Assessment for Learning(Assessment IS for learning)

An essential gateway ofDeep Learning

Compiled by Pamela BanksAugust 2008

Assessment for learning is a development that has already spread rapidly in the wake of the pioneering work of

Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam.

It is a sophisticated version of formative assessment in an agethat has been dominated by summative assessment.

At its core is a new way of understanding the relationship between the way teachers teach and students learn, so that assessment feeds not back to what has been done in a learning task but rather feeds forward to help thestudent learn more effectively and the teacher to contribute to theprocess of student learning by adjusting the teaching.

It is becoming clear that assessment for learning not only helps student to master the content of their learning but also to improve their meta-cognitiveskills, including the ability to learn how to learn.

"If children don't learn the way we teach..........Perhaps we should teach the way they learn" - (Eppig, 1981)

The Nine Gateways

Learning to learn

Assessment for learning

New technologies (ICT)

Advice & guidance

Mentoring

Student voice

Organisation

Workforce

Curriculum

David Hargreaves/SSAT

• Assessment today allows the 21st learner to have greater control over his/her own learning. It is an integral part of Deep Learning and those first nine gateways that a school needs to address.

Student Voice and

Assessment for Learning

and Learning to Learn

are critical

These six themes can be seen as outcomes of personalisationwhen approached through the gateways of student voice andassessment for learning. All six help teachers and students to develop a shared, richer vocabulary for talking about learning.This is probably a critical ingredient in personalising learning.

In the exploration of student voice and assessment for learning youwill also find links to other gateways, and in particular to learninghow to learn, mentoring and coaching, and advice and guidance.

EngagementResponsibility

Metacognitive skillsRelationships with staff

ResponsibilitiesParticipation

Assessment for Learning cf Student Voice. Commonalities.

There are six main themes that are shared by these two gateways.

Engagement – both increase the student’s engagement in learning, in the activities of the classroom and the life of the school

Responsibility – both increase the student’s responsibility for self, for learning and behaviour, in part by giving the student more control over them

Meta-cognitive skills – both increase the student’s control over thinking and learning

Relationships with staff – both give these relationships greater maturity, since they become more open, more honest, and more collaborative: the relationships are characterised by mutual respect, grounded in self-esteem

Social skills – in both, the student’s capacity to communicate a point of view, to construct a coherent argument, to make a presentation and to assume a leadership role are all enhancedby new interpersonal skills; and of particular importance is the capacity and confidence to talk about work and learning

Participation – in both, the student’s active participation in classroom and school is enhanced because he/she is actively involved in the design of learning, teaching, assessment and the life of the school through processes of co-construction

Diagram showing relationships of the 4 Deeps

The critical deeps

http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/curriculum/assessment/index.php?category_id=7&s=!B121cf29d70ec8a3d54a33343010cc2

Details here

A shift in focus (AifL =Assessment is for Learning)

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/assess/toolkit/ey/interactivetriangle.asp

(Audit available)

Assessment for Learning

Our teachers are really good at helping us to learn and a lot of them are using Assessment for Learning to guide us. We understand that Formative Assessment is used by our teachers to give us oral and written feedback on our progress. They use summative assessment at the end to actually grade our work.

The next 5 slides are from

Outwood Grange

secondary school.

Assessment for Learning

Our teachers have used AFL to really give us a great chance of improving our learning and, ultimately, our grades. It has worked much better than getting a grade without any explanation as to why we got the grade.

The encouraging thing is that our teachers allow us to make mistakes with out us feeling stupid. They show us how much you can learn from mistakes.

Assessment for Learning

We feel empowered by the teachers who use Assessment for Learning. It has made a big impact on our learning. We want to work with our teachers to move on from here. We want to work with our teachers to:

•Use Assessment for Learning in all areas for marking our work and for giving effective feedback

•Be positive about feedback

•Be supportive of our teachers if sometimes they make mistakes

•Listen to or read carefully advice on how to improve

•Feel confident about taking risks, making mistakes, and learning from them

•Use the guidance to match our individual learning styles

Assessment for Learning

•We want to work with our teachers to ensure consistency of assessment.

•We must have consistency so that we can recognise patterns in our learning and see clearly how we can improve.

•We want to see patterns in our learning so that we can identify our strengths and weaknesses.

•We want individual guidance to help us to improve.

Assessment for Learning

•We want our teachers to give us the assessment criteria they will use so that we can aim to meet these criteria.

•We want our classrooms to be filled with examples of good work so that we can compare our progress with it

•We want to learn how to use AFL to mark each others work

•We want to work in groups to evaluate/assess each others progress

Evaluation of Learning Journey

Name………………………………………………… Date………………………..

Rubrics choices can be: Beginner, Novice, Intermediate, Expert

Genre/ Learning Area Rubric rating

Next Steps My Thoughts Teacher Comment

ICTMovie making, Includes Design, Narrative format StoryboardingUse of Graphics / ClaymationSound

Group participation (self and peer assessment)Organisation of groupKC’s of:Relating to othersParticipating and Contributing

Sample of assessment of movies made as part of an inquiry unit. The unit incorporated narrative and ICT. Exemplars were used for the narrative rubric.

Share learn

ing

goals with

pupils

Provide

feedback and

give access

to

assessm

ents

ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING

What do we need to do?

Provide times for peer and self assessment

Use integrated data analysis to inform teaching

Help pupils

recognise the

standards they

are aiming for

Modify planning

based on assessment

information

Rachel Tilden Walker

Hart’s ladder

Consider these questions.

•Is shared decision making most beneficial to both pupils and staff in your school? •Are pupils in your school empowered when they make decisions with staff in a supportive role? •Can you determine which form of decision making best fits with your school's needs?

Use Hart's ladder as an auditing tool to tackle a controversial issue and consider which level of participation is most meaningful in your school. Hart's ladder suggests that increased participation results in greater levels of confidence and competence among pupils and an improvement in the structure and function of the school.

Hart's ladder of participation is a model for thinking about pupil involvement in school life.

http://www.teachandlearn.net/teachglobal/ca/u3/a3/int/

Feedback Based on your teaching of the last month or so, make some brief notes on the

following questions:

• How do you provide feedback to your students? (List some of the ways.)

• Roughly what percentage of your feedback is provided through the marking of written work?

• How often are marks or grades part of that feedback?

• How often do you provide feedback to students?

• To what extent do you use praise or a system of rewards to motivate students?

• Do you vary the feedback given according to the nature of the work being undertaken? (Explain.)

• Are you aware of colleagues who approach feedback differently? (Give details.) Curriculum Corporation

Keep Change Try

You might consider a Keep Change Try chart:

• Keep: things about my current feedback practice I want to keep.

• Change: aspects of my feedback practice that I believe need to change.

• Try: strategy/strategies I would like to try to improve my current feedback practice.