How do I know my child is learning? How should schools measure and evidence learning? How should the evidence be considered when it is obtained? How can teachers support students in partnership with them, rather than just teaching ‘at’ them? Attitudes to assessment – and everything that informs it
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hat young people ‘go to school’ in order to learn seems completely self-evident, but the question of how we know they are learning is rather more complex. This is not just a question for the adults, either; students themselves are well placed to ask how they know themselves that they are learning effectively. This brings us to a series of questions. How should schools measure and evidence learning? How should the evidence be considered when it is obtained? How can educators support young people in partnership with them, rather than just teaching ‘at’ them? The concept of assessment is one of the most important topics in education, and getting it right is at the core of any successful learning institution.
How does a Teacher know if a Child is Learning? Historically, two styles of assessment have been practiced in education: ‘summative’ and ‘formative.’ Summative assessment involves teaching a particular subject with student testing and evaluation taking place at the end of a unit or term. Formative assessment, on the other hand, aims to assess throughout the learning process -- student comprehension, academic progress, and learning needs, are evaluated during the course of a lesson or unit. The approach is considered more continuous and forward-looking, whereby adaptations to the teaching and/or learning experience can be implemented swiftly. In short, summative assessment can be considered an assessment of learning and formative assessment methods are more an assessment for learning.
To a certain extent, relying solely on summative assessment is considered a misguided educational practice. Some suggest that it could be too late to guide a learner towards correcting or improving their knowledge skills and understanding if they are only checked after the period of learning and not during the period of learning. The challenge, then, is to assess in a formative manner. This takes place within a school setting through monitoring constantly, as well as documenting and measuring learning – with reporting only an outcome of these processes. The individual skill of the educator is most evident here. To pose a challenge to a group of students and then instantly read the outcome is a key part of formative assessment. Did child A look puzzled? Did child B’s eyes light up? Did child C look disinterested? This is assessment at the very ‘front line’ that is not just interesting – it allows immediate differentiation between individual learners to be implemented.
traditional sense but not necessarily in a summative approach. Moreover, and most interestingly, we can speak of “assessment as learning” that both fundamentally shifts the emphasis of assessment (from adult to child) but also promotes skills and selfmanagement approaches that are crucial both now and long into a child’s future. By being transparent with young people about expectations of their learning, and by actively involving them in evaluating what they have done, we, as an academic community, promote a culture of selfassessment that is infinitely more powerful than any standalone ‘grade’ or ‘score’ meted out at the end of a term. For a child to take stock of their own progress, and to suggest ways that they themselves can bridge the gap between where they are with their learning now, and where they are headed with their learning (in other words clearly defined learning goals) and the ‘goal’, we are significantly increasing the possibility for genuine personal progress in each child.
Why do Schools Assess?
How do Students know they are Learning?
For many, this might seem an obvious question – as a measuring stick to see where a child ‘is at’ when compared to certain standards. The reality, however, is more nuanced. In fact, three strands of purpose behind assessment can be identified when it is associated directly with ‘learning’. Educators can speak of “assessment for learning” – by using simple tools that can inform how learning is taking place (ie ‘exit cards’ where children provide feedback on their understanding at the end of a particular lesson). Educators can speak of “assessment of learning” in a more INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL PARENT AUTUMN 2021 | 32
Children need to be aware of the skills or knowledge that they are aiming for, and they need both time and space to reflect on what they have done thus far and the ‘gap’ between the two. Teachers do not have ‘dominion’ over the assessment of a child. If anything, they should look to facilitate this assessment in the child to the extent that they can remain focused on delivering content in the most engaging way possible. Assessment moves from being passive (for the child) to an active process. From this perspective, the matter of
