Classroom Assessment Teaching vulnerable learners and those on community orders or probation 1

Classroom Assessment

Teaching vulnerable learners and those on community orders or probation

1

Classroom Assessment (CA)

This session will cover• What classroom assessment is• Formative and summative assessment• What classroom assessment is for• How it works• Three key types of classroom assessment

2Classroom assessment

This session

• Does not cover diagnostic assessment (eg. for dyslexia)

• Such assessment is usually referred to a specialist

• Does not cover exit qualifications


Suggested starter activity

• Set a short quiz about assessment in teaching and learning, to be answered in pairs:– What is assessment for?– Who does it, and to whom?– When does it happen?– Make a list of 10 examples of activities through which

assessment takes place

• Use the answers for classroom discussion


Classroom Assessment: what is it?

• It is a key element of effective teaching and learning• Classroom assessment is formative rather than

summative• It applies to any subject being taught• It goes on all the time• It gives teachers information about how to focus their

teaching more accurately• It helps learners understand more about where they

are trying to get to, and how they can help themselves to get there


Classroom Assessment: what is it?

• It depends on practical classroom activities, often collaborative

• It involves interaction and usually dialogue between learners and the teacher, and between learners

• Three types of classroom assessment are: 1. Giving constructive qualitative feedback on tasks

2. Effective and purposeful classroom questioning

3. Practice in self- and peer-assessment

(activities for each of these later)


Formative assessment

• Formative assessment is continuous, and is designed solely to support learning

• It helps teachers adjust their teaching so that it is more effective

• It helps learners understand where they are trying to get to and how to get there – it helps them become autonomous


Why use formative classroom assessment more than summative?

• Summative assessment is primarily about grading and certification rather than learning

• Too strong a focus on summative assessment can hinder or even diminish effective learning

• Pause to write down what you think classroom assessment is for


What classroom assessment is for1. It helps learners to set and clarify their learning goals, both short-

and longer-term, and how to achieve them

2. It helps learners to become better learners, by giving them the understanding to direct their own learning and achieve their goals

3. It helps teachers to continuously adjust their teaching so that it is more effective, by giving them more complete information about what learners understand

4. It gives learners the chance to use their skills and knowledge, and to evaluate their own performance and that of others, which helps their fluency in using their learning in real life


Initial (formative) assessment

• Initial formative assessment is not just a procedure for finding out which level the learner is at

• The initial assessment process often includes a preliminary discussion of learners’ longer term goals

• For learners with a criminal record, discussion should take account of the impact of their criminal record on longer term goals, such as jobs that will be less easily accessible, and information the learner may need on disclosure (for more on disclosure see the ‘Employer engagement and exit strategies’ CPD session)

• These discussions probably need revisiting: learners repeatedly report that they have no recollection of initial assessment (Tett et al, 2006; Canton et al, 2011; OFSTED, 2011)


Activity 1: your organisation

Pause here for a brief discussion and make any notes for action:

•In your organisation, is initial assessment conducted by the teacher or someone else, e.g. Youth Offending Team or Probation?

•If someone else, is the teacher informed?

•Is someone in the organisation aware of extraneous factors that may impact on learners (eg housing, financial difficulties, drug use)? Is there a system for supporting learners with these issues?


What initial formative assessment is for

• Aims directly to support learning because it:– Helps learners to set and understand learning goals for

themselves, through interaction with the teacher– Helps teachers and learners better understand where the

learner is now, which is much more complex than ‘at level 1’– Starts a dialogue between teacher and learners about their

learning, which is continued in questioning and feedback– Helps teachers to design appropriate learning activities and

tasks


Continuous formative assessment (1)

• Lesson planning needs to focus not only on curriculum content but on day-to-day classroom activities, informed by continuous assessment

• Classroom activities are designed to be engaging and to develop learners’ knowledge and understanding

• Activities involve the production of something: eg a model, a picture, a presentation, a solution to a problem, a performance, a piece of writing. This may be collaborative and require cooperation between learners


Continuous formative assessment (2)

• The teacher observes the learners working on the activity, and makes assessment of – their approaches– their levels of understanding– their skill

• During and after the activity, the teacher asks questions to get learners to reflect on and think about their work: typically these questions are open-ended

• The teacher gives constructive, qualitative feedback on the work to help learners see possible improvements

• The teacher organises evaluation by the learners of their own and each other’s work


Feedback: small group discussions

Pause here to discuss:•What are the purposes of feedback?•Who gives feedback?•When is feedback given?•How is feedback given?•What forms does feedback take?


Key types of classroom assessment: how to give feedback• Focus on the task rather than the person• Be precise, constructive and practical, on how the work can be

improved• Be honest and authentic: the learner must believe you• Give feedback as soon as possible• Relate feedback to success criteria and to the learner’s goals• Set follow-up tasks to ensure that feedback is acted on• Feedback should reflect high expectations of the learner, and

should not be patronising• Giving praise may be a good idea, but on its own praise does

not support learning• Do not give grades


Some research findings on feedback

• Here is a research scenario:Three groups studying the same qualification were given different types of feedback

One group was given grades only

One group was given written constructive feedback only

One group was given both grades and written feedback

• Which group did best?• Which group did worst?• Pause to discuss, and then see the next slide


Some research findings on feedback 2

• The group getting only the written feedback did best. The other two groups both did equally less well.Butler, R. & N. Mordecai (1986). Effects of no feedback, task-related comments, and grades on intrinsic motivation and performance, Journal of Educational Psychology 78(3): pp. 210-216

• What we can conclude from this:– Qualitative feedback is better for supporting learning than grades– If you give grades, students will ignore any qualitative feedback you

give them as well. – So: don’t give grades if you can avoid it!


Activity 2: Feedback

• Refer to Classroom Assessment – activities, and go through the small group discussions under ‘Giving effective feedback’. (30 minutes)


Questions in class

• Why are classroom question asked?• Who asks classroom questions?• Who gets asked classroom questions?• When are questions asked?• How are classroom questions asked?• Are some questions more useful to support learning

than others?


Key types of assessment: Questioning (1)• Teachers need to develop a repertoire of questioning

techniques, and share ideas with colleagues to develop this repertoire

• The best questions are open. They require learners to think about the problem and to find their own words to answer it

• Do allow time for learners to think before answering. This gives a very strong message that the point of the question is to help learning, rather than just getting the right answer. How much time should you wait?

• Make use of directed questions, to specific individual named learners, rather than always asking the whole class.


Why does asking questions support learning?

• To check learners’ knowledge• To check learners’ understanding (‘wrong’

answers are also helpful)• To focus learners’ attention• To aid memorisation • To encourage a spirit of enquiry• To develop communication and discussion skills• To challenge thinking• To encourage collaborative learning


Techniques for questioning learners

• Challenging (how did you do it/why did you do that?)

• Checking (how do you know…?) • Uncovering thinking (can you explain this?)• Offering strategies (have you thought about….?) • Re-assuring (are you happy with that?)• Sometimes a ‘devil’s advocate’ question (what

makes you sure?) • ‘Going beyond’ questions: (how does this idea

connect with …?)


Activity 3: classroom questioning and dialogue

• Refer to Classroom Assessment – activities, and go through the section on Classroom questioning and dialogue (30 minutes)


Self- and peer-evaluation

Here are some questions for you to reflect on, alone or in a small group:•Why is it important to get students to evaluate their own work and that of others?•Who assesses?•Who gets assessed?•When does classroom assessment take place?•How can learner assessment be organised?•Have your learners been engaged in assessment? How?


Key types of classroom assessment: Self- and peer-evaluation

• Self- and peer- evaluation helps learners to practice and develop their capacity to make critical, aesthetic and practical judgements of the quality and effectiveness of their developing skills and knowledge

• Developing these abilities often implies the need to go beyond the formal requirements of the course


Why do self- and peer-evaluation?

• Learners need to be able to use their new skills as confidently and fluently as possible when they do not have the support of the class and the teacher

• They need to develop the ability to perform and simultaneously to evaluate their performance


Self- and peer-evaluation techniques

Learners could

• Discuss and evaluate formal assessment criteria

• Develop their own assessment criteria

• Evaluate their own and other learners’ tasks, against different criteria of quality

• Evaluate and give feedback on ‘exemplar’ pieces of work at a range of standards

This is particularly effective following collaborative group tasks


Activity 4: Self- and peer-evaluation

• Refer to Classroom Assessment – activities, and go through the section on self- and peer- assessment (30 minutes)


Final assessment and exit from the course

• Exit from the course may involve completion of qualifications

• Do the qualifications match well with learner goals?• Are the qualifications valued by further

education/training or employers?• What else will learners have got from the course

besides qualifications?


Summing up

• Learning is work: it is work done by learners, not by teachers

• This approach emphasises that planning should focus primarily on what learners will be doing, not what the teacher will be doing

• It is based on the best research on effective teaching and learning

• It involves practical tasks leading to feedback that can motivate learners, give them confidence, and build their fluency and autonomy

• Research suggests this approach is most beneficial for learners lacking in confidence and self-esteem


Materials in this CPD were devised by: Brian Creese (numeracy), Jay Derrick (assessment and embedding), Jane Hurry (motivation and exit strategies), Maria Kambouri (ICT), Irene Schwab (literacy) and John Vorhaus (continuing professional development and learner contexts) at the Institute of Education.

Helpful suggestions and comments were made by Joe Shamash and Olivia Varley-Winter at City & Guilds Centre for Skills Development.

If you would like to contact us please email

Jane Hurry at [email protected]


mailto:[email protected]

The CPD FrameworkAn outline of the sessions


Documents

Classroom Assessment Teaching vulnerable learners and those on community orders or probation 1