Assessment for Learning
General links
Web links
http://www.assessment-reform-group.org/
This is the website of the Assessment Reform Group, a British organisation that has played a key role in bringing the research evidence about assessment for learning to the attention of the education community.
The ARG commissioned the Black and Wiliam work, Inside the Black Box (see below) and the follow-up Assessment for Learning: Beyond the Black Box (download as a PDF file from the above site).
The site contains a great deal of information about formative assessment, including a downloadable leaflet entitled Assessment for Learning: 10 principles. Research-based principles to guide classroom practice.
http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/kbla9810.htm
This is a direct link to the Black and Wiliam article, Inside the Black Box (1998), which describes the research basis that confirms the value of formative assessment and identifies specific formative assessment (assessment for learning) practices.
http://www.qca.org.uk/ages3-14/downloads/beyond_black_box2.pdf
This links to a follow up publication by Black and Wiliam, entitled Beyond the Black Box, which expands on research findings relevant to assessment for learning (formative assessment).
http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz/resources/resources/classroom_learning.html
This site provides a summary of the work of Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam (Inside the Black Box. See above.) and includes:
- the general features of a number of major research projects
- teachers' practices in formative assessment
- students and formative assessment
- strategies and tactics for teachers
- the role and types of feedback
- prospects for the theory and practice of formative assessment.
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/education/publications/SSR2_.pdf
Black, Paul + Harrison, Christine, 'Feedback in questioning and marking: The science teacher's role in formative assessment'.
Abstract
This article describes some outcomes of a project in which teachers from six schools worked with a group at King's College to develop formative assessment in their science classrooms. Much of the description uses extracts from the teachers' own accounts of their experiences. Three main areas of work are discussed, namely questioning in classroom dialogue, the quality of such questions, and the giving of feedback on homework by way of comments with no marks. Overall, teachers saw that the changes were transferring more of the responsibility for the learning work to the students. A later article will describe changes in the students' role.
http://www.qca.org.uk/7659.html
This is the official site of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (UK). Go to Ages 3 - 14 on the top menu and then to Assessment for Learning on the side menu. This takes you to a number of downloadable PDFs related to the practice of Assessment for Learning.
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/education/publications/SSR3.pdf
Black, Paul + Harrison, Christine, 'Self- and peer-assessment and taking responsibility: The science student's role in formative assessment'.
Abstract
Several empirical and theoretical research studies have concluded that an essential condition for the development of formative assessment is that students become engaged in self- and peer- assessment. This article describes work on this issue by twelve science teachers in six schools working with a team at King's College London, and draws extensively on teachers' own written accounts of their experiences. The rationale and the practices developed are described, and a closing section discusses whether or not the new classroom methods described are practicable, given the current pressures on schools. This article is a complement to an earlier one on the teacher's role in formative assessment.
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/education/papers/AERA%20ClassAsst.pdf
Black, Paul, 'Formative and summative assessment: Can they serve learning together?'
Abstract
The first part of this paper presents an account of how we developed formative assessment practices with a group of 36 teachers. This is then complemented by analysis of the successful outcomes in the light of learning principles, of changes in the roles of teachers and pupils in the task of learning, and of effects on the self-esteem and motivation of pupils. The second part then explores the formative-summative interface starting with an account of how the project's teachers struggled to reconcile their improved formative assessment with the pressures of high-stakes summative testing. The issues are then explored more generally by consideration of the systemic problems that would be raised by any attempts to align practice which could serve both the formative and the summative purposes.
http://www.aaia.org.uk
This is the homepage of the Association for Achievement and Improvement through Assessment (UK). Although many of the links on this page are to documents that are specific to the English curriculum, there are many of more general relevance – for example the PDF document on Self-Assessment, and the report of the Gillingham Partnership Formative Assessment Project which focuses on 'Communicating learning intentions, developing success criteria and pupil self-evaluation'.
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/assessment/atol_online/tutorials_e.php
A New Zealand site that provides online professional learning in the area of formative assessment. Two tutorials, entitled 'Exploring formative assessment' and 'Planning for formative assessment', can be accessed from this page.
Books
Clarke, Shirley, Timperley, Helen, Hattie, John 2003, Unlocking Formative Assessment, Hodder Moa Beckett Publishers Ltd, NZ.
Although set in the context of curriculum and assessment in New Zealand, this text offers many useful strategies for primary teachers, particularly in regard to sharing learning intentions, student self-evaluation, feedback and questioning.
Torrance, H & Pryor, J 1998, Investigating Formative Assessment, Teaching, learning and assessment in the classroom, Open Unversity Press, Buckingham, Philadelphia.
This text explores the following questions:
- How do teachers assess the ordinary classroom work of young children?
- How do pupils understand and respond to that assessment – does it help or hinder their development?
- How can classroom assessment be developed to be more effective in assisting the learning process?
Wiggins, Grant 1998, Educative Assessment Designing Assessments to Inform and Improve Student Performance, Jossey-Bass, a Wiley Imprint, San Francisco.
This book represents a rationale for learning-centered assessment in our schools and an overview of the tools, techniques, and issues that educators should consider as they design and use assessments focused on learner needs. It argues that we need a different kind of student assessment than the one most schools now use. It explains what this new system looks like and how it satisfies learner needs rather than sacrificing them to demands for efficiency and expediency. And it presents standards and criteria we can use to judge the value and effectiveness of this or any other assessment system.
Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall & Wiliam 2004, Assessment for Learning - Putting it into practice, Open University Press.
Assessment for Learning is based on a two-year project involved thirty-six teachers in schools in the UK. After a brief review of the research background and of the project itself, successive chapters describe the specific practices which teachers found fruitful and the underlying ideas about learning that these developments illustrate.
This book offers valuable insights into assessment for learning as teachers describe in their own words how they turned the ideas into practical action in their schools.
Weeden, P, Winter, J, Broadfoot, P 2002, Assessment What's in it for schools? Routledge Falmer, London.
Full of practical advice for teachers about how to move from assessment that merely measures and certifies to one which is an integral and planned element of the learning process.
CERI/OECD 2005, Formative Assessment – Improving learning in secondary classrooms.
Clarke, Shirley, Formative Assessment in the Secondary Classroom, Hodder Murrary, 2005.
Rubrics
Websites
http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/assess.html
This is an excellent guide to rubrics and is linked to several other sites which have rubric banks.
http://www.interactiveclassroom.com/articles.htm
Stix, A,'Creating Rubrics Through Negotiable Contracting and Assessment'.
This is an article on the use and development of rubrics.
http://intranet.cps.k12.il.us/Assessments/Ideas_and_Rubrics/ideas_and_rubrics.html
The Chicago Public Schools website on performance assessment. Explanations of rubrics and their uses and how they can be designed. Lots of examples.
http://education.qld.gov.au/corporate/newbasics/pdfs/yr9rt4grade.pdf
This is an example of an indicative grading master from the Queensland New Basics Project.
Student self-assessment/self-evaluation
http://www.aaia.org.uk/pdf/Gillingham1.pdf
This is an interim report on the first term of the project from the Gillingham Partnership Formative Assessment Project. It focuses on communicating learning intentions, developing success criteria and pupil self-evaluation.
http://www.aaia.org.uk/pdf/AAIAformat4.pdf
This is a publication from the Association for Achievement and Improvement through Assessment (UK). It outlines the benefits of student self-assessment and examines some strategies to engage students in the process.
http://www.myread.org/monitoring_self.htm
The very comprehensive Australian site, www.myread.org, has a section on self-assessment and peer-assessment.
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/prep10/csf/publications/midyears/index.html
There are links from this page to articles on the use of graphic (cognitive) organisers in the middle years, multiple intelligences and learning styles.
http://www.graphic.org/goindex.html
This site has links to a large variety of graphic organisers and a number of articles about the uses of individual kinds of organisers.
Clarke, S 2003, 'Student Self-Evaluation' in Unlocking Formative Assessment, NZ.
Hill, Kathleen, 2004, 'Is there a role for self-evaluation in the classroom?', PEN144, PETA, Sydney.
Wilson, J & Wing Jan L 1993, 'Involving students in assessment' in Thinking for Themselves: Developing strategies for reflective learning, Eleanor Curtain Publishing, Melbourne.
Effective feedback
http://www.aaia.org.uk/pdf/Gillingham2.pdf
This is an interim report on the second term of the project from the Gillingham Partnership Formative Assessment Project.
It focuses oral feedback and marking against learning intentions.
http://www.relearning.org/resources/PDF/feedback.pdf
Feedback: the text of a speech given by Grant Wiggins to the American Association of Higher Education. The article asks questions such as 'How would a tennis player improve if all the coach did was shout out letter grades or stanines? How would the public speaker become skilled and poised if there were never a real audience and experts merely wrote back and gave their scores a few weeks later?
Clarke, S 2003, 'Feedback' in Unlocking Formative Assessment, NZ.
Strategic questioning
http://ltag.education.tas.gov.au/proflearn/pedagogy/processes.htm
This site refers to Powerful Pedagogies, part of which includes the framing of questions.
Godinho, S and Wilson, J 2004, How to succeed with questioning, Curriculum Corporation, Melbourne.
http://www.oir.uiuc.edu/did/docs/questioning.htm
A very comprehensive analysis of questioning skills from the Center for Teaching Excellence at the University of Illinois.
Learning styles
http://www.ascd.org/
This is the website of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. If you select Education Topics from the top menu you will be able to access information about Multiple Intelligences.
Links to States and Territories: assessment statements and assessment principles
ACT
http://www.decs.act.gov.au/publicat/acpframeworks.htm
This is a link to the curriculum documents. Assessment policy statements are contained in each of the learning area documents.
Northern Territory
http://deet.nt.gov.au/education/ntcf/docs/a_overview.pdf
This links to the Northern Territory Curriculum Framework.
Queensland
http://education.qld.gov.au/curriculum/assessment/
This links to Education Queensland assessment.
South Australia
http://www.decs.sa.gov.au/docs/files/communities/docman/1/Assess_Rep_Schools_Policy.pdf
This is the link to the South Australia DECS Assessment and Reporting Policy: launched in 1995 and is still current policy.
Tasmania
http://www.education.tas.gov.au/oer/AMRpolicy/docs/4973-report.pdf
This site describes assessment policy.
http://connections.education.tas.gov.au/Nav/StrategicPolicy.asp?ID=00000812
This is a link to the Assessment Monitoring and Reporting Policy.
Victoria
Catholic sector:
http://www.cecv.melb.catholic.edu.au
Go to policies, number 1.15B.
http://www.sofweb.vic.edu.au/
Draft assessment advice.
General
http://www.curriculum.edu.au/nalsas/pdf/assessing.pdf
This link takes you to the Report on Assessing and Reporting Student Outcomes in Asian languages (Japanese and Indonesian).
This report addresses assessing and reporting student outcomes in Japanese and Indonesian. It seeks to describe Key Performance Measures (KPMs) which would pertain, if and when a decision were to be made, to gather data nationally on student performance.
The KPMs are intended to describe dimensions of student participation and achievement. They can be understood as a blueprint for collecting evidence about what students have achieved.
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