Making Learning and
Progress Visible
Harnessing the Freedoms of
Life Without Levels
Tim Sully and Jenny Short
We now DO have the freedom to:
• Design our own assessment systems to run
parallel to our own unique curriculum
• Develop a range of strategies and techniques
that are integral to teaching and learning,
without the burden of unnecessary recording
and tracking
The Commission on Assessment
Without Levels 2015
.
There is no intrinsic value in recording
formative assessment. What matters is that it
is acted upon. Unnecessary recording of
formative assessment outcomes should be
avoided
John McIntosh
The Commission on Assessment
Without Levels 2015
“Schools’ own approaches to
in-school assessment
between key stages should
not necessarily emulate
statutory assessment for
accountability purposes.”
John McIntosh
Carpe Diem!
Freedoms await
……. but will you
take them?
The keys:
• Learners’ ability to articulate and to
demonstrate their learning and progress
• Teachers’ ability to plan learning
journeys that excite and engage them to
do so well.
Planning to master the standards
• Plan backwards – milestones and inch pebbles!
• Plan so that the activities and the tasks generate
a wealth of assessment opportunities and
sufficient evidence to support judgements
• Organise the journey so that learners have many
chances to articulate their achievement and
demonstrate what they can and can’t do (yet!)
When planning units of work or lesson sequences:
CONCRETE
Focus: Holistic , higher order
tasks and performances where
learners independently apply
new learning to further
demonstrate competence and
deepen understanding
(Products, processes and
problem solving )
4
1
CULMINATION
MOTIVATION
PRODUCTION
(OUTPUT)
RECEPTION
(INPUT)
ASSESSMENT
Focus: Assessment through
informal tests and
observations of tasks. These
are teacher directed and
designed to yield information
for teacher assessment.
(Have they got it/not?)
Focus: Draw learners in
Determine their prior
knowledge
Set expectations
Set goals and outcomes
3
INFORMATION
2
ABSTRACT
Provide teaching and learning
activities and tasks through
which learners acquire
knowledge and skills to master
the performance Indicators
Focus: Teacher input
Pupil responses
When planning units of work or lesson sequences:
Questioning
Using the new learning purposefully
often self chosen /self directed to
produce something or perform
something or solve a problem
AFL: The right
questions managed for
maximum engagement
AFL: using resources
including each other
Blooms: Evaluating,
Analysing and Creating
CULMINATION
Independently
Longer tasks independently
(products/performances in
response to teacher directed task)
AFL: using resources
including each other
Blooms: Applying
ASSESSMENT
MOTIVATION
Blooms: Remembering
and making links
With support
Short tasks to help
understanding
INFORMATION
AFL: Structured, scaffolded
tasks. Use of success
criteria and feedback
strategies
Blooms: Remembering
and Understanding
Making learning visibly
obvious at Oldfield Park Junior
School
Making learning
visibly obvious….
….at the
Hayesdown First
School Anglo-Saxon
Village