Assessments for Learning
By Penelope Moore
The Five Strategies of Assessment Approaches for an Effective Classroom Environment
Strategy 2: Engineering Effective Classroom Discussions, Tasks and Activities that Elicit Evidence of Learning
Strategy 3: Providing Feedback that Moves Learners Forward
Strategy 4: Activating Students as Learning Sources for One Another
Strategy 5: Activating Students as Owners of their Learning
Strategy 1: The Big Five: Focus on the Major Skills of the Curriculum
Conceptual: Mental Concepts
Information Management: Collection of Information from One of More Sources
Communication: Exchanging Information
Meta-Cognitive: Learning Engagement Including Planning, Monitoring, Comprehension, and Evaluation
Strategies Explained
- Show Different Examples of work
- The Big Five Focus on the Major Skills of the Curriculum
- Multi-Participant Questions:
- No Hands Up:
- Activate all students by using "Hands Up" only to let students ask questions and not for answering them.
- Flipped Classroom:
- Summarize the content of lessons in film clips which students watch to prepare for the lesson.
- Lessons used for conversations and dialogues between teacher and students about the content of the lesson.
Strategy 3: Providing Feedback that Moves Learners Forward
- Two Stars and A Wish:
- Feedback which focuses on two things that the student has done well and one area which needs to be improved.
- The best feedback is not the feedback given to the students, but the one given to the teacher.
- Collect and read the work of the class, then plan and adjust your next lessons to match student needs.
Strategy 4: Activating Students as Learning Sources for One Another
- Pre-flight Checklist:
- Use check lists to support the feedback that students give to each other.
- Green, Yellow, Red:
- Have Students demonstrate how well they understand the content of the lesson.
Green: I understand and can explain
Yellow: I have difficulties understanding
Red: You have lost me
- Take a break so that Green students can help the red students while the teacher explains to the yellow students.
Strategy 5: Activating Students as Owners of their Learning
- See Three Before Me:
- Train students to always check with three different sources before asking the teacher for help
- Students keep a logbook in which they reflect on their learning.
Formative Assessments
- Planned Formative Assessments
- Interactive Formative Assessments
According to Group-based Formative Assessment: a Successful way to make Summative Assessment Effective, some of these assessments include:
- Pupil Self Assessments
- Feedback for Learning
- Adjusting teaching styles in accordance to assessment results.
Summitive Assessments
- Pre-assessments
- Student Surveys
- Post Review Tests
IMPLEMENTATION
Summative assessments can be implemented using standardized tests, unit tests, final projects of many different kinds.
References
Rystad, M. (2013, April 7). Assessment for learning [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcLMlY6R7RM
Yu, H., & Li, H. (2014). Group-based formative assessment: a successful way to make summative assessment effective. Theory And Practice In Language Studies, (4), 839.