Literacy and formative assessment

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Building Bridges in Literacy P6S2
Area Seminar 2
Literacy and formative assessment
Clair Sharp
Learning and Teaching Scotland
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Focussing on Formative AssessmentMyra Young,
Project 1, Assessment is for Learning
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Kings College research

• Three questions
• is there evidence that improving formative
  assessment raises standards?
• is there evidence that there is room for
  improvement?
• is there evidence about how to improve formative
  assessment?

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Research activity

• Trawl of educational research
• from all over the world
• covering previous 9 years
• based on 580 sources
• Published review included
• references to 250 sources
• commentary by renowned educational experts
• distilled in Inside the Black Box

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Q1 Is there evidence that improving formative
assessment raises standards?

• Evidence of importance of
• teachers questioning
• feedback
• self assessment

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Q2 Is there evidence of room for improvement?

• KMOFAP experiment
• 18 month project
• 24 science and maths teachers in 2 LEAs
• investigating FA in real classrooms
• teachers putting research into practice

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Q3 Is there evidence about how formative
assessment can be improved?

• Learners need
• advice on how to bridge the gap
• opportunities to redraft
• a comfortable classroom environment where they
  have the confidence to take risks
• Teachers should
• share lesson intentions
• ask structured questions
• give learners time to think

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Formative Assessment - Sharing Criteria

• Sharing learning intentions
• WILF, WALT other animals
• target sheets stickers
• modelling
• Sharing success criteria
• making connections
• making it accessible

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Formative Assessment - Questioning

• Including and involving more pupils
• allowing time
• enabling thinking
• Encouraging higher order thinking by
• structuring questions
• emphasising the difference

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Formative Assessment - Feedback

• Bridging the gap
• Deciding the form
• Ensuring understanding
• Expecting remedial action
• Improving motivation and interest

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Formative Assessment - Self peer assessment

• Encouraging reflection on learning
• Practicalities
• Opportunities
• Implications
• Benefits

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A final thought..

• .the improvement of formative assessment
  cannot be a simple matter. There is no quick
  fix that can be added to existing practice with
  promise of rapid reward. .....this will only
  come about if each teacher finds his or her own
  way of incorporating the lessons and ideas into
  his or her own patterns of classroom work.
• Black Wiliam, 1998 (p15)