Making sense of Assessment for Learning

1. Making sense of Assessment for Learning Ann Madgwick & Jo Walls 29 June 2007

2. Objectives Why? • To identify the key purposes for which we assess learners and learning • To understand the value of formative assessment • To ensure a shared understanding of the terms used to describe different forms of assessment • To identify a range of ways of introducing formative assessment into the classroom What? How?

3. Rationale: why Assessment ‘for Learning’? “Assessment should be a powerful tool for learning, not merely a political solution to perceived problems over standards and accountability” (ATL, Doing our Level Best, 1996)

4. Summative Assessment is important…… • External examinations at KS3 and KS4 • Teacher assessment levels at KS3 and KS4 • “Optional” tests • Examination coursework • Commercial tests • Tests created by a department to assess the learning of students • Closed questioning in the classroom testing knowledge • Grades given at the end of a significant piece of work to judge if learning has taken place. • Teacher grades given at data collection periods. • ……Will measure attainment but is not in itself intended to enable further achievement. • …….Summative assessment data CAN be used in a formative way.

5. …..AfL can help! What research tells us • AfL raises standards (1-2 grades at GCSE) (Black & William 2000) Input: Pupils (prior attainment) Assessment for Learning ‘The Black Box’ (The classroom) Output: Standards (present attainment) Output: Raised Standards “If students don’t learn the way we teach, perhaps we should teach the way they learn” (Eppig 1981)

6. Assessment for Learning: Definitions

7. Jargon - busting • Assessment of learner’s attainment • Pupil performance is compared to a set of pre-determined criteria. • Present pupil performance is compared to past performance • Initial assessment which identify’s learners needs and abilities • Assessment for learning – checking of individual progress accompanied by feedback • Pupil performance is compared to peers’ • Diagnostic assessment • Summative assessment • Formative assessment • Norm referenced • Criteria referenced • Ipsative

8. Classifying assessment Terminal Continuous Formal Informal External Internal Formative Summative Diagnostic Ipsative Criterion-referenced Norm-referenced

9. Assessment for Learning…….. … “is a process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners and their teachers to decide where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go, and how best to get there.” (Assessment Reform Group 2002)

10. Four key aspects of AfL The active involvement of pupils in their own learning www.qca.org.uk

11. Assessment for Learning: Practical Strategies

12. AfL Strategies - Eliciting information • Brainstorming what students know already • at start of topic / unit • What we already know • What we want to find out • What we’ve learned

13. AfL Strategies - Eliciting information (Questioning) • Improving teacher questioning • Closed v open • Low order v high order • No hands up • Increased wait time • Talking partners / groups • Hot seating

14. What research tells us - feedback “If you are going to grade or mark a piece of work, you are wasting your time writing careful diagnostic comments” William, 1999 • * In the case of low achievers, performance was undermined by grading with or without comments. • Butler, 1998

15. AfL Strategies - feedback “It’s neat and you’ve written a lot and it’s coloured in nicely” • Comment – only marking • Focused marking • Explicit reference to success criteria • Suggestions on how to improve “You’ve not underlined the title” ! Feedback contributes to Assessment for Learning only if the information fed back to the learner is actually used by the learner in making improvements……

16. AfL Strategies – Ensuring Learners understand what is required of them • Explaining learning objectives at start of lesson / unit • Success criteria for tasks • Expressing objectives and success criteria in students’ language • Key word displays • Planning / writing frames • Modelling / exemplars Research shows that pupils are motivated and task-orientated if they know the learning intentions and are also able to make better decisions about how to undertake the task. Briefing on AfL 2003

17. AfL Strategies – Peer and Self Assessment • Students’ assessing their own / peers work • With marking schemes • With success criteria • With grade / level descriptors in pupil language • During tasks as well as after completion • Identifying areas of good practice and areas for improvement • Self-assessment of confidence and uncertainty • Traffic lights

18. Conclusions / Ways Forward

19. Effective assessment for learning should……. • Be part of effective planning and teaching. • Focus on how students learn. • Be recognised as central to classroom practice. • Be regarded as a crucial skill for teachers. • Be sensitive and constructive (because any assessment has an emotional impact) • Take account of the importance of learner motivation. • Promote commitment to learning goals and a shared understanding of how they are assessed. • Give learners constructive guidance about how to improve. • Develop students’ capacity for self-assessment so that they can become reflective and independent learners. • Recognise the full range of achievements of all learners.

20. Further information • Formative Assessment in Action: Weaving the Elements Together. • Clarke, S (2005). Hodder Murray. • Formative Assessment in the Secondary Classroom. • Clarke, S (2005). Hodder Murray. • Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment. • Black, P & William, D (1998). London: King’s School of Education. • Learning to Learn. • www.learntolearn.ac.uk • QCA • www.qca.org.uk