The Assessment Revolution - Ian Stonnell

Assessment is one of the most complex activities a teacher can get involved in. What seems a simple enough task of checking how well a student is doing can quickly become a minefield. Take for example the old model of assessment. Once we had levels and flight paths - students who came to us in year 7 were expected to make three levels of progress by year 9 (I think that's how I remember it). Seems simple enough until we actually began to sit down and work out what any of these levels meant; 'Is this work a level 4....? Maybe, but if it is a level 4, is it a level 4a, 4b or 4c?' 'Hang on a minute does this fit in with what a level 4b is nationally?' 'What's the criteria again...?' (I remember this being rather woolly and subjective in RE).

I am sure many of us remember having these entirely heartfelt, but basically empty conversations about placing students into these abstract levels - it felt more like a charade to please an accountability machine, which in essence it was.

An old school flight path that looks pretty but may not be that useful in supporting progress.

Back then, were we as teachers really thinking about the important things such as what the students actually knew and what they could do? Maybe not as much as we should have.

Ultimately, should we as teachers really care what abstract level or grade a student is? Shouldn't a teacher's main concern be about what students know and can do? Surely, if we worry about that, any level or grade that needs to be assigned by the accountability machine (exam boards et. al) will look after themselves.

The assessment revolution
In 2015 there was a big rethink in assessment:

“In the context of curriculum freedoms and increasing autonomy for schools, it would make no sense to prescribe any one model for assessment. Curriculum and assessment are inextricably linked. Schools should be free to develop an approach to assessment which aligns with their curriculum and works for their pupils and staff” - Commission on Assessment Without Levels, 2015.

The old KS3 levels were abolished and responsibility for developing assessment policies were handed over to schools. This posed an opportunity and challenge to make new assessment systems that are more meaningful to teachers and students and remove some of the failings of the past.

Life after Levels
At Denbigh subject leaders developed KPIs (key progress indicators) to identify specific pieces of knowledge and skill that can pin-point student progress. The logic being that these KPIs should link directly to the curriculum that subjects are teaching. In the light of the knowledge rich curriculum an emphasis upon knowledge could also be placed and in any assessment, summative or formative, a teacher can gather evidence for the relevant KPIs they are testing for.

In this context subjects have been liberated and assessment conversations can become more meaningful, devoid of an abstract level.

However the implementation of such systems is key. Are the KPIs relevant to the curriculum? Are they accessible to students? Can they be easily assessed or are they themselves too abstract? And do they actually support pupil progress? - They can't just be a new summative system that tells a student what they don't know or can't do and leave it at that - they have to help make them better.

Teachers and Formative Assessment
Teachers must understand that assessment is continuous and fluid. Assessment should form a dialogue between teacher and pupil with the aim to improve pupils’ understanding, learning and raise achievement. Utilising well thought out KPIs, assessment should be motivating and meaningful for both teacher and learner - teachers will glean information about pupil performance and use this to inform planning and progression for individuals and groups, whilst pupils will have an acute awareness of what they need to do improve but more importantly, how to improve and understand the importance of that progression.

Aims of the R&D group - Jess Pather and Samantha Lewis
In this research and development group we are looking at ways we can make the new assessment policy work at Denbigh. We also aim to discover and share the best innovative practice that is currently happening in formative assessment and find out if it works in developing student motivation and the development of their longer term memory and recall.

Below are some useful links to some further reading on assessment as well as some general evidence based formative assessment strategies you can try.

You can follow Jess Pather and Samantha Lewis on Twitter:

@jpather74
@MrsSLewis1

Useful links:
https://teacherhead.com/2019/01/10/revisiting-dylan-wiliams-five-brilliant-formative-assessment-strategies/
https://cambridge-community.org.uk/professional-development/gswafl/index.html
https://learningspy.co.uk/category/assessment/
https://teacherhead.com/2017/12/18/fiveways-of-giving-effective-feedback-as-actions/
http://www.sec-ed.co.uk/best-practice/assessment-developing-your-own-approach/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLpAalDaqQY