Assessment and Assessment for Learning

Assessment is the means we use to gather information about how much the learners have learnt (Criticos, Long, Moletsane, Mthiyane and Mays, 2009) its wider focus is on performance of learners required for promotion, school statistics and for planning teaching it is done at the end of teaching-learning i.e. summative assessment (e.g. through tests). Ideally it should also be done during teaching-learning i.e. formative assessment (e.g. through traffic lights)

Assessment for Learning (AfL) 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 next,  and how best to get there. (Assessment Reform Group, 2002)

Interactive Teaching requires Assessment for Learning (AfL) Read the 3 small bullet points in the definition of AfL (on the previous slide) again to understand why interactive teaching requires AfL. Our emphasis will be on AfL from here onwards…

Principles of AfL It is part of planning Focuses on how pupils learn It is central to classroom practice It develops capacity for self and peer assessment It recognizes all achievement (not just cognitive learning) It is a key professional skill Gives importance to learner motivation Promotes sharing of goals and success criteria with learners Provides guidance on how to improve (through feedback) It is sensitive towards learners and constructive for learning

AfL strategies: (How to achieve authentic AfL…) Adjust teaching to learning. Clarify learning intentions and model quality of intentions. Use questioning and classroom dialogue. Give quality feedback. Promote peer and self assessment.

AfL imperatives/essentials: (What should be done for authentic AfL…) Make learning explicit. Promote learning autonomy. Focus on learning rather than performance.

How AfL fits into the OER4Schools programme Different AfL strategies will be discussed over the coming sessions for Unit 4. But there is one strategy that has already been discussed in detail: Questioning and Classroom Dialogue (Unit 2). We will briefly revisit it today in relation to its use for AfL.

AfL Strategies in Teaching-Learning Cycle Reproduced from: CCEA: AfL Guidance KS 1-2 – 2007 (p.7), with the kind permission of the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment.

Questioning and Dialogue Questions for AfL promote thinking and illustrate understandings and misunderstandings e.g. shade ¼ portion in the given figures: Questions for AfL involve everybody especially in thinking. Some ways of achieving this are: ‘No hands up’, use of mini blackboards and increased ‘wait time’. Dialogue in the classroom for AfL promotes learning autonomy as classroom culture. Some activities are: debates and magic microphone.

Creating Questions for AfL Blooms’ taxonomy Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation (see VVOB questioning handout p 3-6) Socratic questioning Qs of clarification Qs that probe assumptions Qs that probe reason and evidence Qs that probe implications and consequences Qs about viewpoints or perspectives Qs about the question

Self-assessment On your Traffic Lights show your understanding of AfL now. Think of all points that have been discussed: Assessment and AfL, Principles of AfL, AfL essentials, AfL strategies and The strategies embedded in the teaching-learning cycle Questioning and Dialogue for AfL

Acknowledgements We are grateful to Dr. Sue Swaffield, Senior Lecturer in Educational Leadership and School Improvement at Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge for suggestions and allowing us to use some of her slides in this presentation. Some parts of this presentation have been adapted or reproduced from: CCEA: AfL Guidance KS 1-2 – 2007, with the kind permission of the Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment.