Why focus on assessment now?

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1 Assessment in th Responding to your questions. Assessment is an integral part o teaching and learning I this sounds amiliar to you it s probably because it is one o the most requently quoted lines rom the Primary School Curriculum (1999). But like many teachers, you might be wondering, what exactly does it mean? I so, this might just be the article or you As primary school teachers, we are constantly gathering inormation about how well children are doing in their learning. But as many teachers noted in Phase 1 o the NCCA s review o the Primary School Curriculum, we are oten not so good at using the inormation we gather to beneit children s learning. Thankully, the last ten years have seen huge developments in what is now known about how assessment can actually help to make learning more enjoyable, more motivating and overall a more positive experience, and that s not just or children but or teachers as well. Interested in learning how? Read on Re-thinking assessment I you ve had an opportunity to read Assessment in the Primary School Curriculum: Guidelines or Schools which should have arrived in your school last term, or i you have browsed assessment articles in previous editions o ino@ncca, you ll be amiliar with two o the current buzz phrases in assessment: don t say, do and make!) to make learning relevant and meaningul or children. AoL teachers record and report inormation on children s progress and achievement to the children themselves, their parents, other teachers, and other proessionals. Teachers also use this inormation to take stock o their teaching to consider the methodologies, the resources, the dierentiation strategies and so on. Why ocus on assessment now? As you know, the Primary School Curriculum provides general inormation on assessment. At the time the curriculum was developed it was intended that urther inormation and advice would be provided or teachers. Then in the irst phase o the review o the curriculum (NCCA, 2005), teachers throughout the country highlighted again the need or this additional support in assessment. Not just another set o guidelines In a nutshell, Assessment in the Primary School Curriculum: Guidelines or Schools answers questions teachers asked in the curriculum review. These ocus on Assessment in the classroom how can I as a teacher use assessment to extend and enrich children s learning? Assessment at a school level what assessment processes and arrangements can we put in place across the school to beneit all children? In responding to the irst question, the guidelines present a continuum o eight assessment methods which teachers can and do use, and in addition ocus on the beneit o using a combination o methods when working with children. Adopting a practical approach, the guidelines show what assessment can look like in classrooms o dierent sizes, dierent class groupings and dierent abilities and when ocusing on dierent subjects. Essentially, the guidelines describe assessment in action through examples rom practice reerred to as sample activities. The guidelines also provide advice on developing an assessment policy. Legislative requirements are a key consideration here. However, this doesn t mean that you have to source, study and try to interpret the various Acts. The work is done or you, as the guidelines set out the relevant implications or recording and reporting inormation about children s progress and achievement. A continuum o assessment methods Assessment or Learning (AL) Assessment o Learning (AoL). You might indeed ind yoursel asking, what do we mean when we use these terms and what are the kinds o classroom activities covered by them?. Together, AL and AoL capture the very essence o what primary school teachers do: AL teachers gather, interpret and use inormation rom what children say, do and make (and ino@ncca 10

2 e primary school..and classroom approaches or post-primary teachers supporting teaching and learning The second part o this article showcases some o the practical suggestions or using assessment in your classroom. You ll ind these and much more in the guidelines. Delving deeper into the guidelines Assessment literature and practice highlight that children learn best when they know what s expected o them when they are learning get eedback on how well they are doing in their learning understand what they can improve on and how they can do this. Good common sense really. But how can this be done? The guidelines explore sel-assessment as one method teachers can use to help children learn. Yes, sel-assessment, and yes, even or junior inants! Sel-assessment basically involves children looking at their own work in a relective way, identiying parts that are good and parts that perhaps are not so good and could be improved, and then deciding how they might do the work dierently the next time in order to improve it. The teacher can use many dierent tools to help children develop sel-assessment skills. One o these is rubrics. So, what is a rubric and how does it work? A rubric describes varying levels o quality in a piece o work. It has two main eatures: (1) a list o criteria, giving the important elements o the work (2) a set o statements which describe dierent levels o quality in the work. The combination o these two elements o the rubric helps to build up a picture or the teacher and the learner o what success will look like in the activity or piece o work. The two sample activities rom Assessment in the Primary School Curriculum: Guidelines or Schools (pp. 15 and 25) shown on the next two pages describe teachers using rubrics with two dierent class groupings and with two dierent subjects. Rubrics can also be used with younger children. In this case, aces or other symbols might be used to show levels o satisaction. Young children can be helped to assess their own work by talking about what they have done, saying whether they are pleased with it, what they like or don t like about it, or what they would like to do better in it next time. What types o learning suit rubrics? Rubrics can be used to assess many kinds o learning such as a piece o art work, a science project or a project presentation to the class, a poem, a piece o drama, or a musical perormance. Over time children themselves can be involved in identiying the important elements o their work, and in creating suitable rubrics in collaboration with the teacher. What s in here or postprimary teachers? Teachers working in one sector can be acutely aware o how little detail they actually get about what goes on in other sectors. When it comes to assessment it is too easy or the postprimary school teacher to imagine that there is no assessment happening in primary schools because there is no examination there. Equally, it can be tempting or the primary school teacher to imagine that there is no assessment happening in the post-primary school apart rom the examinations. O course we know that neither o these simpliications is correct and a quick look through the assessment guidelines or primary schools can serve as a useul reminder that there is much in the way o shared practice across the sectors. Once again Assessment is an integral part o teaching and learning Certainly, a lot o a post-primary teacher s time and energy can go into the preparation o students or examinations or tests that will be carried out by others, in act. But there is so much more to assessment in the post-primary school than this. And, i the levels o interest and response to articles on Assessment or Learning in recent issues o ino@ncca are anything to go by, there is a growing interest among post-primary teachers in classroom approaches that use assessment inormation to support students learning directly, to keep their learning on track. Indeed, the outcomes o the NCCA review o postprimary junior cycle are remarkably similar to those o the irst phase o the primary curriculum review, in that teachers prioritised assessment as an area in which they would appreciate urther support. Assessment or learning is centrally concerned with the ways in which teachers use their judgements about the work produced by students to give eedback in support o urther learning, and a very good way o doing this is by setting out clear criteria or success and sharing these with the learners. This is why, among many other useul approaches, the use o rubrics in Assessment in the Primary School Curriculum: Guidelines or Schools will be o interest to teachers in post-primary schools. How do rubrics support learning? One way o thinking o this is to consider what requently happens > 11

3 when a person is learning a new skill, like an action in tennis or swimming, or how to strike a ball eectively with a hurley, a gol club or a hockey stick. Coaches oten employ a process o mental imaging to model the correct outcome or the learner, to create a clear image in the learner s mind o what success looks or eels like. Looking back at either o the rubrics rom Assessment in the Primary School Curriculum: Guidelines or Schools it is very easy to see how listing the key areas or achievement (the eatures) and the graded range o possible levels o achievement together build up just such an image o success at a particular task or activity. Helping them to see clearly what success looks like is an important irst step in supporting learners; it osters eelings o capability, literally promoting a positive academic sel-image! Sample activity 2.1 Using a rubric or sel-assessment 5 Curriculum area Subject unit Curriculum objective Arts Education Visual arts Construction Looking and responding The child should be enabled to look at and talk about his/her work and the work o other children. Third and ourth classes A sample rubric The children in Mr. Byrne s third and ourth classes are given the task o building a model o a bridge. They have learned about many kinds o bridges over a ew lessons. Mr. Byrne wants them to show that they understand the essential unctions o a bridge, its construction, and its eatures. The children have to show the plan they have drawn o the bridge, and they have to tell why the bridge is built in this way. They can use any kind o suitable materials to make it. The teacher has discussed the important elements in planning and building this model with the class. The ollowing rubric is used ater the model is built. Feature Plan I made out a plan or my model with a ew details. I made out a plan o my model with quite a ew details. I made out a very detailed plan or my model. Design I didn t show the important eatures o the bridge. I showed some o the eatures in my model. I showed a lot or all o the eatures in my model. Materials The materials I used to make the bridge were not suitable. I used some suitable materials. All the materials I used were very suitable. Why the bridge was built like this I didn t explain this. I partly explained it. I explained it very well. Appearance My bridge looks OK. My bridge looks good. My bridge looks great. The children complete the rubric by ticking or colouring the appropriate level o quality they judge their model to show. Dierentiating according to the children s ability, Mr. Byrne helps some children use the rubric by reading the statements and talking to the children about what they think o the quality o their bridges. Variations on this rubric include extending the range o quality to perhaps our levels. For example, or children who have more experience o using assessment rubrics this could include amiliarising the children with the expected standards or levels o quality beore beginning the model work, and demonstrating what such levels would look like by showing similar work done by other children. ino@ncca 12

4 Curriculum continuity Students, especially in their irst year in post-primary school, ind a sense o continuity with their work and experience in primary school to be especially important in reinorcing positive expectations o their new school lives. This can make a lasting impact on their engagement with their school work. The practical approaches to classroom assessment contained in Assessment in the Primary School Curriculum: Guidelines or Schools apply equally to the post-primary classroom and have the potential to provide that kind o continuity even where the content o subject lessons moves on, or even where completely new subjects are encountered. For more inormation, have a look at Assessment in the Primary School Curriculum: Guidelines or Teachers on the NCCA website at Sample activity 2.6 Using an assessment rubric as part o conerencing 25 Curriculum area Subject unit Curriculum objectives Language English Competence and conidence in using language / Writing Writing: developing competence, conidence and the ability to write independently Competence and conidence in using language: developing competence, conidence and the ability to write independently The child should be enabled to write, without redrating, on a given or chosen topic within certain time constraints. The child should be enabled to observe the conventions o grammar, punctuation and spelling in his/her writing. The child should be enabled to help others in editing their writing. Fith and sixth classes unit Curriculum objective Receptiveness to language / Writing Writing: creating and ostering the impulse to write Receptiveness to language: creating and ostering the impulse to write The child should be enabled to receive and give constructive responses to writing. Fith and sixth classes Sixth class children use the rubric below to assess a story they have written. The particular elements in the rubric are based on what makes a good story as discussed and agreed by the children and their teacher beorehand (the criteria or success in writing the story). Another rubric might be used in subsequent writing to assess punctuation, or example the use o quotation marks, exclamation marks, and so on. Sample rubric Feature I didn t do well I made a good eort I made a very good eort Structure and plot My story doesn t have a clear beginning, middle and end. My story has a structure and plot but some o it is not clear. My story has a clear structure and plot. Paragraphs I have too many (or too ew) paragraphs, or they are not beginning in suitable places. Some paragraphs are in the right places, but some aren t. My paragraphs begin at change points in the story and help the reader to ollow the story better. Interest My story is not that interesting. My story is airly interesting. My story is very interesting. supporting teaching and learning Characters I have described no strong I have described at least one The characters in the story character in the story. strong character in the story. are described well. Each child s relection on his/her own piece o writing helps to develop his/her skills o metacognition (relecting on one s own learning). A key outcome o each conerence is that both the teacher and the child can understand something more about the child s learning and the next steps that need to be taken in supporting learning. In addition, the individualised nature o the conerence means that the teacher can dierentiate support appropriate to each child s abilities and needs. 13

5 Want to read more? is an NCCA publication designed to keep teachers in primary and post primary schools up to date about developments in curriculum and assessment. All back issues are available on our website to download and read, or to save on your hard drive to read later. You can access the magazine by clicking on the image on the home page or i you are reading online, just click here. Subscribe to ino@ncca This April, ino@ncca goes electronic. To subscribe or your very own copy, simply visit our website click on the banner titled Subscribe to Newsletter, ill in your details on the orm and click on the subscribe button.. Or i you are reading online just click here.