Understanding Formative Assessment
active learning not mechanistic strategies
Shirley Clarke
MEd, Hon DEd
Associate, Institute of Education
University of London
The research indicates that improving learning through
assessment depends on five, deceptively simple, factors:
the provision of effective feedback to pupils;
the active involvement of pupils in their own learning;
adjusting teaching to take account of the results of
assessment;
a recognition of the profound influence assessment
has on the motivation and self-esteem of pupils,
both of which are crucial influences on learning;
the need for pupils to be able to assess themselves
and understand how to improve.
This was further broken down to include:
sharing learning goals with pupils;
involving pupils in self-assessment;
providing feedback which leads to pupils
recognising their next steps and how to take them;
underpinned by confidence that every student can
improve.
Formative Assessment
Effective
questioning
Talk
Planning
Self-peer-teacher
feedback
Capturing interest
Learning objectives
Success criteria
Excellence
A learning culture
self-belief
meta-cognition
Order these famous people from
least clever
to
most clever
J. K. Rowling
Albert Einstein
Miley Cyrus
David Beckham
David Cameron
Fixed Mindset
Growth Mindset
Intelligence is
static.
Intelligence is
expandable.
I must look
clever!
I want to learn
more!
Avoids challenges
Embraces challenges
Gives up easily
Persists in the face of setbacks
Sees effort as pointless
Sees effort as the way
Ignores useful criticism
Learns from criticism
Likely to plateau early and Reaches ever higher levels
achieve less than full
of achievement
potential
Carol Dweck
Praise achievement not ability
Our language tells children what we believe and what we value
Well done - you’re learning to...
Good - it’s making you think - that’s how
your brain is growing!
Every time you practise, you’re making
connections in your brain stronger.
You’re good at things you like because
you work at them.
Praise achievement not ability
Our language tells children what we believe and what we value
Let’s look at what you’ve achieved.
If you could already do it, you wouldn’t be
learning anything.
Your skills have really improved.
You can use this mistake. Think about
why it didn’t work and learn from it.
We are learning Learning muscle
How magnets work
We are stretching
our Questioning
muscle
We are learning Learning muscle
We are stretching
To solve
mathematical problems
our perseverence
muscle
Breaking down the learning
Habits of mind (Arthur Costa)
Claxton’s Learning ‘muscles’
“One of the core functions of twentyfirst century education is learning to
learn in preparation for a lifetime of
change.”
David Miliband 2003
Habits of Mind
(dispositions which lead to learning)
Resistance
Being clear
Taking your time
Using all your senses
Listening sensitively
Being creative
Thinking flexibly
Being amazed
Thinking about thinking
Having a go
Trying to get it right
Seeing the funny side
Being curious
Learning with others
Transferring skills &
knowledge
Always learning
Costa and Kallick
The Four Rs of Learning Power
Resilience
Resourcefulness
Absorption
Managing distractions
Noticing
Perserverance
Reflectiveness
Questioning
Making links
Imagining
Reasoning
Capitalising
Reciprocity
Planning
Revising
Distilling
Meta-learning
Interdependence
Collaboration
Empathy and listening
Imitation
Claxton 2002
Enrichment or interruption ?
Talk partners
Children on task
Time to move on ....
Q. What stops you learning ?
A. You do! When you interrupt us.
(Y2 class)
Formative Assessment
Effective
questioning
Talk
Planning
Self-peer-teacher
feedback
Capturing interest
Learning objectives
Success criteria
Excellence
A Learning culture
self-belief
meta-cognition
Stages in pupil involvement in planning
1. What they already know/can do
2. What they want to know/find out/be able to do
3. Activity and outcome planning - link with
subject and transferrable skills
1.Prior knowledge
break down the theme
explore materials
present the problem
show progression of LOs
pictures and questions
concept mapping
start with application
2/3. Planning the learning
and outcomes
immersion first
ideas follow on from PK activity
include skills - subject specific
- other subjects
include outcomes/products
Formative Assessment
Effective
questioning
and Talk
Self-peer-teacher
feedback
Planning
Capturing interest
Learning objectives
Success criteria
Excellence
A Learning culture
self-belief
meta-cognition
Effective starts
L.O.discussed in pairs
Role play
A good question or
statement
Features of a product
Video clip to discuss
Compare products
Evidence pack with clues
Play first
Photograph
Game
Surprise
Change the setting
Box of artefacts
Capturing children’s interest first
Effective starts provide:
summative assessment
sometimes instant rethink!
instant engagement
immersion in the subject matter
a natural path to the learning
objective and success criteria
Compulsory and optional success criteria
L.O. Construct a line graph L.O. Effective characterisation
Remember:
Choose:
title
hobbies and interests
label x & y axes
likes and dislikes
equal intervals
examples of personality
key
attitude to self
connect points
attitude to others
etc.
Pupil generated success criteria
Doing it wrong
Presenting something ‘wrong’ or ‘incomplete’
An excellent product
Comparing products (for closed literacy L.O.s)
Sloppy success criteria
Uplevelling
Demonstrate/visualiser
Retrospective generation
‘It’s bright”
‘The Christmas trees are nice’
‘The letters are a bit funny sometimes’
‘The reindeer is nice.’
‘Yellow drawings don’t stand out.’
‘This is the easiest to read.’
Success Criteria
make all your letters the same size
use dark colours
don’t use yellow
put pictures round the edge, not in the middle
check that you have copied all words &
numbers
Analyse selected extracts
Cinderella picked the
most beautiful pumpkin
Cinderella found a nice
big pumpkin.
Cinderella obeyed and,
with a wave of her
wand, each mouse
that scurried was
transformed into
a dappled grey horse.
Cinderella waved her wand
and every mouse became
a horse
that she could find.
Formative Assessment
Effective
questioning
Talk
Planning
Self-peer-teacher
feedback
Capturing interest
Learning objectives
Success criteria
Excellence
A Learning culture
self-belief
meta-cognition
Impact
Cognitive progress
Social development
Pupil voice
“Talk partners have widened children’s
social understanding and increased their
tolerance of other people.”
“One autistic boy has gone from being barely able to
tolerate one person to really enjoying being included in
changing partners and meeting his social targets.”
“One child with special needs
said she’d learned so much with
her partners and in previous
years had been with other
children who didn’t know what
to do and couldn’t help her.”
Referring to Y6 child
So far . . .
1. Range of answers
2. Statement
3. Right and wrong
4. Starting from the end
5. Opposing standpoints
6. Odd one out
7. True or false
8. Always, sometime, never
9. Silly questions
“Answering
these types
of questions
makes me
confident and
more
independent.”
Statement
1. There is a relationship between the
circumference of a circle and its diameter.
2. It is not possible to think without words.
3. Exercise leads to a healthy lifestyle.
4. Little Red Riding Hood was innocent!
5. The wolf was innocent!
6. Girls are cleverer than boys!
“We had
3 different statements
and our teacher let us
independently find out
the result. I like this
way of learning.”
Start from the end
1. Bricks are the best material for building a house. Why?
2. 1066 was a very turbulent year. Why?
3. The Romans invaded Britain. Why?
4. Water, glass, the moon and shiny material can all do this. What
might the question have been?
5. Here is a finished puppet. How was it made?
“These
questions
make you
think more.”
Which is the ODD ONE OUT and why?
The triangle because
it has 3 sides and 3
corners. All the
others have 4 of
each.
The square because
it’s the only one with
equal sides.
The triangle
doesn’t have
opposite parallel
sides.
The parallelogram
because it is the only
one with no right
angles.
True or False - prove it!
To move these things
you will need a heavy force.
True or False?
All odd numbers are prime.
True or False?
“It’s good because you
have to come up with a theory and
then find a way to prove it.”
Always, sometimes, never - say why
A car will travel the same distance on any
surface if the starting force is the same.
Always, sometimes, never ?
A good friend listens to you.
Always, sometimes, never ?
Formative Assessment
Effective
questioning
Talk
Self-peer-teacher
Feedback
Planning
Capturing interest
Learning objectives
Success criteria
Excellence
A Learning culture
self-belief
meta-cognition
Learning objective: effective similes
Choose to include
alliteration
exaggeration
humour
powerful imagery
effective adjectives, adverbs, etc.
As soggy as a wet weekend in
Cleethorpes.
As eager as a teacher at 3:30 on Friday.
As surprising as receiving a bunch of
flowers from your husband when it
isn’t your birthday!
SIMILES
As soggy as ...
As eager as ...
As surprising as ...
Formative Assessment
Effective
questioning
Talk
Planning
Self-peer-teacher
feedback
Capturing interest
Learning objectives
Success criteria
Excellence
A learning culture
self-belief
meta-cognition
Understanding Formative Assessment
active learning not mechanistic strategies
Shirley Clarke
MEd, Hon DEd
Associate, Institute of Education
University of London