Formative assessment/assessment for learning

Anyone interested in assessment should look at the summary of Kings College research on the efficacy of formative versus summative assessment. The excellent summary, entitled Inside the Black Box is available at www.kcl.ac.uk

The research includes the following conclusion about marking: "Feedback to any pupil should be about the particular qualities of his or her work, with advice on what he or she can do to improve, and should avoid comparison with other pupils."

Formative assessment, also known as assessment for learning, is an approach which requires teachers to test pupils regularly to identify problems and offer feedback to help overcome them. Other features include comment only marking and both peer- and self-assessment.

Background
Summary of past news on assessment for learning
Personalised learning
Research

Resources

• QCA's assessment main page http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_13581.aspx
• Learning and Teaching Scotland, assessment is for learning website
  www.LTScotland.org.uk/
• NFER Getting to grips with assessment: Primary - set of 12 leaflets on various topics, such as sharing information with parents and involving pupils in their own assessment. Visit www.nfer.ac.uk/gripping-assessment-primary

What works:
Regular classroom testing and the use of results to adjust teaching and learning, rather than for competitive grading.
Enhanced feedback between teacher and pupils, which may be oral or written.
The active involvement of all pupils.
Careful attention to pupils' motivation and help in building their self-belief.
Self or peer-assessment by pupils, discussion in groups and dialogue between teacher and pupils.

What doesn't:
Tests that encourage rote and superficial learning.
Over-emphasis on the giving of marks and grades at the expense of useful advice to learners.
Competitive teaching approaches that demotivate some pupils.
Feedback, testing and record-keeping that serve a managerial function rather than a learning one.

Read the whole TES article at www.tes.co.uk/search/story/?story_id=2074776

A study for the Government's test regulator found that teacher assessment can be as reliable a guide to pupils' achievements as national tests. Research in 91 secondary schools using an enhanced form of teacher assessment for English found their judgements of pupils broadly in line with those of tests. Moreover, the report found the system showed up weaknesses in pupils' learning that the tests had not identified, and could therefore be used to raise achievement.

The findings support the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) in its battle with the Government over the future of national testing. Assessing Pupils' Progress (APP) is being introduced at key stage 3 in secondaries across the country and will be piloted in 60 primaries.

2005
In December 2005, the TES reported how Scotland's quiet revolution in testing, recording and reporting, delivered through the Assessment is for Learning (AifL) programme, was slowly making a difference, according to research findings. A study found that schools involved have seen improvements in teaching styles, attainment and pupils' self-esteem.

However, many teachers complain that they do not have the time to carry out all the tasks associated with "bottom-up" action research and only half of the initial pilot schools found the time to complete the researchers' questionnaire. One in six schools struck problems and failed to overcome them while a lack of supply cover stymied others.

The study highlights confusion among teachers over the apparent differences between formative assessment (for more immediate classroom learning) and summative assessment (end tests) - and how they interact. Much of the strategy was based on the "Black Box" materials in England by Paul Black and Dylan William, published in 2001.

Evaluation of the Assessment is for Learning Programme: Final Report 2005 is available from www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/

A radical overhaul of secondary teaching was announced in December 2005. In non-core subjects, such as history, geography and languages, guidance on teacher assessment systems will be introduced, helping staff to come to judgements about what level each pupil has reached in each subject.

At key stage 4 new exams testing the functional aspects of English, maths and ICT will be piloted from 2007. Every pupil will eventually have to take the tests to gain a C, or better, in GCSEs in each subject.

By 2008, ministers will introduce five new vocational diploma courses to improve work-related education for 14 to 19-year-olds. They expect 50,000 youngsters will embark on the diplomas and that by 2013, every teenager will be offered the chance to take a work-related diploma, in one of 14 subjects, as an alternative to GCSEs and A-levels.

For the full report visit www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/14-19implementationplan/

In July 2005, the QCA announced a major review into the impact of tests and exams, amid teachers' worries that an over-emphasis on results may be detrimental to learning. The year-long review examined whether there is an over-emphasis on assessment data, and whether schools were aiming at test results as an end in themselves.

What have we learnt today? -is an interesting article from the TES on pupils' self-assessment. To read the article in full, visit www.tes.co.uk/search/story/?story_id=2084643

In 2005, the Guardian story Well done, mate reports on innovations in assessment for learning at one secondary school in England. Students are more actively involved in their learning, with peer marking and monitoring, and collaborative learning. To read the article in full, visit
http://education.guardian.co.uk/egweekly/story/0,5500,1419234,00.html

In January 2005, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority in England launched its Futures programme, an initiative to ensure that the national curriculum and assessment frameworks are responsive to the needs of people and society in the 21st century.

The Assessment Reform Group has produced Assessment for Learning: 10 principles. Research-based principles to guide classroom practice. The leaflet was produced with support from the Nuffield Foundation and included in QCA's March On Q update. Copies can  be downloaded from http://www.qca.org.uk/qca_13440.aspx

The Assessment Reform Group has played a key role in bringing the research evidence, including Inside the Black Box, to the attention of the education community. For more information visit the website as above. 

2004
In 2004, the TES reported on one of the most positive evaluations in recent years, a research team from London University found that 100% of the staff in the primary and secondary schools involved said the project was highly successful in adding to their understanding of the role assessment can play in learning and in improving their motivation.

The reason for this impact appears to be that staff were made to focus on the changes they can make to their teaching by using a range of techniques in assessing pupils, rather than using a score or grade (summative assessment).

These include the use of "wait time" in which teachers pause for three seconds before requiring an answer, and "traffic lighting", in which pupils hold up green, amber and red cards to show their levels of understanding.

More than nine out of 10 had changed teaching and assessment practices as a result of their involvement, and were now more focused on the needs of pupils. The "Assessment is for Learning " project, run by Learning and Teaching Scotland, is also credited with improving pupils' learning skills (by 94% of staff), learning and motivation (89%), quality of work (88%) and attainment (78%).

In January 2004, the TES reported that the Government launched a project to investigate teacher assessment in schools which could lead to an alternative to national curriculum tests. Teachers in 74 schools in 13 local authorities piloted a key stage 3 scheme backed by the Department for Education and Skills and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority. Two teachers in each school used a system of assessment called the "monitoring pupil progress" project. They are being taken out of lessons once a term for set-piece reading and writing exercises, laid down in minute detail by the QCA, which their teachers then mark.

2003
In June 2003, the TES reported that Patricia Atkinson, head of Holy Trinity Episcopal primary school in Stirling, conducted a year long study of a P7 class in Scotland. She found that children aged 11 can mark their own and their classmates' work as accurately as their teachers. She maintains that pupils who think about what they are learning are able to make sound judgments to help further progress.

In her study - designed to ask pupils and parents what they thought of 5-14 assessment - she found that pupils appreciate the value of assessment when they understand the purpose of each activity, what is going to be assessed and why.

Assessment 5-14: What do pupils and parents think? is published as Spotlight 87 by the SCRE Centre at Glasgow University.

In 2003, Ofsted urged teachers to stop filling pupils' reports with "bland" remarks such as "could do better". Ofsted said secondary teachers needed to give parents more detail about children's strengths and weaknesses and say how they measured up against national standards.

The Ofsted study on assessment showcases 12 schools that assess well. Examples of comments that are seen as being good practice include: "She could improve her anticipated grade to A* if she practices sketching graphs from equations" and "He must extend his background knowledge by using secondary sources of information to expand his notes".

Good assessment in secondary schools is at www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications

2002
In 2002, pupils' national test and GCSE results improved by more than half a grade when teachers stopped giving marks out of 10 and gave children detailed feedback. Research led by professors Dylan Wiliam and Paul Black of Kings College London found that tests and targets do not in themselves raise standards and that quality feedback from teachers is crucial. The findings support an earlier review of 600 pieces of research from around the world, involving 10,000 pupils.

For more information, read the article from TES summing up Working inside the black box: Assessment for learning in the classroom by Paul Black, Christine Harrison, Clare Lee, Bethan Marshall and Dylan Wiliam.

2001
In November 2001, research in England showed that performance rises significantly where pupils understand clearly what they have to do to improve and become immersed in self-assessment. All abilities make progress but those at the bottom end do proportionately better under formative assessment.

Chris Harrison, a researcher at Kings College in London, said pupils began to understand what they were meant to be learning, rather than simply completing activities and exercises, and studied in greater depth. Ms Harrison helped run two 18-month test projects in Medway and Oxfordshire, involving 24 science and mathematics teachers in six schools. 

Classrooms had changed quite dramatically with more collaborative learning and more children doing homework together and talking about how they can help each other. Tests become an important part of learning and are never done at the end but during the process to help review learning.

In September 2001, the TES reported that research by Kings College London -  Teachers developing assessment for learning: impact on student achievement (Dylan Wiliam and Clare Lee) - showed that a school near the bottom of the GCSE league tables could pitch itself into the top third if teachers adopted a new assessment strategy. Formative assessment could see schools boost their GCSE results by between a quarter and half a grade in each subject. If replicated across a whole school, these improvements would raise the performance of a school at the 25th percentile of achievement nationally into the top half and possibly the top third.

A seperate analysis of 600 international studies by Dr Dylan Wiliam and Professor Paul Black in 1998 found overwhelming evidence that formative assessment boosts performance and that it benefits low-achieving pupils most.