Assessment

The Financial Management Standard in Schools (FMSiS) – supporting your school through assessment

scameron — Mon, 10 May 2010 10:35:30 +0100

The Financial Management Standard in Schools (FMSiS) can at times be very demanding of business managers and we have all had different experiences of how it is handled by assessors. I have successfully gained the standard twice and I can confirm that it is frustrating but it is also an ideal opportunity for business managers and governors to evaluate financial procedures. I found that the process of the second audit was far easier than the first, because I knew by then what was required, from completing the first round of the standard. Basically, there are five components:

Assessing Pupil Progress (APP)

scameron — Mon, 10 May 2010 09:54:59 +0100

To assist APP, the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) is developing files of pupils’ work that exemplify standards across key stage 3 national curriculum subjects, using the new programmes of study. Files of individual pupils’ work at levels 3 to 8, containing a wide range of evidence and annotations, are being published on the web.

Developing a curriculum for Assessment for Learning

scameron — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:54:30 +0000

The checklists presented here build on the outstanding insights provided by Paul Black’s team* at King’s College London University. You can use them to confirm strengths in your policies and practices, and then choose focuses for further development.

There are policy moves to make, for example:

Changes to GCSE and formal assessment in general

scameron — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 11:49:17 +0000

Controlled assessment at GCSE
Controlled assessment is replacing GCSE coursework. The system allows students to produce extended personal responses to areas of their learning. Courses incorporating controlled assessment started teaching for most subjects in September 2009. New arrangements for English, English literature, and information and communication technology wait another year, and science with controlled assessment starts teaching in 2011.

Early Years PiP Cards: 3.1 Observation, assessment and planning

scameron — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:47:14 +0000

Theme: Enabling environments
‘The environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning.’

Commitment 3.1 Observation, assessment and planning
‘Babies and young children are individuals first, each with a unique profile of abilities. Schedules and routines should flow from the child’s needs. All planning starts with observing children in order to understand and consider their current interests, development and learning.’

Areas of knowledge covered:

What’s the point of early years assessment?

scameron — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:34:18 +0000

It would be fair to say that the word ‘assessment’ has acquired something of a negative reputation. For many practitioners, it conjures up notions of measurement, statistics, graphs and external scrutiny. In some cases it can even create a sense of disempowerment and frustration; that the process, practice and outcomes of assessments are something wholly separate from the day- to-day reality and purpose of early years settings, and that assessments are being undertaken for no apparent purpose other than they have to be.

Sports assessment to encourage physical literacy

scameron — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:39:25 +0000

Assessment is much more than simply monitoring progress and ticking boxes. And there is much more to PE than aspiring to run the fastest, jump the highest and perform magical feats with bat or ball.

Coursework: supporting staff and students

scameron — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 16:26:32 +0000

You may remember the heady days of the late 1980s, when subjects such as English, enabled students to secure the highest grades at GCSE by submitting a coursework folder as 100% of their curriculum assessment. In 2007, QCA announced changes that have far-reaching implications for the delivery of all GCSE specifications in every school. By September 2009, teacher set and marked coursework will be replaced by controlled assessments.

How to keeps parents homework happy

scameron — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:49:21 +0000

Why is it that when parents are asked about issues they have with their school, one group of parents will always indicate that too much homework is set, while another will tell you that there is too little?

A-Z of G&T education (4): Cognitive ability tests

scameron — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 10:40:28 +0000

The cognitive abilities test (CAT) is a group-administered assessment of a range of reasoning skills. The tests look at reasoning with three different types of symbols: words, numbers and shapes/figures, ie verbal, quantitative and non-verbal reasoning.

Reviewing pupil progress + Helpsheet 11

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:42 +0100

Support for SENCOs

Early years: eight principles for observational assessment

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:21:01 +0100

1. Assessment must have a purpose.

Assessment informs planning for the next steps in learning for each child, deepening and extending the child’s learning.

What it looks like

The future of SATs

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:21:00 +0100

First published in May 2008

What are SATs?

Raising achievement by transforming learning

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:21:00 +0100

At too many schools there are too many students spending too much time experiencing underachievement, when the duty of all schools is to help every pupil achieve their potential and know success. But there are also a considerable number of schools that have found ways to overcome this dearth of achievement — and many of these have been involved in the Raising Achievement Transforming Learning (RATL) project run by the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT). This articles finds out what this project is all about.

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Tackling underachievement: a case study

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:21:00 +0100

School context
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Assessment and funding of SEN provision: breaking the link

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:59 +0100

In 2006, the House of Commons Select Committee recommended that ‘the link must be broken between assessment and funding of provision’, having concluded that ‘there is an inbuilt conflict of interest in that it is the duty of the local authority both to assess the needs of the child and to arrange provision to meet those needs, and all within a limited resource.’1 The Committee had reached this view after hearing evidence, mainly from parents’ organisations, that professional reports and statements often prescribed provision on the basis of cost rather than chil
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Time to start trusting teachers

scameron — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:58 +0100
The NAHT’s commission of inquiry concludes that we need to build trust across the education system so as to remove the perceived need for:

systems of hyper-accountability

micro-management by external agencies

negative control mechanisms

high-stakes pressure on teachers and students.

Trust breakdown

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Making written feedback effective

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:51 +0100
The case for comment marking is compelling but it is perhaps the most challenging aspect of assessment to get to grips with.

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The cool 'no hands' approach to assessment for learning

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:48 +0100

How many teachers, parents, students even, subscribe to the view that a quiet classroom is an effective classroom? For many years this has been a commonly held view that has permeated thinking in English schools (Westgate and Hughes, 1997). More recent thinking, however, holds that talk in the classroom is indeed a powerful tool to learning (Alexander, 2006), a view that I strongly support. It is my belief that conversations between students, sometimes supported or facilitated by teachers, can lead to significant gains in learning.
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Peer and self assessment

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:47 +0100
Peer assessment can involve formative reviews to provide constructive feedback, as well as summative grading: it can also include student involvement in the setting of marking criteria and decisions about evidence of achievement. Self-assessment enables students to become reflective and self-managing, to identify next steps in learning and move forward ‘under their own steam’.

When these two strategies work well, the advantages are significant to all concerned and many of the identified issues can be addressed by:

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Creating the Picture: assessment in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:43 +0100

The Foundation Stage Profile was introduced during the academic year 2003/04; since then its implementation has been supported by additional guidance and support materials. The latest of these, Creating the Picture, adds value to these publications by defining the principles, process and purpose of assessment in the early years. It demonstrates clear links to the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Guidance (2007) and to The Key Elements of Effective Practice (KEEP) (2005).
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'Always more to do': the challenge of building an inclusive G&T policy

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:27 +0100

Despite government guidelines, there are still as many variations on a G&T policy as there are schools – what I present here is just one of them. However, once having embarked on the adventure of creating a working policy for more able pupils, there is never really any going back – and certainly no standing still.
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Top tips for test success

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:24 +0100

Coping well with the demands of examinations and attaining optimum personal performance are key factors in achieving success at school and university.
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Observing classroom assistants

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:23 +0100

Whichever member of your staff team you are about to observe, it is important that all observations are made against the criteria that you have set for that person to apply as they carry out their role. Starting from a person’s job description you can compile a list of the skills and attitudes they should be displaying as they carry out their role. Let us take the person who is assisting a teacher or other professional practitioner as s/he carries out her role. How can you assess someone who is assisting another professional?
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Delivering the International Baccalaureate: a curriculum with a world identity

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:23 +0100

As schools seek to prepare students for working in a global economy and living in a global society, more and more are looking to the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme as a valuable addition to their curriculum offer. Key to this challenging two-year programme is that students learn how to ask challenging questions, learn how to learn, develop a strong sense of their own identity and culture and develop the ability to communicate with and understand people from other countries and cultures.
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Implementing the International Baccalaureate: a case study

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:23 +0100

Recommended resource: Check out our fantastic new book for international schools, International Mindedness: a whole-school development programme (published 2009)read more

A personalised approach to targets

ewtemp — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:19 +0100

By deputy head Paul Ainsworth

Belvoir High School is located in rural Leicestershire. There are 400 pupils on roll from Year 6 to Year 9. The G&T register consists of approximately 40 pupils who are selected by a combination of teacher referral, MidYIS scores and KS2 results. The G&T coordinator is also the head of inclusion.
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Supporting low-attaining schools

ewtemp — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:18 +0100

The Intensifying Support Programme (ISP) is the Primary National Strategies key programme targeted at supporting whole-school improvement within low-attaining schools. It focuses on children’s learning and the skills, knowledge and the understanding teachers need to enable children to make progress as learners.
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Assessment for learning and cooperative learning strategies

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:16 +0100

This case study exemplifies how Fallibroome High School has completed an enquiry into the combination of cooperative learning strategies and assessment for learning with the aim of promoting feedback loops relating to assessment and reflective learning in the classroom.

The school
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Assessment of maths pupils

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:16 +0100

The starting point for my action research project came from an SMT review of the department that highlighted an over-emphasis of the use of textbooks in the teaching of mathematics.

Project outline
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Report shows way forward for curriculum development

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:13 +0100

Key findings:
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Good practice in joined-up assessment

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:12 +0100

Children with significant and complex health needs and/or disabilities and their families are often in contact with a wide range of different agencies, and subject to multiple assessments. New research based on six case studies examines a range of different models for joined-up assessment and work with children and young people with significant and complex health needs and/or disabilities.
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Recording and assessing children's language using 'virtual books'

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:08 +0100

This is a practical guide to one way of recording children’s language development in the nursery and offers the potential for creating a record of achievement throughout the Foundation Stage and into Key Stage 1.

Why is there a need to record children’s spoken language skills?
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Peer feedback and self-assessment

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:06 +0100

We became interested in assessment for learning (AfL) when our school joined a local schools network called ‘Learning to Learn’, which focuses on using strategies in the classroom. Through the network we have attended conferences, Inset training and have participated in observations in different schools.
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Assessment: An overview

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:04 +0100

Assessment plays a key role in how teachers teach and how students learn. There are different types of assessment and not all are about results and exams. The best forms of assessment will combine data analysis with ways of getting to know pupils and understand their educational needs more fully: at an individual, subject, class, school and Ofsted level.
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Assessment for learning: a key skill

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:59 +0100

Assessment includes
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Values, not tests, give education meaning

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:56 +0100

We hear plenty about the need to ‘drive up standards’ – the relentless pursuit of children and young people through hoops that measure their capacity to jump through hoops when chased. We hear less about the need to raise up banners, guidons, pennons and standards to inspire our hearts, challenge our intentions and unite us in a common quest for justice, prosperity and civility.
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Making personal development quantifiable

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:56 +0100

Ofsted’s insistence that schools should not ‘shirk’ the need to evaluate learners’ personal development and wellbeing, ‘however hard these may be to quantify’, has provoked anxiety as well as perplexity. ‘Should we do that?’, ask some. ‘Is it possible?’, ask others.

Justifiable wariness
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Why should we assess PSHE?

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:55 +0100

Assessment in PSHE has long been neglected. The QCA has found that many schools do not assess the subject at all, even where they have an established scheme of work. In other schools, assessment of PSHE is not rigorous or meaningful. Often there are no clear outcomes or objectives and schools fail to provide useful feedback to pupils for further progression.
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Benchmarks in global citizenship education

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:52 +0100

Global connections in young people’s lives are increasing: through change in society, culture, economics, politics and religion.

This creates challenges and opportunities for teachers and schools: providing learning experiences and environments that reflect the local relevance of global issues, and providing a global dimension within which local issues and experiences can be understood.
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Enthusiasm but also concerns about Common Assessment Framework

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:49 +0100

The CAF and LP work are attempting to transform services for children with what a new survey describes as ‘additional needs’ with an emphasis on multi-agency cooperation and collaboration based on a holistic understanding of children’s needs. This study offers a ‘snapshot’ of activity in 12 English areas chosen by the DfES to trial these new processes ahead of the national roll-out. The key research question was ‘What helps or hinders practitioners in implementing common assessment and lead professional work?’
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The assessment revolution

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:43 +0100

As I became older and, much to his pleasure, involved in education, he began to talk to me about his experiences. The most interesting of these involved his work with schools, many of them small and rural ones, in the part of West Yorkshire for which he was responsible. On more than one occasion he described significant moments of learning that occurred in classrooms, where he had shared some aspect of his enjoyment of learning, or a pupil had shared with him some exciting insight.
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Getting the most out of project work

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:42 +0100
Rewarding educational project-work is something that many teachers feel should be done more often, but for one reason or another, it is not the right moment, there are too many things to be taught, exams are coming up...
Project-work

Appeals to students who have different learning styles.

Promotes the many types of intelligences that students possess and that need to be given space to develop in stimulating and non-threatening environments.

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Whole school learning models based on Assessment for Learning

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:31 +0100
Where is the evidence for the success of Accelerated Learning?
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New P scales materials

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:19 +0100

The resource booklet and DVD focus on levels P4 to P8 in English, maths and science and includes information about using the scales for assessment, collecting evidence, making best fit judgments and moderation.

The guidance is designed for use by teachers in mainstream and special schools, SENCOs, assessment coordinators and headteachers.

The resource can be ordered from: QCA orderline, PO Box 29, Norwich NR3 1GN. Telephone: 08700 60 60 60 15; Email: orderline@qca.org.uk. When ordering quote Ref: QCA/05/1589.

Black, Wiliam and assessment for learning

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:19:15 +0100

In 1998 professors Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam of Kings College, London, likened the classroom to a ‘black box’. Government initiatives focused on the box’s input and output, but not what went on inside it. Lip service was paid to the process of teaching and learning, but this was sidelined in favour of ‘summative assessment’ – the recording of data for certification and evaluation.
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