AfL_principles

Berry, R. (2008). Assessment for Learning. Hong Kong University Press. Ch.1. p.14

In a typical classroom, assessment is an everyday activity. Assessment must be consistent with the objectives of the course and what is taught and learned. The assessment methods employed should reflect the variety of subject and course goals. Basically, what to assess should reflect the teaching content, and the assessment tasks that are set should reflect the skills that students will need in their studies. With reference to the set criteria and through various means, teachers can observe, collect, record and analyze students’ performances, and then diagnose and estimate their learning condition and capability. Teachers give students effective feedback and then adjust teaching, as a means of focusing on continuous improvement in both teaching and learning. Teachers use the information obtained from their assessments to help them understand the learning progress of the students. With the insights gained, teachers can modify teaching and learning activities to suit students’ needs.

Assessment can be varied in form, depth or breadth, to reflect different facets of learning. A variety in types of assessment allows a range of different learning outcomes to be assessed. It also keeps students interested, especially when assessment tasks are authentic. There are two special benefits arising from the use of multidimensional assessment methods in the improvement of quality learning. First, it conveys to the student the important message that learning is complex, and that important learning outcomes can take many different forms and can require many different skills to demonstrate. Multidimensional assessment methods also help to ensure that the learning of students with less traditional or commonplace talents and ways of learning is properly acknowledged and credited.

Principle 3: Selecting those assessment methods which are susceptible to learning

The less effective forms of assessment inhibit or narrow learning opportunities and should therefore be reduced to a minimum. The "right" forms, accordingly, provide learners with plenty of learning opportunities. Using varied assessment strategies such as portfolios, observations, experiments, projects, simulations, interviews, performances, presentations, concept maps, word association and linking etc. allows a deeper understanding of students’ learning in different perspectives.

In education contexts, students’ learning is the result of concerted efforts from different parties. This should also be applicable to assessment. Collaborative actions support discussion on assessment matters and understanding of students’ learning from different perspectives. This kind of professional collaboration is very important to the setting of rating criteria, for example, when several raters will be involved in judging students’ work against the same standards. Teachers can work together to set different sets of rating standard, including various kinds of skill and content. This helps in setting assessment plans of different levels.

Progressively assess students’ learning so that assistance can be given to students when they first need it, and before more serious learning difficulties arise. Students can be given a series of smaller, appropriately valued assessment tasks spread through the term. What is important to bear in mind about continuous assessment is that the purpose is to identify potential problems, monitor satisfactory progress toward significant learner goals, and to provide feedback and encouragement along the way. For that reason, assessments based on initial attempts on the part of students to demonstrate new skills should not be heavily weighted toward the final judgement of student proficiency in a new skill area, at the end of the term. These assessments can be based on observation, judgement, encouragement, guidance, and corrections.

On a cautionary note, many teachers will initially view continuous assessment as an unrealistic goal, as they envision a never-ending stream of student work to be reviewed and returned. There is a need to balance the amount and types of assessment being conducted, to avoid student and staff assessment exhaustion. The secret to successful continuous assessment is to integrate the assessment activities with the instructional activities, so that, as instruction takes place, naturally occurring opportunities for gathering information on student understanding and progress are built into the process. For that reason, it is useful to have an assessment plan integrated into the teaching and learning plan.

Assessment does not have to be conducted solely hy the teachers (and in fact it is not, and should not be). Students themselves can contribute towards their own learning through assessing themselves and their peers, Students should be regarded as insiders instead of outsiders when it comes to assessment and learning matters. They should be involved in making judgements about their own work, monitoring their own progress, learning to set goals for themselves, and presenting themselves and their work to others. Well-constructed self-assessment and peer assessment exercises have the potential to provide valuable learning experiences and encourage lifelong learning. Assessment is composed of three processes: setting criteria for assessment, selecting evidence to match those criteria, and judging the match between the evidence and the criteria, There are many teaching-learning contexts in which it is appropriate for students to be involved in one or all of these assessment processes.

Assessment should be "informative" as well as formative, revealing what sorts of learning have been achieved and what learning is still to be attained. The methods used should be able to assess a wide range of learning outcomes, Depending on a single assessment method such as examination has to be discouraged.

The main objective of assessment is improving students‘ learning behaviour, not for getting the result by the end of the term. End-of—term decisions can, and should, be based on multiple sources of evidence of student learning, such as projects they have completed, papers they have written, assignments they have turned in, tests or quizzes administered at the end of a learning cycle, and anything that represents the students’ state of knowledge following appropriate opportunities to achieve mastery of the intended learning outcomes. What is not advisable is to base end—of-term decisions about learning on a single source of evidence, or even type of evidence, and that information gathered primarily for formative purposes not serve as the basis for judging end-of—term status. Therefore, it is better to use multidimensional methods to assess students’ performances For example, a teacher should adopt summative assessment strategies to summarize students’ quality of learning by the end of the school term for deciding whether they pass or not, or should be promoted to the next level. The objective in this case is to prove learning. In addition to the summative assessment techniques, the teacher should use formative assessment methods to diagnose learning difficulties and monitor student progress, while promoting greater learning, The objective is to improve learning. These two kinds of assessment can be used simultaneously. The formative assessment is able to provide timely and regular feedback, while summative assessment usually presents the final results.

Students need to understand clearly what is expected of them in assessed tasks. Each assessment task is to be accompanied by clear assessment criteria that are effectively communicated to students and markers. Teachers have to develop an assessment plan before teaching a learning programme and should let students know clearly at the start of the term what the goals of the learning programme are, and how students will be expected to demonstrate the mastery of those goals. Criteria for assessment should be detailed, transparent and justifiable. Teachers can get students involved in discussing the criteria or even in setting the criteria.

Feedback is fundamental to the learning process. It is important to provide students with timely and comprehensive feedback on the extent to which they are achieving the goals and objectives of their learning. Formative assessment is very effective in monitoring and supporting the students’ learning progress during instruction. The objective is to provide teachers and students with feedback on the learning results for promoting students’ learning, improving content arrangement in the curriculum and exploring better modes of teaching. Its fundamental spirit is totally assessments with the detailed target behaviour so as to form an interactive cycle. From time to time, students should be made aware of their achievements and those aspects they need to improve on for their future development. Students should also be given opportunities to act upon the useful suggestions made by the teachers, their peers, or ones they make themselves.

Systematic analysis of students’ performance on assessment tasks can help identify areas of the curriculum that need improvement. This enlightens teaching and eventually benefits students’ learning. When reporting students’ results, teachers can consider using the form of a qualitative profile rather than a single score or other quantification. The qualitative profile includes relevant data about effort, attitude, personality and achievement etc. The advantage is that the focus of the information being reported is the student, his or her level of achievement, the effort being shown, and the characteristics of the student as a learner, characteristics that may be aiding or impeding the student in his or her learning. By focusing the information thus, it is possible to reduce comparisons between students by parents, and give teachers a better opportunity to communicate with parents those essential matters regarding their student and his or her learning.