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Assessment is for Learning - Elaine's News

This page will keep you up to date with ideas and developments in Assessment is for Learning in the 5-14 sector. Regular newsletters and information about resources and relevant websites will be available.

I would also be delighted to hear about any interesting work that you and your school have been undertaking in relation to AifL developments. Contact me at the Oban Education Office on 01631 564 908 or send me an email – Elaine.

ASSESSMENT LABELS AVAILABLE

My thanks to Margaret Cain, Principal Teacher in Rockfield Primary for her continued development on assessment labels for teacher and pupil use. A number of new formats have been developed covering various aspects of language and maths. Blank templates are also available for schools to customise as required.

To obtain a cd of this information contact Elaine by email - elaine.magor@ea.argyll-bute.sch.uk

Probationer Research 06/07 - Formative Assessment

Research Topic : Assessment is for Learning : Formative Assessment

Author : Joanne McFadyen - Gigha Primary School

Aim : To discover if the assessment is for learning traffic lights will have an effect on the speed and quality of work produced in P2-5 maths lesson.



Click here to download (Word)

Probationer Research 06/07 - Target Diaries

Research Topic : Target Diaries

Author: Ilona MacLaurin - Dunbeg Primary

Aim : To investigate the effect of target setting on the achivement and attainment of P4 children.



Click here to download (WORD)

Thinking Books

THINKING BOOKS

Thinking books and A Curriculum for Excellence

“Thinking books” is a term that has evolved through the development work of Alison Mountain, in relation to the projects she has undertaken with what would conventionally be described as sketchbooks. In collaboration with a wide variety of people, working in schools, she has explored the links that thinking books can make with different areas of the curriculum.

Thinking books can be used as a thinking and learning tool in the classroom, across curricular areas. Thinking books can:
• encourage independent research.
• encourage independent thought.
• be used to constantly reflect upon and review the ideas they contain and to develop these accordingly.
• encourage invention and creativity in the thinking process.
• increase each pupil’s confidence and self belief and show that thinking and learning can take place in a variety of ways.
• develop peer learning


Thinking books can be used effectively to help deliver many aspects of the new curriculum and establish links to facilitate working across curricular areas. They reinforce the strategies developed through Assessment is for Learning and link into the principles of A Curriculum for Excellence. They also encourage learners to engage in creative thinking in a personal space where they can freely use their imagination, consider original ideas and take risks.



“Thinking books are for discovering things about yourself and the world around you, and for developing these ideas any way you like. You can imagine that they are really useful for artists, writers and musicians, who are in the business of thinking up totally new ways of expressing themselves, but they are also useful for scientists and mathematicians who use them to work through problems and think about things in new ways. People such as joiners and builders also use thinking books to work out solutions for buildings or pieces of furniture. For you, at school they can provide a place where you can experiment with what you are learning. You can take risks in these books, without worrying about getting things wrong, and try out new ideas.

Remember, these books are for you and about you.”

ICT AND FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

John Logie Baird Primary have been working on a project to assess the impact of ICT in relation to formative assessment. This project was funded by the Support for Teachers budget and followed the action research model used by AifL Associated Schools Groups.

The attached report is structured around the following key questions:
• How easy would it be to display learning intentions and success criteria using ICT?
• Would ICT be useful in assessing for next steps i.e. formative assessment?
• Could we use ICT to teach children how to go about the process of peer and self-assessment?
• How useful would ICT be when children were setting targets and goals for themselves?
• How could we use ICT for summative assessment?
• Would ICT enhance our lessons and would children achieve success in a more enjoyable and straightforward way?
• Can ICT help towards developing a more interactive classroom?

I commend this report to you as of great interest to schools embedding formative assessment in this period of ICT development.

Click here to download (PDF)

Probationer Research 06/07 - LI and SC

Reserach Topic : The impact of displaying Learning Intentions and Success Criteria

Author: Margaret McSporran - Castlehill Primary

Aim : To examine the impact, if any, of displaying Learning Intentions and Success Criteria inside the cover of primary two children's maths jotters.



Click here to download (WORD)

Probationer Research 06/07 - Success Criteria

Research Topic : Pupil involvement in the development of Success Criteria

Author: Maria Dye - Rhu Primary

Aim : To exami ne the effect of pupils taking more ownership of developing Success Criteria in Primary 3.



Click here to download (WORD)

Probationer Research 06/07 - Brain Gym

Research Topic : Brain Gym

Author : Ruth Sweeney - Rothesay Primary

Aim : To provide an insighty into the effect that Brain Gym can have on concentration levels of children in Primary 2.



Click here to download (WORD)

Probationer Research 06/07 - Learning Logs

Research Topic : Learning Logs

Author : Maryjaine Jones - John Logie Baird Primary

Aim : AifL strategies had been previously implemented successfully in a low attaining P3/4 class and had resulted in improved learning. This investigation was to ascertain if Learning Logs could further enhance the children’s learning. Two styles of log were used in the investigation.



Click here to download (WORD)

Probationer Research 06/07 - PLPs

Research Topic : A Child Centred Approach to Personal Learning Planning

Author : Jo Clark - Port Charlotte Primary

Aim : To evaluate the use of personal learning logs as an individual format for personal learning planning.



Click here to download (WORD)

Probationer Research 06/07 - Stars and wishes

Research Topic : Two Stars and a Wish

Author: Alastair Fletcher - Hermitage Academy

Aim : To examine the positive effect that the self assessment strategy of two stars and a wish can have on a first year practical set.



Click here to download (WORD)

Talking about Learning

Talking about Learning is a practical resource of thirty photocopiable templates in cartoon style which act as a stimulus for discussion about learning, between children and between children and adults. Children are encouraged to think about and discuss all aspects of learning and teaching, and their own learning and thinking process.

Cost : £15.95

Available from : Southgate Publishers

Assessment Sample Policy

This is a sample ‘policy’ which might be useful for schools reflecting on the development of Assessment is for Learning in their establishments.

This could be used as the basis for a school policy or as a discussion document / prompt for staff on the various aspects of AifL.

Click here to download (WORD)

Book Review

Creating a Learner-centred Primary Classroom ; Learner-centered Strategic Teaching

Kath Murdoch and Jeni Wilson

ISBN 978-0-415-45432-2

£15.19

This is one of these books which it is difficult to know where to place it. But as AifL is about effective teaching and learning the information about it is here! It is easy to read with practical advice.

My thanks to Anne Paterson. QIO who brought it to my attention.

Creating a Learner-centred Primary Classroom is an essential resource to improve teaching practice, examining the key elements that contribute to a learner-centred classroom and offering strategies to encourage children to take a shared role in their learning.

Including case studies describing teachers’ methods for linking theory to practice, this user-friendly, photocopiable resource demonstrates how to:

Construct a learning community
Encourage collaborative learning
Share strategies for engaging individual learners
Provide a scaffold for strategic thinking in the classroom
Link assessment procedures to learning
Showcase the practice and outcomes of purposeful curriculum planning.

Any teacher who wants to practically tailor their teaching practice to meet the needs of individual learners will find this an invaluable resource.

AifL Review

The Assessment is for Learning programme has been running in schools across Argyll and Bute for the past six years. As part of the programme, formative assessment strategies have been an integral part of the majority of staffs’ learning and teaching. Personal learning planning is becoming established in the majority of schools.

The Quality Improvement Team have supported this development since 2002. Two designated officers have acted as Assessment Coordinators, funding has been distributed to schools for AifL development and support materials, staff development and good practice shared across all schools.

Assessment is for Learning reached Phase 4 – Evaluation / Aspect review status at the end of Session 2007/2008. The evaluation was designed to focus on two key aspects of the AifL development programme. These were formative assessment and the personal learning planning process.

Click here to download the results of the Review (DOC)

Probationer Research 07/08 - Peer Learning

Peer Learning – Best Partnerships

Julie Watson – Kilchrenan Primary P1-4

Research Background

Setting occurs in many classrooms with pupils working along side others of a similar age and/or ability. According to Prof.Boyd (pers.comm, 2007) there is no actual evidence to support the theory that this is more beneficial for pupils’ learning compared with working in mixed ability groups.

When teaching a small, multi-composite class it is difficult to know what will be the most effective pairings of pupils. I was interested to know what the children’s own opinion of this would be. During term 3 the class were conducting a series of science and technology experiments. These practical investigations required the children to work together and support each other.

Aim

To establish whether pupils prefer to work with partners of similar or different age and ability.

Click here to download the full report.

Probationer Research 07/08 - PLPs

Personal Learning Plans

Louise Agnew – Rothesay Primary

Research Background

Personal Learning Plans (PLPs) are being used widely in schools now in accordance with Assessment is for Learning (AifL), whereby pupils are being encouraged to take a greater responsibility for their own learning. The Scottish Executive sees the use of PLPs as playing a key role in today’s education system. They have identified skills needed for adult life that a PLP can help to achieve:


• how to learn
• to set personal goals for themselves
• to recognise and monitor their own progress
• to identify their aims and ambitions
• to develop independence
• to have confidence in themselves

As the school has adopted a new style of PLP at the beginning of the 07-08 session, I have chosen to monitor the effectiveness of them in motivating the children in my class to succeed.

Research Aim

To investigate the impact that introducing Personal Learning Plans will have on the children’s learning and achievements in a P5 classroom.

Click here to download the full report.

Probationer Research 07/08 - Questioning Questioning!

Glenda Marwick – Easdale Primary

Research Background

Articles on the subject of classroom questioning often begin by invoking Socrates. Researchers and other writers concerned with questioning techniques seem to want to remind us that questioning has a long and venerable history as an educational strategy. And indeed, the Socratic method of using questions and answers to challenge assumptions, expose contradictions, and lead to new knowledge and wisdom is an undeniably powerful teaching approach.

In addition to its long history and demonstrated effectiveness, questioning is also of interest to researchers and practitioners because of its widespread use as a contemporary teaching technique. Research indicates that questioning is second only to lecturing in popularity as a teaching method and that classroom teachers spend anywhere from thirty-five to fifty percent of their instructional time conducting questioning sessions.

Research Aim

To research if the use of open-ended questions helps to develop understanding of the subject, more so than closed questions.

Click here to download the full report.

Probationer Research 07/08 - Questioning in English

Questioning in the English Classroom

Gillian Bissett – Islay High School

Aim of Research Project

To explore questioning within the English classroom, especially at Intermediate 1 and 2 level.

Research Background

The transitions in teaching brought about by current AifL strategies serves to explode the old joke that ‘classrooms are places where pupils go to watch teachers work’. Questioning or rather, effective questioning, is a means of bridging this transitional gap as the formative nature of questioning is two-way: it allows teachers to ask questions which gauge their pupils’ level of understanding, whilst allowing pupils to clarify or inquire. If teachers ask only ‘closed’ questions, it seems obvious that they are only looking for the ‘right’ answer and the often rich variety of interpretation is lost. Of course, there are times in which closed questions are approapriate but, given the nature of English, these types of questions can only take pupils (and teachers) so far.

It was for this reason that I chose to attempt to explore the role of questioning in the classroom in the form of a formative, pupil-led task.

Click here to download the full report.

Probationer Research 07/08 - Thumbs Up

Thumbs up For “Thumbs Up”

Margaret Coward – Dalintober Primary School

Background

In 1998 the Scottish executive endeavoured to address the varying forms of assessment in the Scottish primary school. Their results led to the implementation of formative assessment in schools across the country and thus the development of the ‘Assessment Is for Learning’ program which began in November 2001. This program was defined by several concepts all of which were centred around evidence that effective learners needed:

• To understand what they are learning and what is expected of them.
• To be given feedback and told how to improve.
• To be fully involved in what they are doing.

Click here to download the full report.

AifL Resources

A variety of AifL resources obtained from the internet or donated by colleagues. Thanks to those who gave resources for sharing

Click here to download a self assessment form for pupils to use in discussions.

Click here to download an End of Year Self assessment format.

Click here to download Plenary Cards

Click here to download a self assessment review format for school reports to parents.

Click here to download prompts re self assessment questions for wall display.

Click here to download prompts for AifL stratgies.

Click here to download cards to use for Thumbs Up and Down self assessment.

Click here to download Traffic Light cards.

Click here to download poster for Traffic Lights.

Click here to download formative assessment wall signs for display.

Kilmartin Primary School - Video PLPs

Kilmartin Primary School : Video PLPs

Ensuring that children are engaging with their learning is a vital task for any teacher. Over the last few years teachers have tried many different proformas designed to help children set targets and then assess their own performance.

Although children may now be more able to set meaningful targets, the process of assessing their levels of improvement in a meaningful way still concerns teachers.

Some important issues have surfaced:
Some children see themselves negatively while other children over-estimate their abilities.
Some children are not motivated by a target, even one they have set themselves.
The self assessment system doesn’t have enough value for some children, teachers and parents. PLPs can be seen as ‘just another piece of paper to fill in’ or ‘just another hoop to jump through that doesn’t give any meaningful information.’

Putting all of this in the context of Argyll & Bute’s Expectations and Aspirations document, where it states that teachers and pupils should be involved in regular, meaningful discussions about learning; a way of achieving this that is meaningful to all stakeholders must be devised.

First of all teachers / pupils do not want a system that is time consuming.
Teachers, pupils and parents do not want ‘another piece of paper.’

We all want to be able to:
tune into children’s thinking
to find out how pupils really think they are getting on with their learning
have a method of getting children thinking about their learning
achieve all of the above during classroom hours

To achieve all of the above, the children in P.4-7 have been trying a system that we are calling ‘Video PLPs’.
Making use of the technology that we all have in our schools, the children are being asked to film themselves ‘talking to a computer’ about their learning targets.

To do this they are making use of the macbooks they have in class that have a built in webcam and use a program called Photo Booth.

How do we do it?

The children, in turn, go to a quiet place in the school and click on the record button of the laptop.
Photo Booth comes with a stopwatch so the children can see how long they have been talking.
The children are asked to talk for no longer than 3 mins, but if they need to, they can.
The children came up with a series of questions that they thought it would be useful for them to answer. (See Appendix) These questions need to be changed over time.
The children read out the questions and give their replies.
When they have finished, they click the stop button and return to class.

What are the benefits?

We already have this technology in our schools.
The children have no difficulty talking to a computer screen and see this as a perfectly natural thing to do.
The quality of information the children give is vastly better than either what they would record on a proforma or during a private chat with the teacher.
At the moment this method has only been used to record information about PLP targets and certain PSD information, but there are huge possibilities for group evaluations of interdisciplinary topics and many other issues.

What is done with the information gathered?

The individual films the children make are imported into iphoto (this is a 1 click process)
Each child could have a folder on iphoto and all of their films posted to their own folder for ease of access.
Each child’s films could be burned to a DVD as a virtual portfolio
The films could be used to report back to parents
Teachers can view the films at any time and make notes of any actions points for each child.
Children can ask for a private chat with their teacher at the end of their film.

What do the children think?

The children are very motivated by this method.
They see it as ‘fun’.
They are delighted that it doesn’t involve writing!
All children are able to access this method not matter their reading and writing skills.
It gives the children the opportunity to speak directly to a teacher, knowing that their voice will be heard without having to have a teacher present.

What next?

There are still one or two technical issues to be resolved - sometimes the filming stops, but this could be to do with the computer going on standby.
Parents will have to be consulted, but any that I’ve spoken to so far have been in favour and think that it is a great idea.
Permission to film children has to be given by parents.
A way to use this with younger children has to be thought out and tried.

For further information contact Kilmartin Primary School : Head Teacher - Fiona Johnson.

Click here to download Appendix - Questions

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