Making sense of Assessment for

Learning

Ann Madgwick & Jo Walls

29 June 2007

Objectives

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

Why?

What?

How?

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)

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.

…..AfL can help! What research tells us AfL raises standards (1-2 grades at GCSE)

(Black & William 2000)

‘The Black Box’(The classroom)

Input:Pupils

(prior attainment)

Output:Standards

(present attainment)

Output:Raised

Standards

Assessment for Learning

“If students don’t learn the way we teach, perhaps we should teach the way they learn”

(Eppig 1981)

Assessment for Learning:

Definitions

Jargon - busting Diagnostic assessment

Summative assessment

Formative assessment

Norm referenced

Criteria referenced

Ipsative

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’

Classifying assessment

Terminal Continuous

Formal Informal

External Internal

Formative

Diagnostic

Summative

Ipsative

Norm-referenced

Criterion-referenced

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)

Four key aspects of AfL

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Eliciting information Appropriate feedback

Ensuring learners understand what is

required of them

Peer and self assessment

The active involvement of pupils in their own learning

Assessment for Learning:

Practical Strategies

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

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

What research tells us - feedback

Given comments only Performance improved by 33%

Given grades only Performance declined slightly *

Given grades and comments

Performance declined significantly

* In the case of low achievers, performance was undermined by grading with or without comments.

Butler, 1998

“If you are going to grade or mark a piece of work, you are wasting your time writing careful diagnostic comments”

William, 1999

AfL Strategies - feedback

Comment – only marking Focused marking Explicit reference to success criteria Suggestions on how to improve

“It’s neat and you’ve written a lot and it’s coloured in nicely”

“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……

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

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

Conclusions / Ways Forward

Effective assessment for learning should…….

1. Be part of effective planning and teaching.2. Focus on how students learn.3. Be recognised as central to classroom practice.4. Be regarded as a crucial skill for teachers.5. Be sensitive and constructive (because any assessment has

an emotional impact)6. Take account of the importance of learner motivation.7. Promote commitment to learning goals and a shared

understanding of how they are assessed.8. Give learners constructive guidance about how to improve.9. Develop students’ capacity for self-assessment so that they

can become reflective and independent learners.10. Recognise the full range of achievements of all learners.

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