they have been working at the peak of their learning fitness, reminds learners of these features and how they can achieve them frequently

25. ‘learning fit’

26. What Can You Do With Wood? Harrison discovered the activity we had set up outside, specifically set up with him and his friends in mind. On one table I’d placed a collection of wood on another, a selection of natural materials and the glue guns. Harrison’s first instinct was to immediately begin gluing the larger pieces together. I asked him to slow down and to begin playing with wood first, to think about what he might do…which pieces was he going to use? How/where would he place them? Harrison played for a few minutes and then said he was ready to begin joining the first few pieces which formed the base. Once he’d done this he began to add corks, pop sticks and interestingly shaped pieces of wood. Some shapes didn’t stick very well so he had to problem solve what he might do differently to ensure they stuck. I talked to Harrison and the children working along side him about perspective – that is standing back to look at their work before continuing. Harrison worked on his structure for most of the session. It was then placed on the “work in progress shelf” inside so that he could return to it the following day. Other children looked at the structure and commented on how “good” it was.

27. Harrison returned to his structure over a number of days, each time adding more pieces to it, often creating structures within structures. Even the strings of glue from the glue gun were part of his project- they were Spider Man’s webs - his favourite Superhero! Harrison said “It’s a Spider man fort. He sleeps on top. He gets there by stairs” Review: Harrison worked very hard on his “Spiderman’s house”. He showed persistence, the ability to choose a project and to keep working at it until it was completed to his satisfaction even when he faced difficulty. He was able to problem solve, use trial and error, seek help from others as required and as a consequence he became more confident and his expertise grew. Harrison’s structure also shows mathematical knowledge such as shape, symmetry and balance.

28. Credibility in assessment ‘How do we know when our observations and interpretations and planned responses are faithful enough to what is valued in the curriculum that we may feel safe in acting on them, or that the legitimately interested community may act on them?’ (Carr, 2004) Carr suggests three sites of credibility for assessment: • At the level of the early childhood centre • At the level of the family • At the level of the community

29. Credibility at the level of the early childhood centre • Is it fair? • Does it make a difference? • Are there several voices here? • Can children be involved? • Does it assess what is valued in the curriculum?

30. Does it assess what is valued in the curriculum? • It is frequently argued that in an increasingly assessment orientated educational climate, if valued learning is not assessed it will disappear from the curriculum. • Therefore if we value relationships, participation and learning dispositions how will we assess these? Do we continue to assess or test knowledge of shapes, colours and letter recognition because they are easier? • What is valued in the Early Years Learning Framework? • What learning dispositions do you value as a staff team?

31. Group discussion • DECD Policy Section 6.1 and 6.2 • Discuss the statements in 6.2: what do they mean in practice? • To what extent are they evident in your centre?

32. Group Discussion • Educator Guide handout • Consider the range of strategies for documenting learning • What else could be possible?

33. Does it make a difference? • If assessment doesn’t loop back into the curriculum then we shouldn’t be wasting our time doing it. (Cowie and Carr, 2004) • Assessments need to provide a suggested way forward, a ‘what next?’ even if the direction is uncertain.

34. Research indicates that we need to trust children ……. we need to listen carefully to them write down their stories seek advice from them Authentic assessment will reflect how well we listen to children, record their stories and learning, and plan for future learning

35. Group Discussion • Framework paper • Sharing info Policy 6.3 • Trial Summative report