Summer week 2

Induction tutor materials

Training session - effective assessment

Duration: 90 minutes

Session objectives

Learn that:

• 6.1. Effective assessment is critical to teaching because it provides teachers with information about pupils’ understanding and needs.
• 6.2. Good assessment helps teachers avoid being over-influenced by potentially misleading factors, such as how busy pupils appear.
• 6.3. Before using any assessment, teachers should be clear about the decision it will be used to support and be able to justify its use.
• 6.4. To be of value, teachers use information from assessments to inform the decisions they make.

Learn how to develop an understanding of different pupil needs, by:

• 5b. Making use of formative assessment.

How to prepare for the session

Aim to model effective assessment practices throughout, such as:

• giving ECTs appropriate wait time after asking questions
• using a variety of question types
• asking ECTs to respond and build on each other’s responses

Session structure

What do you already know about assessment? (10 minutes)

Ask, what are the different purposes of assessment?

Answers may include:

• improving pupil learning
• improving teaching
• identifying where pupils are at
• checking for understanding
• informing planning

Ask, how have you used assessment so far?

Answers may include:

• questioning to check for understanding
• exit tickets
• quizzes at the end of lessons
• end of topic assessments

Defining formative assessment (10 minutes)

Ask ECTs to agree on a definition for formative assessment. This is a concept they’ve encountered in the self-directed study materials and in their mentoring.

Ask ECTs to compare their definition with this explanation:

Formative assessment is: ‘any assessment for which the first priority in its design and practice is to serve the purpose of promoting pupils' learning. An assessment activity can help learning if it provides information to be used as feedback, by teachers, and by their pupils in assessing themselves, to modify the learning and teaching activities in which they are engaged. Such assessment becomes 'formative assessment' when the evidence is actually used to adapt the teaching work to meet learning needs.’

(Working Inside the Black Box by Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall and Wiliam)

Ask ECTs to share examples of how they’ve used assessment practices which match this definition.

What are the characteristics of good assessment? (10 minutes)

Ask ECTs to work in pairs or groups and decide which of the following statements are true and which are false:

• Assessment tells teachers what pupils know, remember, understand and can do.

• One assessment cannot test everything.

• Assessments are more powerful if they are focused.

• All data from tests can be used formatively.

• Assessment involves both teachers and pupils.

• Assessment helps teachers understand individual pupils’ learning needs.

• All assessment helps teachers to plan their next steps.

• All assessment helps pupils learn.

• Assessment tasks keep pupils busy.

• Pupils do not learn from assessment.

Answers

True:

• Assessment tells teachers what pupils know, remember, understand and can do.
• One assessment cannot test everything.
• Assessments are more powerful if they are focused.
• All assessment data can be used in a formative way.
• Assessment involves both teachers and pupils.
• Assessment helps teachers understand individual pupils’ learning needs.
• All assessment helps teachers to plan their next steps.

False:

• All assessment helps pupils learn.
• Assessment tasks keep pupils busy.
• Pupils do not learn from assessment.

Ask ECTs to describe and explain where their group placed the statements.

Note that some statements should be open to interpretation, to support rich discussion.

When assessment is used well (15 minutes)

Share the following definition:

The reliability of an assessment tool is the extent to which it consistently and accurately measures learning.

Ask, what does this mean for us as teachers?

Answers might include:

• we have to make sure our assessments measure learning
• we need to be aware of how reliable our assessment tool is
• you need accurate data to make decisions

Share the following factors, which are important in ensuring that assessments are reliable:

• Precision: how accurate is the result?
• Replicability: would you get the same result again?
• Independence of content: would a different choice of questions change the result?
• The design of the marking schedule and moderation of marking procedures.
• Independence of markers: would a different marker change the result.
• Standardisation: would changing the assessment context (room, time of day, instructions etc) change the result?
• The length of the assessment: a longer assessment generally produces more reliable results.
• The suitability of the questions or tasks for the students being assessed.
• The phrasing and terminology of the questions.
• The consistency in test administration: for example, the length of time given for the assessment, instructions given to students before the test.
• The readiness of students for the assessment: for example, a hot afternoon or straight after physical activity might not be the best time for students to be assessed.

Share the following scenarios in which teachers are assessing their pupils on fractions. They want to make their assessments more reliable.

• Teacher A decided to add more questions to the assessment.
• Teacher B gives pupils more time.
• Teacher C decides to increase the number of marks available but keeps the time the same.
• Teacher D decided to get a second marker to mark the assessments and compare results.
• Teacher E decides to narrow the range and assess less content.
• Teacher F decides to just use multiple choice questions to assess.

Ask ECTs to work in pairs to consider each scenario and decide:

• does this make the assessment more or less reliable?
• will it give the teacher the information they need?

Answers:

• Teacher A decided to add more questions to the assessment.

Yes, it would make it more reliable. The teacher will get more information either by increasing the sample by asking different questions, or increasing precision by asking corresponding questions.

• Teacher B gives pupils more time.

Adding time will not make the same test more. If the teacher used the time to collect more data, then it would increase reliability.

• Teacher C decides to increase the number of marks available but keeps the time the same.

This would not increase reliability.

• Teacher D decided to get a second marker to mark the assessments and compare results.

This would increase reliability if the teachers mark independently. They could take the average mark.

• Teacher E decides to narrow the range and assess less content.

Yes, this would make it more reliable. The teacher would need to decide if they had enough data to make it valid.

• Teacher F decides to just use multiple choice questions to assess.

Yes, this would be more reliable. The teacher would need to decide if they had enough data to make it valid.

Ask, why is it important to understand what our pupils know as we go along?

Answers might include:

• we need to assess what pupils know at the beginning of a lesson or unit
• we need to know which pupils have understood the content and react accordingly
• we need to identify misconceptions as we go along
• if we wait till the end to find out what pupils know, we will have no time to resolve or address this

Ask the ECTs to look at the following examples of assessment strategies. They should think of one advantage and disadvantage of using each one:

• do now activity
• regular low-stake quizzes
• exit tickets
• hinge questions
• questions that require short answers

Answers might include:

• Do now activity

Advantages: useful to identify pupil starting point, useful as a recall tool.

Disadvantage: might need a follow-on to secure learning.

• Regular low-stake quizzes

Advantages: identifies what pupils know and can do, low-stakes so supportive of pupils needs, helps identify next steps.

Disadvantage: potentially time-consuming.

• Exit tickets

Advantages: identifies what pupils know and can do.

Disadvantage: timings - if we use these at the end of the lesson it might be too late to re-teach.

• Hinge questions

Advantage: can target misconceptions.

Disadvantage: pupils may be able to guess the correct answer.

• Questions which require short answers

Advantage: more detailed response so pupil understanding can be explored further.

Disadvantage: time-consuming to mark.

Putting it into practice (35 minutes)

Share the following lesson example:

Example A

When I am planning a Medium-Term Plan the first thing I do is work out what the key concepts are that the pupils need to learn to be able to progress in the subject. I then consider what the most appropriate assessment task pupils will complete at the end of the unit needs to be. This assessment task needs to enable me to identify pupil progress, alongside aspects they have not understood.

For example, if I were teaching a year 7 unit on horror writing, I might set a task for pupils to ‘Write a horror story, using descriptive language and ensuring a cohesive and conventional plot structure’. This fits with the English KS3 curriculum ‘writing’ domain of writing stories and different types of narrative and writing to entertain. This comes into the GCSE exam for English Language also.

Ask ECTs to list:

• what key concepts will pupils be learning over this sequence?
• what should the end of topic assessment be to assess pupil progress towards these concepts
• what skills and knowledge will pupils need to be successful in this final assessment? (ECTs may find it helpful to use sentence starters like ‘to know that’ and ‘to be able to’)
• what are the 5 key skills or concepts pupils will need to be successful?

Answers may include:

• to know subject specific terminology to explain the conventions of horror writing
• to be able to make a clear and relevant point
• to be able to select and use accurate quotations to support a point
• to be able to select the quotations that demonstrate the writer’s intentions
• to be able to pick out individual words and discuss the language
• ask ECTs to identify lessons in which they’ll introduce key skills or concepts
• ECTs should work through each lesson and break down the key skill or concept into the most granular form

For example:

To know subject specific terminology to explain the conventions of horror writing. Or, to:

• understand what is meant by ‘conventions’
• know what the genre of horror writing usually includes
• know what pathetic fallacy is
• be able to identify when pathetic fallacy is being used
• identify the purpose of using pathetic fallacy
• know what symbolism is
• be able to identify when symbolism is being used
• identify the purpose of using symbolism
• know what foreshadowing is
• be able to identify when foreshadowing is being used
• identify the purpose of using foreshadowing

Ask ECTs to decide which assessment tool they’ll use to assess each of their 5 key skills or concepts. They should create an assessment task for each.

For example:

Objective: To be able to select and use accurate quotations to support a point.

Exit ticket

‘The writer uses pathetic fallacy to set the scene.’

Find two quotations that support this point.

Ask, what information will this give you? What feedback will this give pupils?

Reflections (10 minutes)

Ask ECTs to use think, pair, share to identify what they’ve learned in the session, and what the implications are for their practice.

Ask ECTs to think of one thing that they’ll do differently in their practice following this session.