OPENING UP ASSESSMENT
Learning Together Resource
Learning together resources use carefully
selected videos of excellent practice
and information from
The Journey to Excellence website.
Whilst you watch examples of
practitioners and learners, and listen
to the perspective of researchers, you will
be encouraged to carry out activities and
put your learning into your practice.
March 2012
Version 1.1
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OPENING UP ASSESSMENT
Learning Together Resource
The resource is presented using a slideshow format.
•
Slides can be accessed in succession, using
arrow keys, through hypertext links or navigation
buttons.
Hypertext links are live in slideshow
format only.
•
Glow*, NAR* and SQA* icons link to additional
assessment resources and discussion forums.
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OPENING UP ASSESSMENT
Learning Together Resource
Who is this for?
The pack has relevance for a wide range of partners
and professionals working in all sectors and contexts
who contribute to the implementation of Curriculum
for Excellence.
It is designed to help you reflect on the implications
of assessment for your practice.
An asterix* highlights there is additional information
in the notes pages of a particular slide.
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OPENING UP ASSESSMENT
Learning Together Resource
The resource is organised in 4 sections.
Each can be accessed individually or in succession.
Introduction
Improvement
Guides
Activities
Videos
Additional resources can be found after the activities section.
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As you work through the resource be mindful that the principles of assessment
are to……
support learning
promote learner engagement
Introduction
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ensure appropriate support
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As you work through the resource be mindful that effective assessment involves a
wider range of evidence.
In response to their learning experiences valid, reliable and proportionate
assessment evidence may come from things that learners………
make
say /
communicate
say
write
write
do
do
Introduction
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VIDEOS
The following two slides link to a sample of clips showing effective practice in assessment. These
can be viewed online or downloaded. They can be accessed by clicking the school name on the
slide. Alternatively, enter the school name into the video search engine on The Journey to
Excellence online resource. The clips are also available at iTunes U .
Minishant Primary School
Auchinleck Academy
Involving learners in creating their
own success criteria.
Transitions – sharing standards
in mathematics.
Torbain Primary
Grange Academy
Assessment in action.
Moderation to improve learning.
Dundonald Primary
Mosshead Primary School
Mosshead learning Journeys.
Videos
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Personal planning in literacy, numeracy,
health and wellbeing.
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VIDEOS
Balwearie High School
Formative assessment as an integral part of
Learning at Balwearie.
Auchinleck Academy
Grange Academy
Learner engagement through
interdisciplinary learning.
Numeracy across the curriculum.
St Modan’s
Raploch Primary School
Raising attainment through young people knowing
their strengths and next steps as learners.
Videos
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Assessment at Raploch Primary School.
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Improvement Guides – What is excellence in assessment?
The following improvement guides provide information on excellence in assessment. They are part of a series
available at the Journey to Excellence online resource. They illustrate the difference between good practice and
excellent practice in assessment. They can be applied in any learning context.
Using assessment to support learning
Assessing progress and achievement
Monitoring, recording and tracking success
Recognising achievement
Profiling success in achieving outcomes of learning
Reporting on success in achieving outcomes
Ensuring quality and confidence in assessment
Improvement guides
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Activities
Activity 1
This activity helps you to compare your own practice in assessment with
features of excellence detailed in the improvement guides.
Activity 2.1
This activity is the first of three activities exploring how you might report
to parents on a child’s or young person’s progress through a level using
the terms developing, consolidating and secure.
Activity 2.2
This activity is the second of three looking at a child’s progress through
a level. It asks you to explore your own understanding of the term ‘breadth’
‘challenge’ and ‘application’ before listening to a clip which explores the terms
in depth.
Activity 2.3
This is the third activity linked to assessing progress through a level. Its
purpose is to build on your prior knowledge and explore your own practice
in knowing when a child is ‘secure’ at a level.
Activity 3
This activity highlights excellent practice by practitioners
through the involvement of children and young people in understanding
themselves as learners. It also looks at pathways through Curriculum
for Excellence levels for children and young people who need additional
support.
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Activities
Activity 4
Effective assessment is reliable, valid and proportionate. It takes account
of a child’s or young person’s learning both in and outwith the classroom.
This activity helps you to explore when to assess a child or young person
to provide a holistic view of progress.
Activity 5
Curriculum for Excellence aims to develop a child’s or young person’s
skills for learning, work and life. This activity helps explore your thinking
around assessment across the four contexts for learning. It highlights two
schools whose approaches ensure children and young people know
their strengths and next steps as learners in a range of settings. Both
schools use this information to raise attainment and achievement of their
children and young people.
Activity 6 Effective assessment approaches are inclusive and accessible
for all children and young people. This activity encourages you to consider
the five entitlements of Curriculum for Excellence and fair and
inclusive assessment approaches.
Activity 7
These two slides are included for self-directed learning through
additional resources and activities available from Education Scotland
interactive assessment site, National Assessment Resource (NAR)
and SQA. Topics include Recognising Achievement, Profiling and
Reporting Progress and Sharing standards and expectations.
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Activity 1
Choose one of the assessment improvement guides. How well does your practice in
assessment match the features of excellence.
List your strengths and areas for development below
Strengths
Areas for Development
Discuss with a colleague
Approaches to planning must be coherent around learning, teaching and assessment. Given
that, what are the implications for your current learning, teaching and assessment policies and
practices?
• Do your assessment processes take account of the capacities, attributes and capabilities of
Curriculum for Excellence?
• Do you apply the principles of curriculum design to assessment approaches?
• Do you come together with other staff and partners to plan learning, teaching and
assessment in a coherent way?
• How effective is your approach to monitoring and tracking the quality of learning and
achievement across IDL, subject learning, ethos and life of the school, and opportunities for
personal achievement?
Activities
Activity
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Activity 2.1
Reporting progress through a level
Teachers should report to parents on their child’s achievement in terms of levels as well
as using brief qualitative comments to reflect ‘how much’ and ‘how well’ their child has
achieved. Assessment approaches should help learners to show their progress through
the levels and enable them to demonstrate their achievements in a range of ways which
are appropriate to learning.
The
Developing* Learner…
Secure*
Consolidating*
NB: These terms are not meant to be applied to individual experiences and outcomes as this may lead to
fragmented learning.
How effective is the range of assessment evidence you collect in demonstrating what learners know and
understand and can do across all aspects of achievement?
Does your evidence include assessment in a range of contexts and settings?
Activities
Activity
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Activity 2.2
To demonstrate that a child or young person’s progress is secure and that they have achieved a level,
they will need opportunities to show that they: have achieved a breadth of learning, they can respond to
the level of challenge, and can apply what they have learned in new and unfamiliar situations.
What does assessing ‘breadth’* of learning, ‘challenge’* in learning and ‘application’* of learning mean to
you? Consider each word below, making a mind map showing your knowledge of these terms.
NB: This video is hosted on YouTube.
Challenge
Breadth
Hear Frank Crawford discuss
breadth,
challenge and application.
Application
Watch the video clip. Highlight and add
comments to your mindmap. Discuss your
mindmap with a colleague.
Activities
Activity
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Activity 2.3
Read the statement below.
Assessing progress and achievement in learning
….Assessing progress* across the breadth of learning, in challenging aspects and when applying
learning in different and unfamiliar contexts, helps teachers to plan, track progress and summarise
achievement in a rounded way and better prepare children and young people for the next stage in
learning.
In considering this statement, what are the implications for your assessment practice in your context at
present? What 3 changes in practice could you make?
1)
2)
3)
Activities
Acitivity
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Activity 3
St Luke’s High School
Minishant Primary School
Watch the videos from St Luke’s High School and Minishant Primary School.
How effectively do you make clear to learners what they are learning, what success looks like and what is
expected of them? Do you provide sufficiently high-quality feedback to learners about how much and how
well they have learned? Are learners involved in this process?
What strategies do you have to ensure consistent application of standards?
How do you use the flexibility of Curriculum for Excellence to provide opportunities and pathways for all
learners including those who need additional support and those who require more choices and more
chances to progress?
It is important that more able children and those who make faster progress do not ‘race’ through the
levels. How can you plan greater variety of contexts, depth and greater challenge into the experiences
and outcomes for these children and young people?
Activities
Activity
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Activity 4
Assessment takes place as part of on-going learning and teaching, periodically and at transitions. This
provides a holistic view of a child’s or young person’s progress
Assessment
during
learning*
Progress and
achievement
•List the forms of assessment that you routinely use in your
daily work to judge learners’ progress, and enable them to
judge their own progress in relation to agreed outcomes
and targets; for example, sharing learning outcomes,
questioning to check on understanding, self and peer
assessment, etc.
•Next to each of the forms of assessment you have listed,
write a sentence describing how you use the assessment
information that you have gathered. Which forms are most
useful in helping you to plan future learning, as well as
address immediate learning issues?
•How do you monitor and record an individual’s learning over
a period of time, for example over a block or a term, or
Assessment of
key milestones over one or more school sessions? How do you
in learning*
use that information?
Taking a close
look at individual
progress*
Activities
Activity
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Activity 5
Watch the St Modan’s video Raising attainment
and achievement through young people knowing
their strengths and next steps as learners and
Mosshead PS: Skills for Learning, Skills for Life.
Which of the approaches to assessment in your
establishment are most effective in helping to
provide a picture of a child or young person’s
progress and achievements? In what ways does
assessment help identify a child or young person’s
strengths and next steps in learning across all 4
contexts of learning within the Curriculum?
Activities
Activity
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Activity 6
Teachers have a deep understanding of children’s learning and development. They
provide high-quality feedback personalised for each learner.
1. Consider assessment approaches for a particular learner or groups of learners with
barriers to learning in your playroom/class/school.
2. Use the grid below to record current practice and key areas for development linked to
the entitlements.
Fair and inclusive
assessment approaches.
Current practice
Entitlement
Fair and inclusive assessment
approaches.
Areas for development
A broad general education
A coherent curriculum
Senior phase
Positive destinations
Skills for learning, life and work
Support*
Activities
Activity
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Activity 7
Recognising achievement, profiling and reporting progress.
As with all aspects of Curriculum for Excellence, the learner should be at the centre of all
processes. Reflection by the learner and dialogue with the learner about their learning is central to practice in
recognising achievement, profiling and reporting.
The wide range of information and evidence of progress
and achievement collected by schools and other
establishments can therefore be used for a variety of
purposes.
.
Recognising achievement, profiling and reporting to
parents are closely linked and focused on improving
learning and achievement. Education Scotland’s
interactive assessment group is located on the
National group area of Glow. It is is designed to
support the implementation of the national framework of
assessment.
Follow the link and see examples of practice, including profiles, uploaded by practitioners
On the Education Scotland assessment national glow group.
Activities
Activity
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Sharing standards and expectations
The National Assessment Resource (NAR) can support assessment practice. Follow the link and review the
many examples of how schools and local authorities have used NAR to support professional development
through developing their own materials.
Information about the new qualifications for children, young people,
parents and professionals can accessed at the SQA Website.
Activities
Activity
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Additional resources
Dylan Wiliam reviews the nature of formative assessment and how
teachers can use it to gain better insights into student learning and
achievement.
Learn how St Luke’s High school meets the needs of vulnerable
young people by offering an integrated and enhanced transition
support programme when they are moving from P7 to S1.
Additional resources
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