Assessment for learning

This term is now in common use and is well understood. Assessment for learning is a process of gathering and analysing information about achievement and progress to inform current and future learning. It is a process that involves both the teacher and the learner. It differs from assessment of learning, which is more frequently called summative assessment. This is a more comprehensive assessment of attainment, using level descriptions or an accepted assessment tool that is designed to give a quantitative measure based on performance. These assessments can, of course, be used in the assessment for learning process as the information they provide is interpreted and used to guide the decisions about the next stages in learning and the teaching strategies to use to help the learner.

Below are six key principles that guide assessment for learning. They are informed by research and an analysis of the positive impact that this process of assessment can have on children's learning. The principles are expanded and exemplified to help you to guide your planning and teaching and children's mathematical learning in the primary classroom. While the focus and context of this paper is on mathematics these six principles may be applied across the curriculum.

• Assessment for learning is part of the planning process
  Planning should be informed by the evidence that is sought and gathered about children's achievement and progress in meeting the intended learning objectives. In mathematics, children often make little or no progress because they did not understand something earlier. For example, children who have a poor understanding of place value are unlikely to use a partitioning strategy to add and subtract numbers.
  Helping children to articulate what they can and cannot do makes it easier to assess their progress and to plan next steps and any support particular groups of children might need. One approach that can help children to acquire the language of learning is to share planning and learning expectations with the class at the start of a unit and display these for children to refer to. As children demonstrate that they have achieved the learning expected, review the plans with the class and update the expectations so that children see what progress they have made and what they are expected to achieve next.
• Assessment for learning is informed by learning objectives
  Making an assessment of children's achievements and progress should be based on the expected learning outcomes identified through the learning objectives. In mathematics, assessing children's progress in a core strand of learning should be informed by the objectives in the strand. Where appropriate, the objectives should be tracked before and after the objectives for the particular year group, to identify any additional support and possible challenges and extensions to learning.
  Sharing the expected learning outcomes and success criteria with children, using a vocabulary and language they understand, helps them to understand what they are learning. Ask children to look at examples of work that sets the pitch and scale of the expectations and to describe it in their own words. Use these responses to set out success criteria for the unit, keep these displayed during the course of the unit and refer to them when assessing children's progress.
• Assessment for learning engages children in the assessment process
  Children learn more effectively when they recognise what it is they are trying to achieve and what it looks like in practice. In mathematics, teaching children how to use a ruler to measure is helped if they understand that the purpose of this is to compare a length against the scale marked on the ruler. Explaining to children that they are learning how to add and subtract tens and ones so they are able to add and subtract 9 and 11 quickly in their heads makes sense to them. They can then be engaged in deciding if they have achieved the learning outcome.
  As children become more aware of what they are trying to do and they understand, through examples and models they have been shown, what the intended outcome looks like they are better able to judge their own learning. Invite children to comment on examples of 'anonymised' work that demonstrates good features or some aspect that can be improved so they see how this can be achieved.
• Assessment for learning recognises the achievements of all children
  It is important that all children experience success and that success is identified and acknowledged. In mathematics, the most vocal children can appear to get the accolades and praise. Asking children to identify two numbers that have a given difference and to discuss this with a partner before any suggestions are collected from the class provides children with time to marshal their thoughts and prepare their responses. This means the children who are less likely to offer a response to a quick-fire question can be asked to contribute and their contribution can be recognised.
  Children need time to think before they respond and setting up paired activities provides both time and support from which most children benefit. Give children a number of 'talk partners' so that they can discuss their ideas, reasoning and solutions, to build up the confidence and language skills of all children. Help the process by modelling how to use the mathematical vocabulary and language of explanation or reasoning. As they become more confident at sharing with others what they know and understand, they will be better able to self-reflect and share their own assessments with you and with other adults too.
• Assessment for learning takes account of how children learn
  The assessment approach being used should be flexible and adaptable, to include different approaches that give children the opportunity to show what they know, understand and can do. In mathematics, seeing something written down or displayed as an image or as a diagram offers another way of interpreting a question or problem. Children who are not always good at visualising or carrying information in their heads may be able to give the answer to 24 divided by 6, but need to have the information presented visually or opportunity to use some resources. Seeing a shape being rotated about a point will, for some children, provide the stimulus they need to discuss what has changed and what has stayed the same and show that they understand. Help children to understand how they learn as they learn.
  Planning assessment involves identifying what is being assessed and deciding how to assess it in a way that engages children. Displaying a lack of knowledge and little progress may reflect a lack of understanding of what is being asked as part of the assessment process. Starting with more open questions or situations with which children can engage provides a starting point from which more probing questions can be asked. Give children a number of alternative solutions to a question to select from. This provides them with the opportunity to discuss why one solution is correct and the others are incorrect; it also assesses their communication and reasoning skills. Show children objects that may or may not have the properties you want them to describe and invite them to use practical resources they can manipulate as they answer and demonstrate their understanding.
• Assessment for learning motivates learners
  Constructive feedback that identifies how children's work and responses have led to success gives a shared understanding of the achievements on which to build to make further progress. It helps children to see how the next steps take account of this success and are attainable. Positive and constructive feedback motivates children as they see how their learning is progressing. In mathematics, an assessment activity that asks children to determine if, for example, given numbers are multiples of 3, with numbers such as 61, 28 and 16 included, provides opportunity for success and positive feedback. Inviting children to explain how and why they chose the numbers ensures that constructive feedback can take account of the successes and guide children to the next steps by building on their success.
  Provide children with feedback that they can act on straight away. Giving long-term guidance that children forget, or on which they cannot act in this or the next lesson, loses the impetus generated by the positive and constructive feedback. Help children to recognise that they have met the learning target by providing examples they can use. Encourage children to help you set a target in their own words and to build the examples that provide success criteria for future assessments.