Session 1 – Conceptual questions

Objective: to clarify and understand the distinctions between different kinds of Classroom Assessments

The aim of this workshop on classroom assessment is to consider• how teachers use system curriculum (or develop their own

curriculum) to develop a teaching program• how teachers see or understand assessment in their teaching

program• what teachers do as informal and formal assessment of student

learning• how teachers offer feedback to students • what teachers report about learning to students, parents and the

system

These issues will change for different education systems and for different parts of systems.We will want to compare these issues in different systems.The workshop will involve consideration of• a system policy on assessment and reporting• a school policy on assessment and reporting• ways of supporting teachers to improve the effectiveness of their

teaching and assessment, and to give useful feedback to students and parents

The workshop will involve the exploration and designing of

a semester and annual work programa teaching unit plana feedback and assessment plana reporting plan

In considering these matters we will consider curriculum statements, learning progressions, assessment tasks, assessment rubrics and other forms of feedback to students.

Teaching will be understood to involve continuous assessment.Teachers will be understood to be able to use all kinds of assessment methods and assessment data to inform their teaching.We will consider what we want teachers to know about assessment.

The program - dynamic and interactive?

The subtextBut wait, there is more!

• What are we learning about learning?

• Higher-order thinking• Thinking routines• Conceptual thinking• Concept maps• Diagram and figures

• How will we know if the workshop is progressing?• Can we design an assessment task that shows progress?

Some big ideas in classroom assessmentThe classroom assessment movement encourages teaching that is • conscious, deliberate, explicit, reflective

(My mantra - to be as simple as possible, but no simpler)• systematic but not bureaucratic

These things are easy to say but hard (impossible?) to do.

Classroom assessment is a big topic because it involves the integration of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment.Curriculum and assessment often try to avoid consideration of pedagogy, but it is not possible when considering classroom assessment.

Classroom assessment is total assessment• formal and informal• standardised and individual• summative and formative• point of time and continuous

A spirit of scientific scepticism?Play the advocate but not a salesperson

Some warningsIs formative teacher assessment the greatest change agent in education?Is it simple to say and hard to do?Is the very difficult made to sound simple?

But this is not basic educationThe politics of assessment?AfL versus standardized assessment

Simple to say and hard to do.

Where am I going?

Where am I now?

What are my next steps?

What are the goals of progress?How far has the student progressed?What does the student have to do to further progress towards the goals?

Classroom assessment with large classes?• AfL is a sophisticated and demanding pedagogy• Demanding for sophisticated teachers

• A lot of AfL and AaL is good teaching practice for groups of all sizes.

• Some AfL is impossible to do with large groups

• To what extent does teaching large groups become a matter of crowd control?

• A dominance of teacher talk over student thought?

• Planned and efficient teaching• Cost effective assessment• Mass assessment techniques

The conceptual questions

The different aspects to School Based Assessment (SBA), • Classroom Assessment (CA), • Teacher Assessment (TA) and • Formative Assessment (FA)• Formative teacher assessment of school-based assessment in

certification?Assessment Of, For and As learning (AoL, AfL, AaL) useful terms

All assessment can be used formatively.Some formative assessment cannot be used summatively.Formative assessment is total assessment

Thinking routines, diagrams and concept mappingA focus on language – glossological thinking

The distinctive part of classroom assessment is best summarised by the phrase assessment for learning (AfL) because it is a idea that integrates assessment and learning. The term formative assessment has a clear function and purpose, but it would be best described as assessment for teaching. AfL integrates curriculum, pedagogy, learning and assessment.

AfL requires curriculum with certain characteristics and encourages a certain kind of pedagogy. Curriculum for AfL would offer clear goals and outcomes that make sense to students and that give them a path for learning.

Pedagogy for AfL would be focused on student learning. It would be collaborative and responsive, and it would encourage students to think about and to take responsibility for their own learning. AfL would want an explicit curriculum, and an assessment with clear criteria and standards. So AfL is a pedagogy that integrates curriculum and assessment.

AfL readily becomes Assessment as Learning (AaL).

Teacher assessment in certification

Teachers give important summative assessments in many system. Exams are important in other systems.The external and internal power struggle in assessment

Continuous and less stressfulLess competitiveMore learning and less exam preparationMore comprehensive, flexible and individualised

McCurry, D. M. (2017) Assessment at Year 12 in Australia for 2020 and Beyond: Lessons Learnt and Future Directions, Professional Educator, Australian College of Education

://rd.acer.org/article/future-directions-for-year-12-assessment

Assessment for learning ARG(left to right)

1 is part of effective planning2 focuses on how students learn3 is central to classroom practice4 is a key professional skill5 is sensitive and constructive6 fosters motivation7 promotes understanding of goals and criteria8 helps learners know how to improve9 develops the capacity for self-assessment10 recognises all educational achievement

Is it a good diagram? Criteria for assessment?

UNESCO definitionsSchool-based assessmentStudent assessments that are regularly organised and administered by each educational institution established in a country. Assessment tools are generally designed by the teachers’ staff of the institution. The results are used to provide direct feedback to students and parents, to regulate classroom and improve the teaching-learning process. In some countries, scores to these assessments count (weight on the final total score) for the graduation or selection of students.Formative assessmentAssessment conducted throughout the educational process with a view to enhancing student learning. It implies: eliciting evidence about learning to close the gap between current and desired performance (so that action can be taken to close the gap); providing feedback to students; and involving students in the assessment and learning process. (Source: CCSSO 2008).Assessment for learningAssessment of learner’s progress and achievement, the primary purpose of which is to support and enhance learning by adapting the educational process to meet the learner’s needs. Learners are made aware of their strengths and weaknesses while being provided with adequate support to overcome learning difficulties.

World Bank DefinitionThe Formative Assessment Process is • a deliberate process used by teachers and students during

instruction • that provides actionable feedback that is used to adjust ongoing

teaching and learning strategies• to improve students’ attainment of curricular learning

targets/goalsGlobal Partnership for EducationClassroom assessments are conducted to gain diagnostic information about individual learners’ state and progress with the aim to inform continuous improvement of learning and to guide teaching. They are typically local in scope, assessing all students in a class. There can be a wide range of classroom assessment practices within a country. NCVER Australia Assessment that takes place at regular intervals during a course, with feedback provided along the way to help improve the student’s performance.

National Council for the Teaching of English Glossary

Standardized assessmentsAssessments designed in such a way that the questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent and are administered, then scored, in a predetermined, standard manner to be used for comparing results across students, classrooms, schools, school districts, and/or states.Non-standardized assessmentsInformal tests, usually developed by the teacher that allow for an assessment of an individual’s abilities or performances, but doesn’t allow for a comparison of one student to another. Some examples include portfolios, interviews, informal questioning, group discussions, oral tests, pop quizzes, exhibitions of work, projects, and performance exams.Burke, Kay (1994). How to assess authentic learning. Palatine, IL: IRI/Skylight Publishing, Inc

Formative assessmentFormative assessment is the deliberate daily process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides actionable feedback used to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students’ achievement of intended learning outcomes. Formative assessment enables students to take responsibility for their own learning by engaging in self-assessment, reflection, goal-setting, self-monitoring and communicating their own progress. The formative assessment process includes the use of many assessment methods and tools to provide a continuous stream of accurate evidence of learning.Diagnostic AssessmentsOptional assessments that allow local school districts and staff to monitor students’ progress toward demonstrating mastery of the content standards. (?)Performance assessmentsAssessments designed to provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and higher-order thinking skills to explore and analyze a complex, real-world scenario. (?)PortfoliosA purposeful collection of student work (evidence) that demonstrates the student’s efforts, progress, or achievement in given areas in which the collection must include student participation in the selection of portfolio content, the guidelines for selection, the criteria for judging merit, and evidence of student self-reflection.

Black, P., & William, D. (2001). Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment. British Educational Research Association

The Assessment Reform Group 2002This British network aimed to base assessment policy and practice on research evidence. They acknowledged the power that assessment had to influence learning, both for good and for ill, and proposed seven precepts that summarized the characteristics of assessment that promotes learning:• it is embedded in a view of teaching and learning of which it

is an essential part;• it involves sharing learning goals with pupils;• it aims to help pupils to know and to recognise the standards

they are aiming for;• it involves pupils in self-assessment;• it provides feedback which leads to pupils recognising their

next steps and how to take them;• it is underpinned by confidence that every student can

improve;• it involves both teacher and pupils reviewing and reflecting

on assessment data (Broadfoot et al., 1999, p. 7).

OECD Principles of formative assessment 2005

1. Keep the focus on teaching and learning2. Align formative and summative3. Ensure classroom, school and system level

evaluations are linked and are used formatively to shape improvements at every level of the system

4. Encourage innovation5. Build stronger bridges between research, policy and

practice6. Actively involve students and parents in the

formative process

The five key strategies are • Sharing Learning Expectations (i.e., clarifying and

sharing learning intentions and criteria for success), • Questioning (i.e., engineering effective classroom

discussions, questions and learning tasks that elicit evidence of learning),

• Feedback, • Self Assessment (i.e., activating students as the

owners of their own learning), and • Peer Assessment (i.e., activating students as

instructional resources for one another).

These strategies are used to direct the instructional processes of establishing where learners are (e.g., through questioning), where they are going (by sharing learning expectations), and how to get them there (through feedback) (Wiliam and Thompson 2008).

Wiliam (2006) argues that all activities under the ‘assessment for learning’ banner can be expressed as one of five key strategies and that anything not fitting into this set of strategies is, in fact, not assessment for learning:1. Clarifying and understanding learning

intentions and criteria for success;2. Engineering effective classroom

discussions, questions and tasks that elicit evidence of learning;

3. Providing feedback that moves learners forward;

4. Activating students as instructional resources for each other; and

5. Activating students as owners of their own learning.

Formative Assessment for Students and Teachers (FAST) CollaborativeState Collaborative on Assessment and Student Standards (SCASS) of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)

Learning GoalsCriteria for SuccessTasks and Activities that Elicit Evidence of Student LearningQuestioning Strategies that Elicit Evidence of Student LearningExtending Thinking during DiscourseDescriptive FeedbackPeer FeedbackSelf-AssessmentCollaborative Culture of LearningUsing Evidence to Inform Instruction

Margaret Heritage categorizes formative assessments into three types that all contribute to the learning cycle:

• “on-the-fly” (those that happen during a lesson), • “planned-for-interaction” (those decided before instruction), and • “curriculum-embedded” (embedded in the curriculum and used to gather data at significant points during the learning process).

Formative assessment: 1. Requires students to take responsibility for their own learning. 2. Communicates clear, specific learning goals. 3. Focuses on goals that represent valuable educational outcomes with applicability beyond the learning context. 4. Identifies the student’s current knowledge/skills and the necessary steps for reaching the desired goals. 5. Requires development of plans for attaining the desired goals. 6. Encourages students to self-monitor progress toward the learning goals. 7. Provides examples of learning goals including, when relevant, the specific grading criteria or rubrics that will be used to evaluate the student’s work. 8. Provides frequent assessment, including peer and student self-assessment and assessment embedded within learning activities. 9. Includes feedback that is non-evaluative, specific, timely, and related to the learning goals, and that provides opportunities for the student to revise and improve work products and deepen understandings. 10. Promotes metacognition and reflection by students on their work.

The Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority

Assessment for Learning integrates assessment into learning and teaching. It enables students to understand what they are learning, what they have attained, and what is expected of them. It focuses more on developing, instead of only assessing, students’ knowledge and understanding in an ongoing and dynamic manner. Assessment for learning also provides teachers with evidence of students’ learning, enabling them to evaluate and improve their curriculum planning and teaching practices. Assessment for Learning usually: • involves assessment activities as part of learning and informs the

planning of future learning and teaching; • includes clear learning objectives;• provides effective feedback to motivate students and facilitate

improvement; and • encourages self-assessment and peer assessment as part of the regular

classroom routines.

Assessment as Learning engages students in reflecting on and monitoring their progress of learning through establishing their roles and responsibilities in relation to their learning and assessment. Students use feedback from reflection and monitoring to make adaptations and adjustments to the learning objectives and strategies.

Assessment as Learning usually: • requires students to ask questions about their learning; • involves teachers and students in setting the learning

objectives; • paves ways for students to use feedback and self-assessment

to understand the next step in learning; and • encourages peer assessment and self-reflection.

New South Wales Board of Studies

The key characteristics of AfL are as as follows:. a view of learning in which assessment helps students learn better rather than just achieve a better mark;. involve formal and informal assessment activities as part of learning and to inform the planning of future learning;. include clear goals for the learning activity;. provide effective feedback that motivates the learner and can lead to improvement;. reflect a belief that all students can improve;. encourage self-assessment and peer assessment as part of the regular classroom routines;. involve teachers, students and parents reflecting on evidence; and. inclusive of all learners.

An introduction to AfL

. learning intentions;

. success criteria and rubrics;

. effective teacher feedback;

. strategic questioning;

. peer feedback;

. student self-assessment; and

. formative use of summative assessment

Principles of classroom assessment Katie Richardson ACERCentral to classroom practiceAlignment of curriculum, learning targets and syllabus with teaching and assessmentFocused on how students learnFeedback to teachers about students learningFeedback to students on what they have learned and how they can learn moreDeveloping capacity for peer- and self-assessmentStudent involvement and partnership in assessment strategies and outcomesMotivating and engaging for studentsRecognise full range of achievementsQuality of assessment tasks: valid, reliable and fairInterpretable results; defensibility of interpretationCollaboration between teachers, parents and studentsTeacher collaboration, consensus and social moderation

Assessment For and As Learning

Not standardisedNot summativeEmbedded in teaching and focussed on learning

Much easier to say than do.How is it done?How well is it done?Is it the most powerful change agent?How effective is it?

What about requirements SBA?Is SBA beyond regulation? A black box?

Should there be a system reporting policy?What would it be?