1. Assessment for Learning
Mr Bean, “The Exam” www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LhLjpsstPY

2. What is Assessment for Learning?
Purpose for Assessment
Giving Feedback
Principles of Learning:
Learning to Learn
Principles of Assessment
Assessment & Culture
Building Assessment Capabilities
Self & Peer Assessment
Engagement & Motivation
Assessment in the Classroom
Overview

3. Assessment
"Comes from the Latin verb ‘assidere’ meaning ‘to sit with’. In assessment,
one should sit with the learner. This implies it is something we
do with and for students and not to students (Green, 1998)“
Green, J. M. (1998, February). Constructing the way forward for all students. A speech delivered at “Innovations for Effective Schools” OECD/New Zealand
joint follow-up conference, Christchurch, New Zealand.
Assessment for Learning is..
• The interaction & dialogue between teachers and pupils.
• Help students understand what they need to do next in order to improve.
• Thoughtful improvement rather than getting it right the first time

4. Assessment
Mr Bean, “The Exam” www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LhLjpsstPY

5. Inside The Black Box
By Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam
Process
• A survey of research was
conducted.
• A total of 580 articles or
chapters were reviewed.
Including, books, journals.
• A wide range of experts from
different parts of the world.
Research
• Is there evidence that improving
formative assessment raises
standards?
• Is there evidence that there is room
for improvement ?
• Is there evidence about how to
improve formative assessment?
Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 86 #1, pp. 8-21,2004

6. Ministry of Education Timeline
The New Zealand curriculum has shifted away from summative assessment and towards
"Assessment for Learning".
1990
The first review focused on two key areas:"
•Identifying student's stengths and guide improvement.
•Review on the quality of educaton programmes.
1994
In 1994 "Policy for Practice" was released:
•Improve student learning
•Improve the quality of learning programmes.
1995
In 1995 "NEMP" The National Education Monitoring Programme:
•To provide an understanding of knowledge, skill and attitudes through
each curriculum area nationwide (year 4-8).
1998
In 1998 "NEPM" was released by the ministry of education with a key
focus on primary schools:
•Developing diagnostic assessment tools & diagnostic tests.
•Providing national exemplar material & external referenced tests
(performance at national group levels)
•Introduction of the "National Education Monitoring Programme“
1999
In 1999 A Assessment Strategy was introduced, its key focus was:
Building availability of assessment tools.
Building professional learning within assessment capability.
2004-2009
In 2004-2009 "Kei Tua o te Pae Assessment for Learning: Early Childhood
Exemplars" Early childhood resource books were published to:
•Underpin assessment for learning in an early childhood environment via
examples to inform assessment practice.
•Exemplars in Maori context was later introduced in 2009.
2006
In 2006 a review began of the National Assessment Strategy began in two phases:
Phase one. How well the current strategy was working.
Phase two. Developing a new assessment strategy.
In 2009 a resulting paper was released "Directions for Assessment in New Zealand
(DANZ)"
•Enable students to assess their own learning.
•To enable students to become autonomous learners and lead their own learning
•Create a system that learns

7. Ministry of Education, “Assessment Position Paper”[2011]
MoE Vision

8. Purpose of Assessment for Learning

9. Purpose of Assessment for Learning
“the primary purpose of assessment is to improve
students’ learning and teachers’ teaching”
NZ Curriculum
“There is no better way of raising achievement
standards than formative assessment.”
Assessment for learning should
• Alert students to their present position
• Inform them of the desired goal
• Give students some understanding of how to close any gap
Black and Wiliams

11. Formative verses Summative
Assessment
• Assessment for Learning
• Assessment of Learning
Sort the pairs of assessment ideas into their
headings.

12. Looking
Backwards
Looking
Forwards
Measuring
Learning
Assessment of
Learning
After
Learning
During
Learning
Nurturing
Learning
Assessment
for Learning
Assessment
point
Feedback
Looking
forward
Go over/
review
Learning
continuum
Looking back
Measuring a
tree
Leave/ignore
Grade work Review work
Results
orientated
Improvement
orientated
Watering a
tree
Feed-forward
Chief tastes
soup
Customer
tastes soup

14. Purpose of Assessment for Learning
Information from assessment can be used to:
• Plan and modify learning programmes for individual students,
groups of students, and/or the class as a whole
• Identify and then address the learning needs of each student in a
clear and constructive way
• Involve and engage parents, families, whānau, and communities in
their child's learning
• The Ministry of Education can undertake policy review and target
funding and intervention

15. Effective Feedback

16. Effective Feedback
Should:
-Be focused: Learning Intentions (being learnt)
and success criteria (desired goal)
-Be given in the right time
-Provide guidance and strategies to improve

17. Typology of feedback
(P. Tunstall, C. Gipps, 1996)
• Evaluative – involving judgment and can
affect how students feel about themselves
• Descriptive – what the student did and
providing guidance for improvement. It is
critical in ‘closing the gap’ for students

18. Types of descriptive feedback
(Clarke, 2003)
Based on the needs of the student and focused
around learning intention of the task, can be:
1-Reminder - calling back what was the lesson
about. Ex: Remember the rule about…
2-Scaffold – giving possibilities. Ex: Why don’t
you try using…
3-Example – giving clear examples. Ex: why
don’t you use a simile word as…

20. Written feedback
Some student could:
• have difficulty understanding the points you
want to make.
• be unable to read your writing.
• can’t process the feedback/what next
To check this out: ask them to tell you what you
are trying to say.

21. Marks versus comments
Research showed that:
• Only marks-no gain
• Only comment scored 30% higher (average)
• Marks and comment – cancel beneficial effects of
the comments
Research conclusion: If you mark or grade a piece of
work, it means waste of time adding diagnostic
comments.

22. Comment only
• provides students with a
focus for progression
instead of a reward or
punishment for their ego
(as a grade does).
• should make it clear how
the student can improve.
• Plan activities and work
with feedback in mind,
let the design assist the
process.

23. Too many comments
(Clarke,2001)
• makes difficult for specific feedback to be
given
• Overwhelming and difficult to take in
Clarke suggest that:
When giving writing feedback, highlight 2 or 3
successes and 1 area where improvement is
necessary

24. Strategies for effective
formative feedback

25. Feedback sandwich
1. -Positive comment
-Constructive criticism with
explanation of how to improve
-Positive comment
2. Contextual statement
– I liked….because….
- Now
- Next time…
Interactive statement e.g. a
question based on the work

26. Allow student to act on feedback
• Use lesson time to redraft work.
• allow students time to focus on the
feedback for improvement .
• reinforce the value of the feedback and
working in a supportive environment.

27. Follow-up
• time in the lesson to talk individually.
• Have a written dialogue in the students’ book.
• Use a comment tracker or target sheet to
formalise the dialogue in a workbook
Learning Journal
• Create a learning journal in which they can
reflect.

28. Feedback summary
Effective feedback to learners:
• is best initiated by the learner
• focuses on the learning intention of the task
• occurs as the students are doing the learning
• provides information on how and why the student
understands and misunderstands
• provides strategies to help the student to improve
• assists the student to understand the goals of the
learning.

29. Learning To Learn

30. Learning to learn
‘ako (ngia) kia akoranga’
• Thoughts of process ‘nga whakaaro’
• Structuring the development of student
understanding ‘nga maramatanga kua
whakaturia’
• Reciprocity and relevance to students and
teachers ‘ kaupapa tuakana-teina me te
whanau hapori kaota o te motu.

31. Principles of Assessment
Whakamaramatanga
– Should be underpinned by the understanding that
every student ‘can’ improve. ‘ka tae ate eke’
– Raising the bar ‘kia eke ki te karamatamata o nga
whiwhinga katoa’.
– Language ‘nga reo’
– Feed-back and feed-forward ‘ wananga reo’

32. Cultural aspects
‘nga tikang a iwi’
• Values, interpretations, understanding
‘different’ and ‘similar’ need to be recognised
and plan for collaborative and collective
assessment. For informal and formal settings.

33. Building Assessment Capability

34. ‘Assessment Literate’ Students
• ‘Assessment Literate’ means; that students are
aware of the assessment criteria, and can
understand clearly what is required of them.
• When students understand assessment
rubrics, relevance of the content and skills
being taught through assessments, they will
be much more likely to be engaged and want
to achieve at a higher level.

35. Strategies
Students can only assess themselves when they have a
sufficiently clear target of what their learning is meant
to attain. To do this they must:
• Recognition of the desired goal of
achievement.
• Evidence about their present position,
• And an understanding of a way to close the
gap between the two.

36. Strategies
For Students to be able to develop the ability to
monitor their own progress and work level, they
need to understand:
• What high quality work looks like (exemplars).
• What criteria define quality work.
• How to compare and evaluate their work against
such criteria.

37. Self and Peer Assessment
• Students are more likely to give each other
honest feedback
• Students are also more likely to challenge or
question their feedback than if they are
receiving the same feedback from their
teacher.

38. Self and Peer Assessment
• Once students can understand clearly what
criteria they are being assessed against, there
are a number of different strategies for
students to assess one another.
• These strategies provide a safe way for
students to give one another feedback which
includes strategies for improvement.

39. Motivation and Engagement
• By ensuring that students understand
assessment rubrics, relevance of the content
and skills being taught through assessments,
they will be much more likely to be engaged
and want to achieve at a higher level.
• Clear, concise and relevant feedback is also a
key component in promoting students’
motivation and engagement with assessment.

40. Motivation and Engagement
for Formative Assessment:
• Knowledge of students,
• Fit for purpose,
• Emphasis on progress rather than failure,
• Balance between challenging and achievable

41. Motivation Strategies
Testing-
• involve students in decisions,
• Progress rather than failure,
• Feedback to promote further learning.
Teaching-
• Encourage collaboration among students,
• Cater to fit a range of learning styles,
• Develop student’s self-assessment skills and understand criteria,
• Make learning goals explicit.
• Discuss with students the purpose of their learning.
School-
• Constructive discussion about tests and assessment.

42. Do less…
• Teaching to answer specific questions
• Compare student grades.

43. Assessment in the
Classroom

44. How do I use Assessment for Learning
in my Classroom
• Assessment for Learning is a culture
created in your classroom
• It works as a teacher/student partnership

45. How do I use Assessment
for Learning in my
Classroom
• Teacher needs to be willing to plan a
wide variety of assessment to reach
all learning types
• Assessments need to be progressive
and cumulative
• Teachers needs to decide how to
challenge the diverse needs of the
class

46. Activities of Assessment
• Students ask questions
• Comment Only Marking
• Adding “might” to questions
• Student marking: 2 stars and a wish
• Setting the scene
• Tell your neighbour
• http://www.slideshare.net/ash77/as
sessment-for-learning-activities1

47. What does it look like in
your classroom?
• Please find the other teachers of your
subject area.
• Take 2-3 minutes to discuss how you could
incorporate Assessment for Learning in your
classroom.
• Share different activities you could use.
• Discuss the strengths, weaknesses and
challenges.

48. Question 1:
“You are talking to a school principal in a job
interview situation, the principal asks you to
describe how you would use assessment for
learning in your classroom. Note down, in bullet
points, some key ideas you would tell the
principal.”

49. Question 1: Model Answer
The answer must include:
• Assessment is used to measure their students understanding of a
topic
• Students must be informed of the required standard
• Feed-forward is to be given so students can improve if necessary
• Researchers Black and Wiliam were mentioned
Any 2 of the following should also be included:
• Assessment can be used to improve one’s own teaching
• There is strong evidence that formative assessment raises standards
• Assessment can affect motivation or self-esteem of pupils
• Feedback rather than marks should be emphasized

50. Question 2:
“Is allowing students to work in pairs or small
groups to discuss appropriate answers effective
formative assessment”?

51. Question 3:
“The primary goal of assessment for learning is
raising achievement standards, should achieving
good grades be the most important goal for
schools”?