Formative e-assessment in primary schools

1. Formative e-assessment in primary schools Juliet Sizmur National Foundation for Educational Research UK

2. Contents A formative e-assessment for primary schools Conclusions

3. Background Assessment in England (for the last 20 yrs) Statutory National tests for 11 year olds • Reading • Writing • Maths • Science (till summer 2009; 2010 national sampling) • Supported by politicians and public • Less so by the assessment academics and the teaching profession

4. Formative Assessment / Assessment for learning Assessment for Learning is the 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. (ARG 2002) http://www.assessment-reform-group.org/CIE3.PDF http://www.assessment-reform-group.org/publications.html

5. Formative assessment for learning… • is part of effective planning • focuses on how students learn • is central to classroom practice www.assessment-reform-group.org/images/Principles for website.doc

6. Formative assessment for learning… • is a key professional skill • has an emotional impact • affects learner motivation www.assessment-reform-group.org/images/Principles for website.doc

7. Formative assessment for learning… • promotes commitment to learning goals and assessment criteria • helps learners know how to improve • encourages self-assessment • recognises all achievements www.assessment-reform-group.org/images/Principles for website.doc

8. What is i-nfer plan? Currently most assessment data is used to report to external parties. NFER believes that this data should be used to make a difference in the classroom. i-nfer plan is a formative e-assessment package that helps implement Assessment for Learning (AfL) AfL

9. Conception The challenge would be to develop an automated system which gave feedback that was accurate and fine-grained enough actually to be of practical use to teachers in planning teaching and grouping children

10. Decisions and specifications • Not high stakes • Support teaching and learning by giving focused feedback • Curriculum-based: reading, mathematics, science • Curriculum topics • Before-and-after structure

11. Assessment purposesand processes

12. What does it look like? • i-nfer plan is made up of short, regular e-assessments (Challenges) • All tests are marked instantly with reports available on-line • Extensive summative reporting including levels, age standardised scores and progress measures is provided … • provides practical descriptive formative reporting helping teachers to make a difference in the classroom

13. Realisation

14. Development process • Test specification • Question generation • Think-aloud trials • Technology development • Large-scale trials • Analysis • IRT leading to scale scores • Latent class analysis

15. Progression of thinking skills • Knowledge(of basic mechanics/terms/tools - remembering) • Comprehension(demonstrating knowledge or understanding) • Application(using the knowledge or understanding) • Analysis(eliciting and answering own questions; making connections) • Synthesis(using a range of sources; forming an overview)  • Evaluation(critical review and reflection) (Based on Bloom’s Taxonomy of knowledge acquisition skills)

16. Reading topics covered

17. Mathematics topics covered

18. Science topics covered

19. Demonstration 1 • Reading challenge • Ages 7-9 • Playscripts Demonstration 2 • Reporting website

20. SupportingAssessment for Learning • Feedback is the central idea of Assessment for Learning • Assessment information can be elicited in many different ways, formal and informal • Profiles give feedback about strengths and weaknesses in words, not numbers • Suggested grouping for teaching • Next steps suggestions can be built into teaching plans • Child-speak profiles can support self assessment

21. Example profile:‘child-speak’ version Well done for completing the Reading Challenge. You are a Reasoning reader. Here are some of the things that the challenge showed about you as a reader: • You have a good understanding of what you read and know how plays are presented. • You are quite good at understanding what different characters are like. • You could take a little more time to think about what characters might be thinking and why. • You are ready to look more closely at how the author conveys character by making them behave or speak in certain ways, and how you are able to work out their thoughts and feelings.

22. What does i-nfer plan help teachers to do? i-nfer plan helps teachers to: • Integrate Assessment for Learning • Personalise learning • Support teacher assessment -By- • Knowing where pupils are • Knowing what to do about it • Knowing whether it has worked …

23. Integration

24. Follow-up research • Every school had a ‘champion’ who believed in the value of e-assessment and knew about the product One teacher, one subject, one class All teachers, all subjects, all classes

25. Case study:assessment for learning and e-assessment • Explaining learning intentions • Identifying the ‘gaps’ in children’s learning • Planning teaching to build on the strengths and fill the gaps • Giving feedback

26. Explaining learning intentions

27. Identifying the gaps For a baseline assessment in September, when you want to get the assessment done as soon as possible, so you know your next steps … just the quickness of it has been really helpful. Year 5 teacher

28. Planning teaching [These three children] all came out with the same profile. So you can look at that and group them together and say right, as a group, these children need to be working on this area. Can we do that through guided reading? Yes we can. Year 5 teacher

29. Using feedback ‘I think that’s myself …’

30. Can a formal e-assessmentsupport formative assessment? Tests do not have the immediacy of spontaneous classroom interaction, but … • Give the same information for each child • Give a well-informed starting point for observations and discussions • Give teachers a shared language • Children say they aid concentration • Have sometimes given teachers surprises

31. Conclusions

32. Is it a ‘quick fix’ that preventsteachers from developing skills? Not in the schools we have visited, perhaps because … • Decision to adopt i-nfer plan is part of thorough review of assessment policy • It is not particularly quick! • Descriptive feedback almost compels teachers to give attention to children’s learning

33. Formative e-assessment • can be used successfully to support learning in the classroom • the crucial factor is how the results are used • continuous dialogue and reflection improves motivation AND results

34. Assessment for learning:recent UK research • Focus has shifted: • from demonstrating that AfL is a good thing • to looking in detail at how to bring about change in pedagogy • Threats • Mechanistic application of techniques rather than real understanding • Fails to penetrate to all teachers

35. Thank you Department for Research in Assessment and Measurement National Foundation for Educational Research in England and Wales www.nfer.ac.uk

36. Some useful websites Assessment Reform Group http://www.assessment-reform-group.org/CIE3.PDF www.assessment-reform-group.org/images/Principles for website.doc http://www.assessment-reform-group.org/publications.html I-nfer http://www.i-nfer.co.uk/ AAIA - for some practical guidance (eg Managing AfL) http://www.aaia.org.uk/publication/