Assessment for Learning

I witnessed various formative assessment strategies being deployed in practice throughout my placements.  It was apparent that some were more effective on the children’s learning than others.  For example, the two stars and a wish strategy was the most common approach used in the year 1 class that I was working in.  Arguably, this strategy is more suited to younger students as it enables the teacher to provide them with a shorthand way of communicating the next steps they would like the students to accomplish. This was achieved by the teacher writing comments in the children’s exercise books containing two positive aspects of their work.  The teacher would then write a wish about what the children might do next time to improve.  In my opinion, this strategy presented challenge within the context as the children were unable to interpret the feedback properly due to their age and most of the targets and actions were not followed up or even referred to again.

Sadler (1989) argues that the best form of assessment is achieved by offering children opportunities to discuss and work co-cooperatively and emphasises that  children need to engage in appropriate action in order that they progress in their learning. In concurrence, Roscoe and Chi (2007) suggest that peer assessment provides students with opportunities to reflect upon their own comprehension, build on prior knowledge, generate inferences, integrate ideas, explain and communicate their understandings and repair any misunderstandings.  This approach would encourage peer assessment through talk partners, ensuring that all children are actively involved in the learning and enunciate their thinking and would be an effective way for the teacher to address the challenges identified.

Another assessment strategy I observed the teacher using in school was sharing learning goals with the children.  This approach would require the teacher to share the objectives with the children at the beginning of the lesson and then write them in their exercise books.  The purpose of this was to evaluate the level of the children’s knowledge in order to identify specific areas of improvement and development that the teacher and children could address in subsequent lessons.  The teacher would normally write feedback in the children’s books.  The challenge with this approach on the year 1 class was that the children were unable to read the feedback provided and, in some cases, the teacher would repeatedly write the same comments.  This would imply that the previous feedback was either not understood or not being acted upon by the children. To address this difficulty, Black et al (2003) emphasises that praise, action, response and checking (“PARC”) is a more effective assessment strategy that helps improve children’s learning compared to written feedback.  Black et al (2003) also argues that the teacher should praise the children’s successes in respect of the learning outcomes for each lesson as well as providing the children with specific actions to improve their work and goes onto suggest that children should always respond to the feedback through an action to progress in their learning and this must be reviewed by the teacher to ensure it fulfills what is required of them.  Clarke (2005, P.11) stresses that this is beneficial as it will deepen and challenge the child’s learning and understanding.

Lastly, the third approach that was used in context was the traffic light self-evaluation strategy in which the children would code their work with either a red, orange or green pen depending on how easy or difficult they found the work.  Again, the challenge that I identified with this strategy was that the teacher did not provide those children who marked it as “easy” with any additional challenging work to extend their learning. Clarke (2005, P.12) contends that deep questioning between the children and the teacher is an effectual approach as it maximizes the children’s thinking and articulation.

 

Reference list

Black, P; Harrison, C; Lee, C; Marshall, Bethan and William, Dylan (2003). Assessment for Learning- putting it into practice. Maidenhead, U.K.: Open university Press.

Clarke, S. (2005) ‘Defining formative assessment’, Chapter 1 in Formative Assessment in Action; Weaving the elements together. London: Routledge.

Roscoe, R. D., & Chi, M. T. H. (2007). Understanding tutor learning: Knowledge-building and knowledge-telling in peer tutors’ explanations and questions. Review of Educational Research, 77(4), 534-574. DOI: 10.3102/0034654307309920

Sadler, D. R. (2013) ‘Opening up feedback: Teaching learners to see’. In Merry, S., Price, M., Carless, D., & Taras, M. (Eds.) Conceptualizing Feedback in Higher Education: developing dialogue with students. (Ch. 5, 54-63). London: Routledge.