The ICT Assessment Toolkit
Primary ICT Assessment
What does good assessment look like?
© NEWLICT North East and West London ICT Consultants' Group
What does
a level 4
look like?
What’s in
it for the
children?
What is
assessment?
The children
know more
than me
anyway…
What’s in
it for me?
I’m not sure
where to
begin with
assessment…
Hasn’t all
this been
done
before?
What will be
the impact
in the
classroom?
How do I
put this
into
practice?
What’s the
purpose of
this?
‘The Importance of ICT’
(2008)
• Assessment was the weakest aspect of
ICT teaching and was inadequate in one
school in five.
• The schools visited rarely tracked the
progress of individuals in ICT, established
their attainment on entry to secondary
school or took into account their
achievement outside school.
• Very little guidance
• No requirement to record in particular way
• Level descriptors were to change with new
curriculum
http://curriculum.qcda.gov.uk/key-stages-1-and2/assessment/assessmentofsubjects/assessmentinict/index.aspx
AFL
APP
Assessment to…
Ensure that children
are not held back
and achieve potential
Inform parents
Build on children’s out of
school experiences with ICT
Increase teacher
confidence
Inform the planning
Help schools achieve
element 4 of SRF
Aid continuity
and progression
of future learning
Establish what individual
pupils know, understand
and can do
Levels Explained
The Characteristics of ICT Levels
Level
Characteristic of this level and features that
distinguish it from adjacent levels
Characteristic
themes
Verbs associated with typical activities
at this level
(drawn from ICT level descriptors)
1
The initial exploratory use of ICT and a
developing familiarity with some of its everyday
uses.
Explore and
Choose
Explore, know, work, share, recognise,
make choices, produce, talk about
2
KS1
target
The purposeful use of ICT to achieve specific
outcomes. Options are investigated and the
effects of actions described. Begin to use ICT
independently. Save and retrieve work by
themselves.
Use and Describe
Organise, classify, present, enter, save,
retrieve, generate, amend, record, share,
plan, give, make, describe, explore, talk
about
3
ICT is used to develop ideas. Lines of enquiry
are followed, decisions are made, the results are
taken into account in successive steps, and the
use of ICT is described.
Develop and
Decide
Save, find, use, generate, develop,
organise, share, exchange, use, control,
achieve, make, find things out, solve,
describe
4
KS2
target
Demonstrate the ability to interpret the
information obtained using ICT tools and
information sources, question its plausibility and
compare the use of ICT with other methods.
Collect and
Interpret
Understand, collect, find, interrogate,
interpret, question, recognise, add, amend,
combine, use, show, exchange, control,
sense, explore, predict, compare
5
KS3
target
Demonstrate increased rigour. Quantitative
information is considered and the value of using
ICT in working practices is assessed.
Organise and
Present
Select, check, organise, structure, refine,
present, exchange, create, understand,
explore, discuss, assess, reflect,
Level 3
Attainment Target:
 Pupils use ICT to save information
and to find and use appropriate
stored information, following
straightforward lines of enquiry.
They use ICT to generate,
develop, organise and present
their work. They share and
exchange their ideas with others.
They use sequences of
instructions to control devices and
achieve specific outcomes. They
make appropriate choices when
using ICT-based models or
simulations to help them find
things out and solve problems.
They describe their use of ICT and
its use outside school.
Characteristics:
 ICT is used to develop
ideas. Lines of enquiry are
followed, decisions are
made, the results are taken
into account in successive
steps, and the use of ICT is
described.
Theme:
 Develop and Decide
I know I am at
level 3
because…
I know I am at level 3 because:
When somebody asks me a question, I can find out what I need
using the Internet.
I can search a database for information.
Most of the time I can tell the difference between useful information
and information that isn’t helpful.
I can create a piece of work on a computer, think about it, and
improve it so that other people can understand it.
I know how to share my ideas and things I have made with other
people.
I know how to control some electronic devices by giving them lists of
instructions.
I can use an electronic game or simulation to find out how things
work or to solve “what if…” questions.
I can talk confidently about how I use computers, telephones, the
Internet, and other areas of ICT when I am at home and when I am in
school.
Evidence used in the levelling of ICT
capability may include:
• Samples of work in a range of ICT curriculum strands
• Samples of work demonstrating ICT use to support work
in other areas
• Pupil commentary on work
• Informal talk
• Pupil conferencing
In order to demonstrate capability at level 4 and higher
children need to be given opportunities to make their own
choices about the use of ICT to suit the desired outcome
and audience, so this commentary on the work becomes
even more important.
Discussion and Questioning
Why?
• To check and develop understanding
• Expose misconceptions
• Discuss progress, targets
• Refine understanding, push children
toward next steps
Peer and self evaluation
• Children asking themselves
• Is the work I have done good? Why or why
not?
• Children thinking about what they need to
do next to improve there own learning –
through discussion with their peers (and
adults)
Analysing and annotating work
• Review skills that have been used to
create final work.
• Identify next steps – ability of children to
complete task.
• Marking with children to identify errors or
misconceptions – linked to discussion and
questioning.
Using technology to support
assessment
Portfolio
• Why?
– Awareness of level descriptors
– Benchmark against existing examples of work
– Update to show examples of good work from
school
• Possible combination of:
–
–
–
–
–
Electronic files
Printed evidence
Photographs
Audio / video recordings
Written commentaries
Next Steps
• Where will you go from here?
– What do you have in place?
– Where do you want to be?
– How will you get there?