HOLYWELL CHURCH OF ENGLAND SCHOOL Assessment and Marking Policy Author Responsibility Dave Hall All staff and the governing body Effective Date May 2014 Review Date: May 2016 Approved by full Board of Governors: May 2014 Storage; Distribution (i) Electronic (ii) Hard Copy (i) School network, (managed by Headteacher s PA) and on school website (ii) School office and staff room Rationale Aims i. We believe assessment and marking should provide constructive feedback and guidance to pupils ii. We believe that this process should enable pupils to become effective learners and make best progress Marking and feedback should: i. relate to learning intentions which will have been shared with pupils ii. iii. iv. give recognition and praise for achievement and effort give clear strategies for improvement allow specific time for pupils to reflect and respond to prompts which identify next steps for improvement v. respond to individual learning needs. vi. vii. inform future planning and individual target setting be accessible and understood by pupils, parents and adults providing in-class support viii. use consistent codes throughout the school (Appendix 1) ix. develop in pupils the skills of self and peer marking x. be manageable for teachers xi. at termly intervals inform whole school data sets and reporting to parents E:\Governors inc policies\2013 2014 Policies\Assessment and Marking Policy 2014.docx 1
Practice and Procedures 1. Purpose of Assessment Assessment should be an integral part of teaching and learning, involving pupils in the process. 2. Assessment of and for Learning Both formative and summative assessment will be used in the process of teaching and learning. (Formative assessment will be unlikely to score or level work, but rather give comment and guidance on next steps. Summative assessment provides a snapshot level indicator of performance and generally will not have comment) 3. Assessment Criteria Assessment will be against stated learning objectives and success criteria. These criteria will be clearly derived from national ladders of learning as set out in Assessment of Pupil Progress materials. The success criteria will be shared with pupils and referred back to whilst work is progressing 4. Self and Peer Assessment Pupils will develop their capacity for applying success criteria through regular experience of self and peer assessment as an integral part of the learning process When pupils engage in self or peer assessment, the assessment process will not normally be duplicated by teacher assessment thereafter. 5. Feedback from Marking and Assessment Pupils will be given regular feedback on their work and progress. This will celebrate success and identify next steps for learning All homework will be acknowledged; some will be self or peer marked; at least monthly there will be teacher marking of homework. Classwork will benefit from informal assessment during lessons Classwork will also have self and peer marking. There will be written formative teacher assessment approximately every four to five lessons. Formal levelling of work will occur half-termly in English, Maths and Science; other subjects in the curriculum will level on a termly basis. 6. Assessment to Promote Teaching and Learning Assessment and feedback will be used to inform future planning of teaching and learning. 7. Use of Assessment Data At a class teacher level, collection of assessment data will have a clear purpose in teaching and learning as set out above There will be regular whole-school collation of assessment data to support and inform year group reviews, comparison of pupil performance across their subjects and reporting to parents E:\Governors inc policies\2013 2014 Policies\Assessment and Marking Policy 2014.docx 2
It is the responsibility of the Head of Department to ensure: the Department s Policies fit with the school Marking and Assessment Policy the implementation of the Department s Marking Policy and to ensure that marking is regular and formative regular standardisation of agreed assessment procedures so that meaningful grades or levels are recorded and communicated to pupils / parents. It is the responsibility of all classroom teachers: to ensure that all classwork and homework is marked regularly according to the School / Department Policy to keep a record of marks and levels achieved in accordance with the agreed procedures within the School / Department to explain the marking and assessment grading system to the pupils to ensure that assessment information informs further curriculum planning / target setting Review i. The Curriculum Committee of the Board of Governors will monitor and review the Assessment policy. Cross reference this policy with the following policies Homework Curriculum SEN APPENDICES: 1 Consistent secretarial routines 2 Guidance on Strategies Agreed by the Curriculum and Training Committee: Agreed by Board of Governors E:\Governors inc policies\2013 2014 Policies\Assessment and Marking Policy 2014.docx 3
Appendix 1 Consistent secretarial routines Sp = spelling or correct spelling written = correct answer or good point made Teacher s initials = teacher has seen the work VF = verbal feedback/ discussion between teacher and pupil in lesson?? = unclear answer, explain further ^ = word or letter missing // = start of new paragraph Green, Amber, Red = Traffic lighting Appendix 2 Guidance on Strategies Acknowledgement Marking As set out in point 5 of the school marking policy - practice and procedures - there will be written work which is simply acknowledged by the teacher as having been appropriately completed; other work which is peer or self-assessed. At least once a month other homework will be marked formally by the teacher. Scale of work set for major assessments We recognise that there are gains available where homework tasks involve an extended exercise across two or three weeks. However such exercises will still require acknowledgement marking for pupils, most especially helping them to avoid leaving the three week s work to the last moment, creating avoidable stress. We also recognise that staff may wish to draw on a number of elements of work to give a fuller picture before levelling is carried out. However this should not present as an extended period of working time in school and at home which is dominated by assessment tasks. Summative Feedback/Marking This usually consists of ticks for correct answers and underlining/highlighting/use of? to encourage pupils to revise an answer given. This is associated with closed tasks or exercises. Wherever possible, pupils should self-mark and the work should be marked as a class or in groups. Formative Feedback/Marking *This cannot take place without success criteria having been established. Success criteria is copied into pupils books before a piece of work as a reference point for pupils, teachers and parents. With oral feedback, in the course of the lesson, teacher s comments to pupils should focus firstly on issues about the learning intention and secondly, and in a whisper, other features. The emphasis in marking should be on both success and improvement needs against the learning intention. Wherever the task is open or narrative, feedback should focus first and foremost on the learning intention of the task. Focus comments should help the child in closing the gap between what they have achieved and what they could have achieved. With narrative writing, codes can save time and make feedback more accessible to the pupil. Highlight the agreed number of features/points (3 where possible, plus 1 improvement prompt with appropriate time set for response from pupil) which summarise the learning intentions and put, in a contrasting colour, an improvement where a learning intention could take place, including a close the gap comment. Success and improvement can be reinforced verbally or in written form. Useful E:\Governors inc policies\2013 2014 Policies\Assessment and Marking Policy 2014.docx 4
closing the gap comments are: a) a reminder prompt more able (What else can you say here?) b) a scaffold prompt middle ability (What was the dog s tail doing? / The dog was so angry he / Describe the expression on the dog s face) c) an example prompt those needing additional support (Choose one of these or your own: The dog couldn t believe his eyes) Formative feedback / marking is not possible for every piece of work. SECRETARIAL FEATURES Spelling, punctuation, grammar etc should not be asked for in every piece of writing, as pupils cannot effectively focus on too many things in one space of time. When work is finished, ask pupils to check things they know are wrong in their work when they read it through. They should not be told to correct spellings, or they are likely to write further mis-spellings or waste time looking words up. If they know their spelling is to be marked, they will spend too much time during the writing process worrying and being slowed down. Pupils can only spell the words correctly which they know how to spell. Continual similar errors can be focused on as a pupil s writing target. General concerns should be noted on the teacher s short term plan so that it feeds into future planning. Only give pupils feedback about those things you have asked them to pay attention to. This will mean some aspects of writing are unmarked, but over time will be marked. Self Marking Pupils should self-evaluate wherever possible. They can identify their own agreed number of successes and look for improvement prompts. A plenary can then focus on this process as a way of analysing the learning. Shared Marking / Criteria based Marking Marking one piece of work as a class using OHP at regular intervals because this models the marking process and teaches particular points at the same time. Another strategy is to show two pieces of levelled work of the same title and discuss their differences. Also after a teacher and class have defined a success criteria, the class themselves can place each piece of work into category/level. This can then be discussed as a whole class. Peer Marking At appropriate times, pupils should sometimes be asked to mark pieces of extended writing in pairs. The following points are important: an agreed marking conduct should be discussed and displayed (e.g. listening, interruptions, confidentiality) pupils need to be trained to pair mark through modelling with the whole class watching paired marking in action pupils should alternately point out what they like first, underlining with pencil and ruler/highlighter pen, and then suggest ways to improve the piece, against the learning intention the agreed success to improvement ratio should be followed to avoid over criticism pairings should be best decided by the teacher encourage a dialogue between pupils rather than taking turns to be teacher; they should discuss each other s work together (e.g. I think this bit really shows what the character feels, what do you think?) Summative Assessment All criteria will be marked on a piece of work that is a form of summative assessment. The grade will be written on the work and restricted to summative assessment. E:\Governors inc policies\2013 2014 Policies\Assessment and Marking Policy 2014.docx 5