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1. What is Assessment for Learning?

Assessment is a key process required to promote learning and is as a part of classroom performance.
Learners need to learn and understand what, why, where and how is happening before learning will take place:

  • What is the purpose of learning?
  • Why do they need to learn it?
  • Where do they achieve the goal?
  • How can they reach the goal?

When learners can understand these principles, we could expect that the quality of learning will improve. Sharing this information with learners, will promote the autonomy of learning objectives and shared responsibility between teachers and learners towards those objectives.

Seeking to promote effective assessment, teachers need to:

 

  • Explain the learning objectives to learners and check their understanding;
  • Demonstrate the standards that learners are required to achieve and help them to identify when they have reached that standard;
  • Provide effective feedback on assessment decisions so that learners know how to improve;
  • Show high expectations and show learners that you believe they can improve their past performance;
  • Provide regular opportunities for teachers and learners to reflect on the latest outcomes and to review learner progress;
  • Develop self-assessment skills for learners in order to understand what aspects of their work need to be improved.

Assessment for learning means to:

  • Explain the learning objectives and feedback;
  • Check the learner's understanding of learning objectives;
  • Introduce learners about what they have to do and what they have to hand in;
  • Introduce the assessment criteria to learners;
  • Provide learners to apply the assessment criteria to work examples, possibly by a previous cohort, in order to demonstrate the required standards and the application of the assessment criteria;
  • Provide the necessary instructions and support to learners individually and provide oral feedback;
  • Provide peer assessment capabilities;
  • Provide self-assessment opportunities;
  • Conduct teacher-led assessment of learner’s work;
  • Provide written feedback to learners;
  • Enable learners to undertake corrective action and / or consolidation activities.

Assessment for learning is for learners to keep them informed about their progress so that they could improve their performance.

In recent years, it has been stated that teachers have become adept at supporting the less able learner, sometimes to the detriment of the more able learner.

Assessment for Learning should be carried out in order to provide high-quality feedback to learners based on for example on an interim assessment. This would inspire learners to reach new levels of achievement. The feedback itself has the ability to support weaker learners and challenges for more able learners.

Based on: http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/7800/1/AssessmentforLearning.pdf

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