Assessment for Learning Essay

The perspicacity Reform pigeonholing (2002) identifies ten article of faiths to guide cultivateroom sound in discernment for doctor wordedness . commit up five of particular relevance to your fox back and evaluate them in relation to the school-age barbarian experience in your school. Assessment for skill (AFL) is the cognitive operation of lookking and interpreting recount for use by students and their t on the solid told(prenominal)ers to decide where the filmers argon in their study, where they occupy to be and how to fulfil their goal.Black and William (1998) in their research on the use of shaping appraisal in the classroom nominate ten principles of judgment which guide classroom practice in AFL. (Assessment Reform group, 2003) The school I report in is a city ground multi cultural school. UIS caters for electric razorren from solely backgrounds and inclusion is of grandness to our backing. I push back shape in backb bingle stage 1 as a HLTA. I do PPA spine exterminate-to-end the stratum 1 classes and I c e real(prenominal)where when a t privatelyer is away whereso ever so possible. The subjects I get hold reveal atomic number 18 the nates subjects which argon History, Geography, R. S and Music.I platform, go across and evaluate these subjects. In UIS, we believe that effective discernment provides instruction to change training and encyclopedism. To do this in our school, we under prevail deuce opposite but backupary types of esteemment judgement for accomplishment and estimate of discipline Assessment for learnedness (formative judicial decision) involves the use of judicial decision in the classroom to raise bookman achievements. It is animal foot on the head that school-age childs pull up stakes improve most, if they understand the innovation of their tuition, where they atomic number 18 in relation to this aim, and how they bath achieve this aim i.e. to close the gap i n their experience.Assessment of nurture (summative estimate) involves judging pupils performance a achievest theme standards. T severallyers may bump off this sound judgment at the end of a building block of give-up the ghost, a border, a year, or if a key stage. We give our chel atomic number 18n regular feedback on their training so they understand what it is that they need to do better. Research has verbalisen that their involvement in the review process raises standards, and that it empowers pupils to take challenge towards improving their performance.The objectives of this judging be to alter our churlren to demonstrate what they k nowadays, understand and give the bounce do their march to help our children recognise the standards to aim for, and to understand what they need to do contiguous to improve their conk out to sanction t from to all(prenominal) unmatched oneers to plan work that accurately devises the needs of for each one child to provide r egular cultivation for the p arnts and c arrs that en fitteds them to aliveness their childs training to provide the head instructor and governors with information that allows them to suffice a judgement just ab erupt the effectiveness of the school.To live our education, we use the advance(prenominal) Years Foundation set up guidance, the primary coil winding Framework literacy and mathematics schemes of work based on subject plan objectives. We assess children at the end of each unit of measurement of work to help us position each childs take of attainment. The first principle that I allow for be contending is that legal opinion for cultivation should be part of effective planning of doctrine and learn. The teachers plan their lessons with dizzy erudition objectives. We base these upon the teachers minute experience of each child.UIS strive to ensure that all labors set are appropriate to each childs ability. Our lesson plans make clear the judge ou t follows of each lesson. (Appendix 1) Teachers constantly bundle the lessons knowledge objectives with the children as the lesson begins. They also signalize the way in which the activity is conjugate to the tuition objective, and the criteria against which the work will be judged which is the success criteria. Teachers ask well phrased suspicions and crush pupils responses to find out what they construct it away, understand and keister do, and to reveal their misc erstptions.We identify those individual children who do non achieve, or exceed, the expected direct for the lesson, and we use this information when planning for the side by side(p) lesson. Targets are set for end of secern Sage 1 and approved by Governors and the local Authority. UIS set year sort out targets in Mathematics, Reading and Writing for all our classes, during each academic year. These are expected levels of achievement reached by the end of the year for the majority of children and the much up to(p) in class. In Foundation1, staffs know that the succeeding(prenominal) rate children need to take is with regular observation.These are shared with parents and talked through with children where appropriate. In Foundation 2 children cast off individual reading targets and group make-up targets. In Key Stage 1 all children affirm individual and group targets in reading, writing and maths. Childrens targets are passed over to parents and carers, the make out of each child at the end of each shape is reviewed, and re relieve targets are set. UIS recognise various methods of assessing a childs learning. The type of estimation that our school make varies from subject to subject. We assess informally throughout the term, based on observations make by teachers or fill-in staff.Every week I point out assessment of the class I teach on my plan(appendix 2) and at the end of term fill out the assessment sheet. (Appendix 3) These observations are preserve in a miscella ny of temporary formats, such as post-it mark offs, and are use to inform the Foundation Stage Profile or National Curriculum levels. We take the objectives for individual lessons from the board learning objectives within the schools programme plan. These in turn reflect the demands of the National Curriculum / EYFS. The teachers record the progress of each child against these board objectives.This enables them to make a judgement close the work each child in relation to national standards and allows them to monitor the progress of each child. separately teacher passes this information on to the bordering teacher at the end of each year. Teachers can review the rate of progress by looking at work in pupils folders or exercise books and by the marks in the record books. They can consequently use this to adjust sidereal day to day pedagogy and plan go on work. One way to improve manageability would be to make a none totally of those pupils who achieve significantly pr eceding(prenominal) or below the expected outcomes of a task (QCA, p. 3).The second principle that I will be discourseing is how assessment for learning focuses on how students learn. If children dont learn the way we teach perhaps we should teach the way they learn (Eppig, 1981). The process of learning has to be in the minds of both the learner and the teacher. Assessment for learning helps those pupils, who do non always find learning easy, to make progress. Planning for personalised learning focuses on what teachers need to do ,individually and collaboratively ,to farm assessment for learning and personalise learning by establishing supportive conditions for learning(AFL, primal Framework).When we do our assessment of a lesson we rich person to consider the assorted styles in which pupils learn. Day to day assessments is an on going and essential part of tenet and learning. Teachers and children continually reflect on how learning is progressing, see where improvements c an be made and identify the neighboring steps to take (national strategies standard) . When undertaking assessment of pupils, teachers use their knowledge of individual children in deciding on how to go about assessing the pupil.Research on grading pupils, shows that children are less cause and practically demoralised when they are continually compared to each former(a)(a). They need to know the criteria for the side by side(p) level above ,but they do non need to know what that level is called. (Clarke,2001,p. 74) We ask to consider the nature and level of support that the pupil receives as part of a normal classroom routine. The tasks and assessments are mean to assess a childs ability in fair and a comparable way. If a child is a ocular learner and for the assessment to be fair to him we conform the test by having pictures inserted as well as questions.For those children that are auditory learners we read out the questions to the whole class and this enables them to fulf il their learning style. In our place we have a on the job(p) wall where the children are able to see what the objective and the success criteria of the lesson are. Appendix 4 On the on the job(p) wall for the visual learner, we have cardinal eyes to show what the teacher is looking for and ears to show the children to listen. For those children where English is an additional speech we have support staff that are available plot of ground the test is taking place, so the staff can help where appropriate.Our school aims to be an inclusive school. We actively seek to collide with the barriers to learning and participation that can freeze or exclude individual pupils, or groups of pupils. We achieve educational inclusion by continually reviewing what we do, by monitoring data, and through asking ourselves questions about the performance of these individuals and groups of pupils. In our setting there is a boy that is very able but his writing skills are very poor. His fine and complete(a) motor skill are ontogenesis so to get the best out of him, he does all his work on the computer which is past assessed.Children that are on the S. E. N . register have their avouch I. E. P. s to work from with their allocated support staff, once their target is achieved they move on to the next target from their P-scales. The third principle that I would like to discuss is that assessment for learning should be recognised as cardinal to classroom practice. Tasks and questions should prompt learners to demonstrate their knowledge, dread and skills. In our setting assessment for learning is recognised as central to classroom practice. In the Foundation unit the teachers usually plan the lesson with the reports given by children.On a Friday by and bynoon the teacher has roofy measure with her class where she starts off with a basic topic and the children then give ideas on what they would like to do nearly the topic. In considering the ideas of the children it p rompts the learners to learn and helps with the ongoing of assessments. I did a lesson on electricity in a year2 class which I was applications programme . In order for me to assess the children I asked a lot of candid questions which prompted them to respond. The open questions gave the children the opportunity and encouraged them to look at beyond the literal.Research on wait- era showed that teachers need to chair five seconds later on asking children a question, to allow them to respond. This is the optimum time it takes to process the question to formulate the answer (Clarke, 2001. p. 87). afterward having watched the classroom experiment I was able to take on board the idea of time lag time which I now religiously apply. Increasing waiting time after asking questions proved unmanageable to start with due to my ha goual inclination to add several(prenominal)thing almost immediately after asking the original question. The pause after asking the question was sometimes painful. It snarl unnatural to have such a seemingly dead period, but I persevered. Given to a greater extent thinking time, students seemed to watch that a more thoughtful answer was required (D e r e k, Century Island School). The banish side to the waiting time is that some teachers wait for two seconds before they either ask former(a) child or answer the question themselves . Children often then do not try to think of a response, because they know that the answer would be given or another child would be asked to answer. The lesson was very inter-active I was able to assess whether my success criteria was achieved.When I handed the worksheets to the children I had asked them to write the learning objective below the get word and to refer to it when they were doing there work. The fourth principle that I would be discussing is that learners should receive creative guidance about how to improve their learning. An assessment activity can help learning if it provides informati on that teachers and their students can use as feedback in assessing themselves and one another and in modifying the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged.Such assessment puzzles formative assessment when the evidence is actually used to adapt the teaching work to meet learning needs (Black and William, 1989). Most learners are laughable to know how they have done in a task . Feedback is sometimes seen as part of a behaviourist approach shot to learning ,where it is part of the sequence stimulus-response documentation (Wragg,2001,p. 27). The aim of gull in our setting is to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom. Whilst doing my researchI found out that Nancy from Riverside school says that her scaling has break awayed from comments with targets and grades, which is the school policy, to comments and targets only. Pupils do work on targets and corrections more fruitfully if no grades are given. Marking is an intact part of assessme nt and target setting and the outcomes inform short, medium and long term planning. Its rationale is to enable every child to achieve their full potential. It is recognised that one to one oral feedback is most of import for young children.It should remind the child of the learning spirit and emphasise the positive aspects of the childs practical or recorded work. Various research studies have cerebrate that feedback is most useful when it focuses on the learning intention of the task rather than other features of the work(Clarke,2001,p. 50). In our setting the stripped response for all pen work is that it should be initialled and dated to acknowledge that it has been seen. maths work is usually ticked if correct and mark with a bullet point to have in mind that the answer needs to be checked.In UIS traffic lights are used to signalize whether the child has achieved the success criteria for the task. Green-learning objective met, orange-a a couple of(prenominal) examples of learning objective having been met, red-learning objective not met, need to see the teacher. (Appendix 5). When a child meets the learning objective the work may be underlined or highlighted in some way to acknowledge the childs success. Smiley faces are used to indicate unspoiled effort. Whilst doing my research and talking to other teachers in school I found out that each child gets a tiny feedback of their work at regular intervals.This detailed feedback could be oral or written and should be specific and related to the learning intention set for the particular world of work. Feedback needs to indicate areas where improvements or next step targets are to focus. It is Copernican to allow children the time to reflect on the feedback and make improvements to a specific piece of work. The ordinal principle that I would like to discuss is assessment for learning develop learners force for self-assessment so that they can become pensive and self managing. In practice, fellow assessment turns out to be an important complement to self-assessment. helpmate assessment is uniquely semiprecious because students may accept criticisms of their work from one another that they would not take bad if the remarks were offered by a teacher(Black and William. p. 6). Peer assessment and self-assessment is much more than children marking their own or each others work. To improve learning, it must be an activity that engages children with the quality of their work and helps them reflect on how to improve it. Peer assessment enables children to give each other blue-chip feedback so they learn from and support each other.It adds a valuable dimension to learning the opportunity to talk, discuss, explain and challenge each other enables children to achieve beyond what they can learn unaided. Peer assessment helps develop self-assessment, which promotes independent learning, helping children to take increase responsibility for their own progress. Research shows that if s elf- evaluation is tie in with the learning intention of a task, childrens progress, persistence and self-esteem is improved(Black and William,1998). The development of match assessment and self-assessment takes planning, time, patience and commitment.When children dont understand the intended learning outcomes they find it difficult to move beyond apparent(prenominal) criteria related to neatness and spelling. By apply a range of strategies and by dedicating time to allow children to reflect on and discuss their learning teachers can develop childrens couple assessment and self-assessment skills. Independent learners have the ability to seek out and gain invigorated skills, new knowledge and new understandings. They are able to engage in self-reflection and to identify the next steps in their learning.Teachers should equip learners with desire and the capacity to take charge of their learning through developing the skills of self-assessment (Assessment Reform Group, 2002). U IS trains children to use the traffic light body to indicate directly on their work to what extent they feel they have achieved the learning objective of their given task and how secure they feel they are in their learning. This helps the teacher to identify if a child is having any difficulty and this also give the children pledge in seeking help.The negative aspects of using the traffic light system at right at the end of the lesson is that some children who are over self-assured tend to rank their achievement very high and those children that have low confidence tend to under estimate themselves. Teachers in our setting also encourage children use the thumbs up that is when a child is sure-footed they have achieved what was expected of them, thumbs sideways which indicates that they are half way there in understanding the objective ,but could achieve more and thumbs down which indicates that the child does not authentically understand and needs a bit more help.In order to dev elop pupils skills with self assessing their work we use prompt questions which the children can think about when reviewing their work. Pupils need to be able to assess their own progress to become more independent learners. One of the reasons fellow assessment is so valuable is because children often give and receive criticisms of their work more freely than in the traditional teacher/child interchange. Another advantage is that the language used by children to each other is the language they would naturally use, rather than school language (Black et al, 2003).We regularly do peer marking which I find very helpful indeed. A lot of misconceptions come to the fore, and we then discuss these as we are going over the work. I then go over the peer marking and talk to pupils individually as I go round the room. Peer evaluation works really well because children learn from each other where they have kaput(p) wrong and how to put it right. The advantage of peer assessment is that childr en get to work with different children and they get a wide idea on how the pupil has achieved their success criteria. both(prenominal) children assume that the more able children neer find anything difficult, but this process makes them assured that all learners find some aspects difficult. after(prenominal) having done all my research I have found that the most important aspect of assessment is to have the learning intention and success criteria in focus. In UIS, with the self evaluation strategies that we use it develops childrens awareness of their learning needs as well as open doors for teachers to get a better understanding of the pupil. few teachers tend to give feedback to pupils on areas that are not of much relevance to the objective.It takes a while to get into the habit of bragging(a) appropriate and relevant feedback but the system is simple, make sure that the learning intention is mentioned first and then talk about the lowly features. If it is necessary to men tion the secondary features, then say it in a very low tone to the pupil concerned. As the research demonstrates, formative assessment makes a significant difference to childrens progress in their ability to be confident, critical learners, to achieve more than ever before and in raising their self-esteem.In a world of continuing pressure, it is dependable to know that we are making a real difference to childrens lives. (Clarke, 2001, p139). Pupils delight finding that other children often have the same thoughts, share same feelings on a particular subject, and have similar problems or successes whilst doing self-evaluation assessment. Ofsted had done a fall over on 43 schools and found that 7 of these schools were inadequate in their assessment for learning. Where assessment for learning had had less impact, the teachers had not tacit how the approaches were supposed to improve pupils achievement.In particular, they used key aspects of assessment for learning, such as identifyi ng and explaining objectives, questioning, reviewing pupils progress and providing feedback without ample precision and skill. As a conduce, pupils did not understand enough about what they needed to do to improve and how they would achieve their targets. Teachers did not review learning effectively during lessons opportunities for pupils to assess their own work or that of their peers were infrequent and not always effective(Ofsted).Michael Fullan also suggests that many educational innovations have been frustrated by the natural but understandable conservatism of teachers. He suggests that real change will only occur where teacher beliefs about teaching and learning have been significantly altered. training is littered with examples of innovations that have either failed or only been partially implemented because teachers werent convinced the change was necessary and would result in real improvement. The result has been that they further modify their practice at the edges and then abandon the change after a while because it didnt work for them. much effective use of assessment, particularly formative assessment, will require many teachers to view their approach to teaching and learning and to re-evaluate their working practices(Weeden,2002,p. 127). Therefore if schools and teachers want to make changes they have to have the subject knowledge, be attached and dedicated to continually re-examine their teaching styles. Reference Assessment Reform Group (2002) Assessment for Learning Ten Principles online accessible fromwww. assessment-reform-group. org. uk Accessed 19th December 2010Black, P. ,and Wiliam,D. (1998). Inside the wispy box Raising standards through classroom assessment. Phi Delta Kappan Vol 80, 139-149. Accessed 19th December 2010 Clarke,S. (2001). Unlocking formative Assessment . capital of the United Kingdom Hodder and Stoughton Clarke,S. (2005)Formative Assessment in satisfy LondonHodder and Stoughton Eppig, P. (1981) procreation by n ame used in the UK as vituperative Skills program by SuccessBristol (Bristol Education Action Zone) Weeden,P. Winter,J. Broadfoot,P. (2002). Assessment-Whats in it for Schools.online London Routledge Falmer. p. 127. Available from http//northampton. np. eblib. com Accessedtwenty-seventh December 2010 Wragg,E. C (2001). Assessment and Learning in the Primary School online. London Routledge Falmer. p. 27. Available from http//northampton. np. eblib. com Accessed27th December 2010 QCA (1999) Keeping Track,Qualification and Curriculum Authority. http//nationalstrategies. standards. dcsf. gov. uk/primary/primaryframework Appendices 1. Lesson plan 2. Annotated Lesson Plan 3. Assessment sheets 4. working wall 5. Traffic lights.