Assessment for learning is one of those terms used frequently in education but often discussed in differing ways, so it can end up meaning different things to different people. One source of confusion lies in the idea of what is meant by ‘assessment’, which for many people involves testing and grading learners. Dylan Wiliam — someone who has written extensively about assessment for learning and whose work informs most of what I have to say here — is on record as saying he wishes he could go back in time and popularise the term ‘responsive teaching’ instead. It is the notion of assessing and then responding to learners’ needs, as these needs arise in the process of the learning, that lies at the heart of effective assessment for learning. Show
Three essential questionsThese are questions that every teacher needs to ask about the learning in their lessons:
By posing these questions as part of lesson planning and lesson delivery — since these are questions to ask during the flow of a lesson and not only at the planning stage — a teacher will also see that a constant dialogue with their learners is needed. The elements of this dialogue include:
Let’s now explore these elements of assessment for learning further by looking at five underlying principles: sharing and understanding learning objectives and success criteria; a flexible approach to teaching and learning; helping learners to show evidence of their learning; involving learners in the process of assessment; and effective feedback that moves learning forward. Sharing and understanding learning objectives and success criteriaIdentifying specific learning objectives helps teachers in ‘planning backwards’. That is, planning a lesson starting from the learning objectives so that specific tasks and activities can be planned to meet each learning objective. The learning objectives describe the new knowledge, understanding and skills, as well as changes in attitudes that learners will be walking out with at the end of a lesson. Identifying success criteria will then help the teacher to give specific feedback (see the fifth principle discussed below). Success criteria are specific and measurable descriptions of what success looks like when the learning objective is reached. Here’s an idea to help with writing learning objectives and success criteria:
A flexible approach to teaching and learning
The process begins with a teacher collecting information about the learning: for example, she observes that some of her learners can listen and respond with confidence to a simple question but have difficulty using the correct form of the present simple tense. Next, this teacher needs to interpret this evidence in terms of learner needs and progress. Once the teacher has identified learner needs and progress (in this case, that some learners have difficulty using the correct form of the present simple tense), she can identify and adjust the next steps in the process of learning. For example, this teacher may decide that, based on her observation and interpretation, she needs to re-teach how to use the correct form of the present simple tense to those learners who are struggling with this. The teacher may therefore need to adjust her lesson planning. Of course, grades are useful for tracking learners’ progress and may also indicate where there are misunderstandings or gaps in knowledge. However, this information is only useful if teachers are then able to act or change their plans in time to make things better. If grades are only made available several weeks after the teaching, then it may be too late to address the problem. Furthermore, if the purpose of grades is only to track progress, then assessment is not being used for the learning. Being able to adjust lesson planning, or even make changes to a lesson plan during the lesson, requires a highly flexible and responsive approach. Teachers have to plan moments of ‘contingency’: that is, moments in which they make a decision on whether all learners understand a new concept or some learners are still struggling to fully understand it. If the teacher finds evidence to suggest that some learners are struggling, the teacher can teach that concept again. For example, if it becomes clear that some learners still do not know when to use possessive ‘s’ after nouns, the teacher can choose to either:
The choices are limitless: teachers can choose what they think is best and most likely to improve learning in their classrooms. This way, assessment for learning is done based on evidence and can be used to feed into what the teacher and learners do next. It is therefore important that teachers do not have fixed lesson plans and can adapt their teaching during the lesson if they have to. Dylan Wiliam in his book Leadership for Teacher Learning (pp. 109-110) explains how teachers can identify the next steps in teaching through moments of contingency by either planning ‘proactively’, ‘interactively’ or ‘retroactively’. This table shows what this means in practice:
Helping learners to show evidence of their learningHelping learners to find and give evidence that they learned something must in turn be guided by three principles — variety, specificity and frequency — as the following table shows:
These ideas are explored in the following table:
Effective feedback that moves learning forwardA teacher gets feedback on a learner’s progress through an assessment for learning activity. These activities then provide the teacher with the opportunity to give feedback to the learner on their progress. Teacher-to-learner feedback is effective if it:
In my view, the best model for effective feedback is Geoff Petty’s ‘medals and missions’ (the words ‘medals’ and ‘missions’ are used metaphorically to make the idea easy for learners to remember) which is explained in the following table:
This exploration of five key principles for assessment for learning, as well as the accompanying ideas for classroom practice, has explored ways to address the three essential questions I posed at the start: where are my learners going in their learning?; where is each learner now in their learning?; how do I help a learner move forward in their learning? The big idea underpinning these questions is that teachers adapt teaching to the needs of each learner. As I suggested at the start, this big idea can be summed up by the term responsive teaching, which might well end up being a term that we start to see being used more and more. I hope so! Dr. Jason Skeet has worked as a consultant and trainer in CLIL at Utrecht University providing advice and training for bilingual schools throughout The Netherlands. He has also taught on the university's UTEACH Master's Programme for bilingual and international school teachers. Before that he worked for seven years as a teacher at a bilingual secondary school. Jason is currently responsible for leading on and coordinating all academic aspects of the NILE MA in Professional Development for Language Education. Which of the following is not a purpose of assessment?Ranking the children based on performance is not the purpose of assessment. Separating students based on their marks or performance leads to discouraging them.
What are the 4 types of assessment?A Guide to Types of Assessment: Diagnostic, Formative, Interim, and Summative.
Which of the following is the purpose of an assessment?The primary purpose of assessment is to promote learning. Assessment provides evidence of how learners are progressing according to defined standards throughout a period of learning, as well as achievement at the end of the learning period.
What is the purpose of assessment in the learning process?Assessment should integrate grading, learning, and motivation for your students. Well-designed assessment methods provide valuable information about student learning. They tell us what students learned, how well they learned it, and where they struggled.
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