Making sense of Assessment for Learning Ann Madgwick & Jo Walls 29 June 2007.
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Transcript of Making sense of Assessment for Learning Ann Madgwick & Jo Walls 29 June 2007.
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
www.qca.org.uk
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