Wood-Wallace, d (2016) ‘The Role of Assessment in Teaching and Learning’

Wood-Wallace, D (2016) ‘The Role of Assessment in Teaching and Learning’ The University of Nottingham (PGCE): Academia

The Role of Assessment in

Teaching and Learning

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Wood-Wallace, D (2016) ‘The Role of Assessment in Teaching and Learning’ The University of Nottingham (PGCE): Academia

Abbreviations:

ARE

CTG

DAISI

FA

ITT

NC

OA

P

PT

RAISEOnline

SA

SATs

SEN

SIMS

TA

TP

WAGOLL
Age Related Expectation

Closing the Gap

Data Analysis and Insight for School Improvement (report pack)

Formative Assessment

Independent Think Time

National Curriculum

Other Adults

Pupil

Paired Talk

Reporting and Analysing for Improvement through Self Evaluation

Summative Assessment

Standard Assessment Tests

Special Education Needs

School Information Management System

Teaching Assistant

Talk Partners

What A Good One Looks Like

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Wood-Wallace, D (2016) ‘The Role of Assessment in Teaching and Learning’ The University of Nottingham (PGCE): Academia

Introduction:

Deeply embedded in the current education system is assessment. Within education, assessment is used to track and predict pupil achievement and can be defined as a means by which pupil learning is measured (Ronan, 2015). The delivery of teaching and learning within schools is often predetermined by what is assessed, with pupils actively being taught how to achieve the success criteria (appendix 7a). Recognised as a key professional competency of teachers (GTCNI, 2011) and the 6th quality in the Teachers’ Standards (DfE, 2011), assessment can be outlined as ‘the systematic collection, interpretation and use of information to give a deeper appreciation of what pupils know and understand, their skills and personal capabilities, and what their learning experiences enable them to do’ (CCEA, 2013: 4). The aims of the current essay are to venture further into the role of assessment in teaching and learning, paying particular attention to how formative and summative forms of assessment contribute to the discipline; and what impact these have at the classroom and the school level for both teachers and learners. The paper will examine my own experiences of using formative and summative assessment in the classroom, looking specifically at the summative processes I am aware of, before evaluating the purpose of Independent Thinking Time (ITT) and Talk Partners (TP); and how formative assessment can take place within these. In addition to this, the essay will also explore the role of Closing the Gaps (CTGs) in marking, and how questioning can assess conceptual understanding. These will be evaluated against the Teachers’ Standards. The essay will endeavour to foreground some potential challenges with formative and summative assessment (including what I have learned about assessment), before identifying some areas for future development and the strategies to facilitate these.

The role of assessment in teaching and learning:

Assessment is a term that ‘covers any activity in which evidence of learning is collected in a planned and systematic way, and is used to make a judgement about learning’ (Harlen and Deakin Crick, 2002: 1). All forms of assessment in school are rooted in practice and provide ‘information about the thinking, achievement and progress of students’ (Crooks, 2001: 1). McAlpine (2002) argues that the role of

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Wood-Wallace, D (2016) ‘The Role of Assessment in Teaching and Learning’ The University of Nottingham (PGCE): Academia

assessment in teaching and learning is to provide ‘communication and feedback’ which enable learners and teachers to understand ‘where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go and how best to get there’ (ARG, 2002: 1).
Within the literature it is agreed that there are two main methods in which learning is assessed: through Formative Assessment (FA) and through Summative Assessment (SA). These terms were first introduced by Scriven (1967) to suggest a distinction between evaluation that intended to foster development and improvement (FA), and evaluation that intended to assess whether the stated goals were met (SA). From this initial separation of purpose, it has been argued that FA and SA have developed into distinct subtypes of assessment in their own right and have since widely been used as measurements of learning (Hattie, 2003; Taras, 2005). However, describing both forms of assessments as separate entities aims not to reject how both FA and SA can be used synonymously to give a clear and concise assessment of teaching and learning.

Summative Assessment:

SA is retrospective, it measures student growth after learning is delivered and sums up a learner’s attainment in a given area of the curriculum (EPPI-Centre, 2002; McAlpine, 2002). Also termed ‘Assessment OF learning’; SA involves the allocation of a level, grade or standard to a piece of work (appendix B1-5), more often than not comes at the end of a unit or as part of a standardised test (Taras, 2005), and generally counts towards the school’s league table (Crooks, 2001). In this way SA ‘provides information at the student, classroom, and school level’ (Johnson and Jenkins, 2009: 1).
Surveying the literature, it seems that SAs are admired for their ability to easily allow data to be compared nationally and between establishments (Mansell et al., 2009; McAlpine, 2002). Indeed it appears that this method of assessment is the ‘most appropriate to succinctly communicate students’ abilities to external interested parties’ (McAlpine, 2002: 6). SAs are valued for clearly demonstrating whether or not the intended learning goals have been met (and by how much), and for providing a concise summary of students’ abilities (Mansell et al., 2009). Counter-balancing these advantages, SAs are criticised for usually appearing at the end of learning, and consequently provide pupils with no opportunity to improve the weaknesses identified. ‘Summative assessments happen too far down the learning path to…make

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Wood-Wallace, D (2016) ‘The Role of Assessment in Teaching and Learning’ The University of Nottingham (PGCE): Academia

instructional adjustments and interventions during the learning process’ (Bergreen et al., 2016: 7). Another criticism of SA is that it is not useful for communicating complex data about a student’s individual abilities (McAlpine, 2002), and that as a consequence of only measuring standardised objectives the focus of teaching and learning can become too centred on ‘teaching for the test’ (Mansell et al., 2009).

Formative Assessment:

Juxtaposing SA, FA is prospective, it elicits and uses information, opens up success criteria and gives formative feedback so that the next steps in learning can be achieved (Gershon, 2013). It is ‘the lived, daily embodiment of a teacher’s desire to refine practice’ (NCTE, 2013: 1). Equally termed ‘Assessment FOR learning’; FA can involve various strategies such as questioning (appendix 2a-b, 4c), feedback (appendix 5a, 6c, 7a, 10a-b), interventions (appendix 9a-c) and peer/self-assessments (appendix 7a) in order to improve student learning on an ongoing basis rather than simply measuring it (Black and Wiliam, 2001; Taras, 2005). Formative assessments are an integral part of the teaching and learning process, they inform planning and from them judgments can be made as to what aspects of teaching need re-capping, where additional modelling is required and whether all pupils are appropriately stretched and challenged (EPPI-Centre, 2002; McAlpine, 2002) (appendix A1-10).
A benefit of using FA in the classroom is that feedback is usually very specific, so allows pupils to focus specifically on the weakness identified and thus have a greater potential to improve (McAlpine, 2002). Due to this priority it is argued ‘formative assessment produces greater increases in student achievement’ (NCTM, 2007: 1), as it concentrates specifically on reducing misconceptions and closing the gaps in knowledge. Another advantage of incorporating FA into teaching and learning is that it allows progress to be made immediately after identification so can accelerate learning, and ‘enables teachers to adjust instruction quickly, while learning is in progress’ (PLB, 2011: 1). Differing from this, a challenge of FA is the time is takes to accurately identify and provide all pupils with a focus for improvement, and that as a result of this teachers may rush through lessons and consequently loose the ‘mastery’ aspect of teaching (Sasser, 2016). Another criticism is ‘formative assessment results can vary widely between pupils, and so there is a risk that data may be subjective or less accurate than that from summative assessment’ (Richards, 2013: 1).

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Wood-Wallace, D (2016) ‘The Role of Assessment in Teaching and Learning’ The University of Nottingham (PGCE): Academia

From these definitions it is clear that assessment plays an integral role in defining the curriculum. Through summative assessment; learning against the national standard is measured and ‘used to pass judgements on teachers and schools’ (ARG, 2003: 1). SAs inform unit design and instruction and so should be aligned with measurable standard objectives (Taras, 2005). Indeed, it is widely accepted that ‘thorough…[summative]…assessment strategies include clearly identified criteria, alignment with unit objectives, and meet state and local standards’ (Annenberg, 2003: 3). In addition to this, it has also become clear that assessment is instrumental in improving pupil achievement in school. FA allows communication, a dialogue of feedback and information between teachers and learners so that individual misconceptions and gaps in knowledge can be closed, allowing for a deeper level of learning to be accessed (Black and Wiliam, 2001). Both forms of assessment evaluate learning that has taken place and can be used in synthesis to provide ‘an overall picture of learning’ (Timmis, 2013).

Assessment and the Teachers’ Standards:

Throughout my classroom experience I have used many forms of both formative (appendix A1-10) and summative (appendix B1-5) assessment in order to assess, plan and advance the learning of pupils that I teach. From these assessments I have come to understand how these can be evaluated in order to progress learning; and are aware of the impact they have on teaching and learning at the student, classroom, school and national level (see Self-Assessment of Standards Grid). Assessment interlinks hugely with the Teachers’ Standards, with many of the formative and summative practices carried out by teachers evaluated as evidence of competency. Indeed within recent years there has been a tendency to view assessment as the ‘ultimate arbiter of school performance, evaluating schools and teachers on the basis of pupils’ exam results’ (Thraves, 2012: 1).

1) Experiences of Summative Assessment:

In terms of summative assessment, at both my base school and second placement school I have contributed to the diverse ways in which children’s progress and attainment are summatively assessed and recorded.

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Wood-Wallace, D (2016) ‘The Role of Assessment in Teaching and Learning’ The University of Nottingham (PGCE): Academia