Understanding and Using Assessment for Learning
Understanding and using Assessment for Learning strategies
Introduction
What does assessment mean?
The word ‘assessment’ can mean almost anything if we are not careful, and therefore it is imperative that we are careful when attempting to define its boundaries. Lambert and Lines (2000) define assessment as “the process of gathering, interpreting, recording and using information about pupils’ responses to educational tasks”. While this is an acceptable definition of assessment (as regards an educational definition), Graham Butt (Into Teaching: Part 2) expands on this definition by proposing that assessment has four main roles within teaching and learning. Firstly, it provides feedback to teachers and students about each child’s progress in order to shape their future learning (a formative role). This is very similar to the diagnostic role of assessment in pin-pointing the precise cause of a child’s difficulty. The second role of assessment is that it provides information about the level of students’ achievements at a particular point, for example at the end of a school year or at the end of a Key Stage (a summative role). The third role of assessment is as a tool by which selection by qualification can be achieved (a certification role). Finally, assessment helps people to judge the effectiveness of the education system as a while (an evaluation role). Prior to the work of Black and Wiliam (1998) very little was known about the formative role of assessment within teaching and learning, and it was clear that by 1997 the assessment emphasis within England and Wales was clearly focused on summative assessment practices such as end-of-key-stage levelling rather than an ongoing understanding of pupil learning and understanding. The work of Black and Wiliam (1998) was crucial in raising the profile of formative assessment, or ‘Assessment for Learning (AfL)’, in UK schools, and it is this formative role of assessment that shall form the basis of the
Introduction
What does assessment mean?
The word ‘assessment’ can mean almost anything if we are not careful, and therefore it is imperative that we are careful when attempting to define its boundaries. Lambert and Lines (2000) define assessment as “the process of gathering, interpreting, recording and using information about pupils’ responses to educational tasks”. While this is an acceptable definition of assessment (as regards an educational definition), Graham Butt (Into Teaching: Part 2) expands on this definition by proposing that assessment has four main roles within teaching and learning. Firstly, it provides feedback to teachers and students about each child’s progress in order to shape their future learning (a formative role). This is very similar to the diagnostic role of assessment in pin-pointing the precise cause of a child’s difficulty. The second role of assessment is that it provides information about the level of students’ achievements at a particular point, for example at the end of a school year or at the end of a Key Stage (a summative role). The third role of assessment is as a tool by which selection by qualification can be achieved (a certification role). Finally, assessment helps people to judge the effectiveness of the education system as a while (an evaluation role). Prior to the work of Black and Wiliam (1998) very little was known about the formative role of assessment within teaching and learning, and it was clear that by 1997 the assessment emphasis within England and Wales was clearly focused on summative assessment practices such as end-of-key-stage levelling rather than an ongoing understanding of pupil learning and understanding. The work of Black and Wiliam (1998) was crucial in raising the profile of formative assessment, or ‘Assessment for Learning (AfL)’, in UK schools, and it is this formative role of assessment that shall form the basis of the
Bibliography: Assessment Reform Group (1999) Assessment for learning: beyond the black box. University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education. ISBN: 0856030422. Assessment Reform Group (2002) Assessment for Learning: 10 Principles. University of Cambridge: Cambridge, available from aaia.org.uk Black, P.J Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B. and Wiliam, D. (2002) Working inside the black box: assessment for learning in the classroom. London : School of Education, King’s College. ISBN: 1871984394 Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B Butler, R. (1988) Enhancing and undermining intrinsic motivation: the effects of task-involving and ego-involving evaluation on interest and performance. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 58: 1-14 Clarke, S Gardner, H. (1983) Frames of Mind. Basic Books Lambert, D and Lines, D (2000) Understanding Assessment: Purposes, Perceptions, Practice Rowe, M.B. (1974) Wait time and rewards as instructional variables, their influence on language, logic and fate control. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 11: 81-94 Stiggins, R.J