EMPOWERING GROWTH: UNPACKING THE IMPACT OF ASSESSMENT WITH DIANNE SMARDON

By Lucy Garven Deputy Head of Primary Director of Academic Education – Primary School

One of the key challenges for educators is the ability to continuously improve teaching knowledge and practice to meet the diverse needs of students. At the beginning of a school year, professional learning is an opportunity to collectively engage in thinking that inspires and allows critical reflection on what we do to enhance student learning. This year, Dianne Smardon led a full-day session on Assessment for Learning. Dianne currently works as a programme manager with Springboard Trust to enhance strategic leadership practices in schools. She has over 30 years of experience in education and has worked with the University of Waikato, facilitating professional learning opportunities for school leaders and teachers in curriculum, assessment, and leadership. She is a firm believer in empowering teachers.

The focus of the day was to explore the principles and role of assessment and how teachers design, develop, select, and evaluate a range of assessment strategies and tasks that are responsive to the learning needs of all learners. We looked at what types of evidence and data allow teachers to build professional trust and robustness of judgement. We explored exemplary practices that provide timely and effective feedback to students to progress their learning. The day afforded time to examine the role of feedback when reporting on student achievement and how clear, constructive, and precise feedback can shape further engagement.

Assessment for Learning is not new. We constantly engage in the processes of designing, delivering, and reflecting on assessment. This day was an opportunity to stop and reflect on our collective understanding of assessment and how we develop and evaluate its effectiveness to drive learning forward. We have a diverse staff with varying professional knowledge, experience, and subject interest areas. Dianne’s programme was grounded in a deep understanding of assessment that emphasised the need for all teachers to maintain a continuous growth mindset to meet the diverse learning needs of students, work with a consistent understanding of assessment, and feel empowered to improve our practice.

Dianne provided teachers with tangible strategies and tools to implement immediately in the classroom. She shared several tools and techniques that facilitated professional conversation and left us with academic articles focusing on assessment, learning environments, empowering students, feedback, and peer coaching.

This professional learning day set the tone for the year, focusing on ensuring we have a collective understanding of assessment for learning. It aimed to ensure that we discuss effective assessments in teams, critically reflect on our assessments to ensure they are not just good but great and allow students to demonstrate what they have learnt while helping them determine their next steps. To connect this professional learning to our daily practices, teams were asked to formulate one of their Professional Growth Cycle (PGC) goals focusing on assessment.

Time to review, reflect, and consider is a gift in the busy world of a teacher. We thank Dianne for providing resources and space for us to collectively ponder assessment.