Assessment Life after Levels Autumn 2015

First response:

Practical action! Attended conferences, workshops, meetings, briefings, webinars Read books, journals Watched DfE video Tried out approaches in school Have presented at forums, meetings and conferences

Starting point: Tim Oates - Chair of the expert panel reviewing the National Curriculum The Case for Change

Key points Fewer things in greater depth A focus on understanding key concepts NOT moving at a fast pace through levels – progress should involve developing deeper or wider understanding not just moving on to work of greater difficulty (studies of high performing and/or fast improving jurisdictions don’t use a model of levels like we do) Levels have outlived their usefulness and convey the wrong model of ability

Problems with levels Children labelling themselves which is inappropriate and dysfunctional in terms of learning Snapshot judgement – an average of good and poor answers ‘Just in’ Levels were too often viewed as thresholds to cross when, in reality, the difference in pupils on either side of the boundary was actually very slight and the difference between some pupils within the same level was actually quite wide

So…. Age related assessment focus – have children understood the key ideas for their age? We need more assessment, not less, but of the right kind We need a system of rich questioning, probing of ideas to understand what children actually know Children shouldn’t be moving at undue pace through the curriculum Assessment needs to be focussed on key skills and concepts

The challenge To always be asking probing questions How to know exactly who understands what Continual formative assessment How to stimulate discussion that can be assessed Teachers need to become ‘assessment kleptomaniacs’!

ABRSM Three pieces, each out of 30 Scales, out of 21 Sight reading, out of 21 Aural tests, out of 18 Total marks available marks needed to pass

At All Saints We have designed progressions of skills which are Year Group related for all subjects Curriculum activities are based on these progressions Last term we undertook a programme of team teaching using the SOLO taxonomy to assess children’s learning We are now embedding this in all classrooms We are trying out a range of AfL techniques for helping us to understand who knows what

Cont……. We are exploring ways to involve children in leading their own learning and assessment We are assessing children in key areas of learning at the end of each project All children and staff are working on giving feedback which is Kind, Specific and Helpful

What will the assessment look like? Each learning adventure has long term learning targets aligned with the National Curriculum These learning targets will be broken down into short term targets Meeting these targets will help children to answer the driving question from the adventure Tracking and assessing progress against these targets will ensure progress in learning Progress will be clear in the children’s books

ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING Part of our daily teaching To check for understanding To inform the next steps in the learning process These assessments will not be reported

ASSESSMENTS OF LEARNING Assessments to determine whether a child has met a learning target could be a test, presentation, speech, piece of writing etc. Assessment rubrics drawn from the SOLO taxonomy will be used and shared with the children. This will help them understand their next steps Rubrics will be derived from the long term and daily learning targets One piece of work could be used for more than one assessment (using different rubrics) At the end of each year, children will take externally set tests which will give us a standardised score and enable to us understand how children are doing in relation to national standards and therefore how well our own assessment system is working

On entry to All Saints we will know whether children are meeting age related expectations or are above or below. All our activities are progressive because they are based on our progressions of skills. So: If children continue to meet age related expectations, they will be making at least expected progress.

SOLO Taxonomy The prestructural level of understanding represents incompetence. For us this is red. The next two levels, unistructural and multistructural are associated with bringing in information (surface understanding). At All Saints these are represented by orange and yellow. At the unistructural orange level, one aspect of the task is picked up, and student understanding is disconnected and limited. At the multistuctural yellow level, several aspects of the task are known but their relationships to each other and the whole are missed.

The progression to relational and extended abstract outcomes is qualitative. At All Saints, these level are represented by green and purple. At the relational green level, the aspects are linked and integrated, and contribute to a deeper and more coherent understanding of the whole. At the extended abstract purple level, the new understanding at the relational level is re-thought at another conceptual level, looked at in a new way, and used as the basis for prediction, generalisation, reflection, or creation of new understanding.

PrestructuralUnistructuralMultistructuralRelational Extended Abstract Finding the area of shapes I need help to find the area of a shape I can use one strategy to find the area of a shape if I am directed. E.g. I can find the area of a shape by using a grid of squares. I can use several strategies to find the area of shapes. E.g. I can find the area of irregular shapes by using a grid of squares. I can find the area of regular shapes using formulas. I can use several strategies in a logical order to find the area of a compound shape. I can explain the order… E.g. I can find the area of compound shapes made up of regular shapes for which I know the formula. … and I can use this thinking in new ways to find the area of complex compound shapes. E.g. I can find the area of compound shapes made by adding whole and part regular shapes for which I know the formula.

Prestructural UnistructuralMultistructural RelationalExtended Abstract What kind of mood or emotion is this music expressing? How does the composer achieve this effect? I’m not sure about this music There is no answer or the answer misses the point. There may be written words, sometimes even musical, but they are not relevant to the question. I have one relevant idea about what this music might be expressing or how the composer is using the musical elements The answer makes one relevant comment about the music, either the musical elements or the mood created but it does not link the use of musical elements with the mood or emotions that the music expresses I have several relevant ideas about what this music might be expressing or how the composer is using the musical elements The answer makes several relevant comments about the music, either the musical elements or the mood created I have several ideas about what this music might be expressing and how the composer is using the musical elements expressively. The answer shows how the use of musical elements and the mood that the music expresses are connected. All points will be explained and relate to the question. I have several ideas about what this music might be expressing and how the composer is using the musical elements expressively. I can extend this thinking to other types of music An extended answer that shows how the use of musical elements and the mood that the music expresses are connected. All points will be explained and relate to the question. The answer is specific about the music and makes generalisations about how composers create moods or emotions by using and combining the musical elements.

SOLO Is diagnostic Provides useful feedback Makes next steps clearer Helps in planning objectives and success criteria which focus on progress Describes the learning outcome

Practice at All Saints A note on averages. We will use averages of long term learning targets to give a broad indication of the overall outcome of a learning adventure (project). However, it is important to pay close attention to the ‘granular’ assessment for each learning target. These give a clear indication of what a child knows and can do. They also make clear if there are any specific areas of the curriculum in which children may need more support. For example, we believe it is far more useful and meaningful to know that a student shows excellence in calculating area of polygons but is still developing their ability to calculate the volume of 3D shapes, rather than knowing that, on average, they are meeting age related expectations in Maths.

Parents’ evenings Meeting expectations or not A richer conversation based on ‘granular’ assessment from SOLO

Children’s views on critique and feedback It’s really cool – you can show others what you’ve done. The feedback is usually helpful I really enjoy it, I like having different points of view. Your classmates want to help you get better and I like that I can borrow sentences or words from other people I like having more than one person’s feedback, it’s good to get a wider range of comments and things you can improve on. Authors need feedback to make people want to read their books I used to hate editing my work but at first I was on yellow and when I used the feedback and the rubric I got some purple bits.

Y4 &5 children on choosing their own challenge: I like choosing my own challenge – which one I choose would depend on the subject. If I have work that’s too hard I’m not developing my learning – you need to go up in smaller steps Colours are better than numbers of stars because it’s less embarrassing if you need to go down I like the colours because you can make yourself a challenge

Example rubrics content/1/SOLO_2.pdf See Assessment/SOLO/rubrics

HOWLS (Habits of Work and Learning) Respect Determination Reflection Resourcefulness Creativity