Currie High School - CLPL Session

AifL and Raising Attainment

Lianne Rae, Modern StudiesJanuary 2014

Learning Objectives

1. Consider why formative assessment is important in raising attainment

2. Review the research on successful Learning Intentions, Questioning, Feedback and Self & Peer Assessment

3. Share examples and experiences of AifLstrategies that have been successful

Engaging Learners – How we teach

Passive recipients who recall information

Develop skills to apply knowledge

Active learning

Co-operative learning

Creative contexts

Summative AssessmentSummative testing - positives Summative testing - negatives

Preparation for SQA requirements Not frequent nor detailed enough to provide feedback that improves learning and teaching

Frequent and sufficiently detailed formative assessments allow teachers to monitor whether formative strategies are actually leading to improvements

Pupils cannot interact and reflect usefully upon grades

Grades alone do not allow pupils to develop their understanding and identify steps for future learning

An emphasis on summative testing may also lead to "teaching to the test" and to superficial learning e.g. rote learning.

Key Question

Do our approaches to classroom assessment improve or prove learning?

Improving Attainment

Formative assessment results in an improvement at GCSE level of three grades for "so-called low-attainers" and one grade for higher attainers

(Jones & Tanner, 2006)

Black & Wiliam, 'Inside the Black Box' (1998)

Defined formative assessment (assessment forlearning) as:

"all those activities undertaken by teachers, and by their students, which provide information to be used as feedback… to adapt teaching to meet the needs of pupils”

Teaching children to think for themselves makes them more confident, resourceful, reflective and effective at learning, resulting in increased attainment and better exam results

Unpacking Formative Assessment

Effective Classroom Assessment:

� is not an “add on” � is planned coherently� involves pupils, including self-and peer-evaluation� requires a broad range of approaches� is a careful balance of regular formative and only

very occasional summative assessments� ensures regular feedback to pupils that plans next

steps in learning� enables the school to inform parents of pupils

progress� encourages pupils to identify next steps and take

responsibility for ‘closing the gap’

Key Features of AifL

� Learning Intentions� Questioning� Feedback� Peer and self-assessment

Learning Intentions

� There are often multiple learning intentions in play at any one time e.g. long term and short term knowledge and related skills

� Knowledge learning objectives need to explicitly linked with a key skill so that success criteria focus on the skill rather than the knowledge

� Closed learning intentions are achieved simply by meeting the success criteria – there are rarely quality issues

� Open learning intentions require discussions with pupils about quality

� Learning objectives need to be separated from the context to promote a focus on the learning not the context

Breaking down Learning Intentions - Skills

Long term (often several years)

Short term (individual lessons)

To be able to punctuate properly

To be able to use commas

To be able to design a science experiment

To be able to record observations

Breaking down Learning Intentions - Knowledge

Long term Short term Key skill (with SC generated by pupils)

To know the significant events of Tudor times

To know the impact of Henry VIII’s reign on people’s lives

To select and organisehistorical data

To know the duties of religious leaders

To know the duties of a Rabbi and a Priest

To compare and contrastthese duties

Closed Learning Intentions

To be able to:

•Use question marks•Catch a ball•Use an index•Subtract using decomposition•Use references in an essay

To know:

•The definition of photosynthesis•Colours in French•Major rivers in Africa•Key events of the Gunpowder plot

Open Learning Intentions

To be able to:

•Write a persuasive argument, letter etc•Think of an effective simile, personification etc•Solve a geometric / numerical problem•Compare data, reports, pieces of artwork etc•Draw an effective conclusion

The impact of separating Learning Intentions

Learning Intentions– what you want pupils to learn

To write a newspaper report

To analyse data

Context – the activity or vehicle through which the LI will be taught

To write a newspaper report About pollution in our town (research plus ICT skills)

To analyse data In comparing climate between Edinburgh and Cairo, using atlas graphs

Muddled LI’s

To write a newspaper report about pollution

To analyse data about climate difference between Edinburgh and Cairo

Success Criteria – generating the ingredients of the Learning Objective

� Pupils analyse a finished piece of work – “One minute to talk with a partner to decide one thing you can see in this piece of work to do with persuasion” (LI)

� Two pieces of work of differing quality� Display poor success criteria and ask pupils

to re-write� Demonstrate e.g. Talk� Re-use success criteria – decontextualised LI

lead to generic success criteria

Questioning

� An area of formative assessment which involves the active involvement of pupils in their own learning.

� The crucial thing that teachers should consider when questioning is how their questions will improve pupils' learning

(Cohen et al., 2004).

Questioning – Practical Strategies

Random Name Generatorhttp://www.classtools.net/education-games-php/fruit_machine

Questioning – Practical Strategies to encourage and extend thinking

� A range of answers

� A statement� Right & wrong� Stems

Feedback� When feedback is given as marks only or as marks and

comments there was no improvement in attainment (Butler 1987)

� However when teachers gave comments only, attainment increased by 30%

� are we damaging learning by returning marks to pupils?� Grades "can reinforce comparisons that pupils use to

rank their position as a 'good learner' resulting in 'poorer' performing pupils accepting that they cannot succeed

� Marks can have a negative effect on motivation, confidence and self-esteem in pupils.

Feedback - Practical Strategies

Feedback - Practical Strategies-using summative tests formatively

Self & Peer Assessment� Once pupils understand what they are

aiming for it is then becomes possible for them to manage and control the learning process through self-assessment.

� Peer-assessment has been found to improve learning as pupil motivation to work carefully increases, peer support is provided through the feedback and pupils more readily accept criticisms of their work from their peers

Self & Peer Assessment - Practical Strategies