Understanding Formative Assessment

active learning not mechanistic strategies

Shirley Clarke
MEd, Hon DEd
Associate, Institute of Education
University of London
The research indicates that improving learning through
assessment depends on five, deceptively simple, factors:

the provision of effective feedback to pupils;

the active involvement of pupils in their own learning;

adjusting teaching to take account of the results of
assessment;
a recognition of the profound influence assessment
has on the motivation and self-esteem of pupils,
both of which are crucial influences on learning;
the need for pupils to be able to assess themselves
and understand how to improve.
This was further broken down to include:

sharing learning goals with pupils;

involving pupils in self-assessment;

providing feedback which leads to pupils

recognising their next steps and how to take them;

underpinned by confidence that every student can

improve.
 Formative Assessment
Effective
Self-peer-teacher
questioning
feedback
Talk
Capturing interest
Learning objectives
Planning Success criteria
Excellence
A learning culture
self-belief
meta-cognition
Order these famous people from
least clever
to
most clever

J. K. Rowling
Albert Einstein
Miley Cyrus
David Beckham
David Cameron
 Fixed Mindset Growth Mindset
Intelligence is Intelligence is
static. expandable.
I must look I want to learn
clever! more!

Avoids challenges Embraces challenges

Gives up easily Persists in the face of setbacks

Sees effort as pointless Sees effort as the way

Ignores useful criticism Learns from criticism

Likely to plateau early and Reaches ever higher levels

achieve less than full of achievement
potential
Carol Dweck
 Praise achievement not ability
Our language tells children what we believe and what we value

Well done - youre learning to...

Good - its making you think - thats how

your brain is growing!
Every time you practise, youre making
connections in your brain stronger.
Youre good at things you like because
you work at them.
 Praise achievement not ability
Our language tells children what we believe and what we value

Lets look at what youve achieved.

If you could already do it, you wouldnt be

learning anything.
Your skills have really improved.

You can use this mistake. Think about

why it didnt work and learn from it.
We are learning Learning muscle

We are stretching
How magnets work our Questioning
muscle
We are learning Learning muscle

To solve We are stretching

mathematical problems our perseverence
muscle
Breaking down the learning

Habits of mind (Arthur Costa)

Claxtons Learning muscles

One of the core functions of twenty-

first century education is learning to
learn in preparation for a lifetime of
change.
David Miliband 2003
 Habits of Mind
(dispositions which lead to learning)
Resistance Being clear
Taking your time Using all your senses
Listening sensitively Being creative

Thinking flexibly Being amazed

Thinking about thinking Having a go

Trying to get it right Seeing the funny side

Being curious Learning with others

Transferring skills & Always learning

knowledge Costa and Kallick
 The Four Rs of Learning Power

Resilience Resourcefulness
Absorption Questioning
Managing distractions Making links
Noticing Imagining
Perserverance Reasoning
Capitalising
Reflectiveness Reciprocity
Planning Interdependence
Revising Collaboration
Distilling Empathy and listening
Meta-learning Imitation
Claxton 2002
 Enrichment or interruption ?

Talk partners
Children on task
Time to move on ....

Q. What stops you learning ?

A. You do! When you interrupt us.

(Y2 class)
 Formative Assessment
Effective
Self-peer-teacher
questioning
feedback
Talk
Capturing interest
Learning objectives
Planning Success criteria
Excellence
A Learning culture
self-belief
meta-cognition
Stages in pupil involvement in planning

1. What they already know/can do

2. What they want to know/find out/be able to do

3. Activity and outcome planning - link with

subject and transferrable skills
1.Prior knowledge
break down the theme

explore materials

present the problem

show progression of LOs

pictures and questions

concept mapping
start with application
2/3. Planning the learning
and outcomes
immersion first

ideas follow on from PK activity

include skills - subject specific

- other subjects

include outcomes/products
 Formative Assessment
Effective
Self-peer-teacher
questioning
feedback
and Talk
Capturing interest
Learning objectives
Planning Success criteria
Excellence
A Learning culture
self-belief
meta-cognition
 Effective starts

L.O.discussed in pairs Role play

A good question or Video clip to discuss
statement
Features of a product Box of artefacts

Compare products Evidence pack with clues

Play first Photograph
Game Surprise

Change the setting

Capturing childrens interest first
Effective starts provide:
summative assessment

sometimes instant rethink!

instant engagement

immersion in the subject matter

a natural path to the learning

objective and success criteria
 Compulsory and optional success criteria

L.O. Construct a line graph L.O. Effective characterisation

Remember: Choose:
title hobbies and interests

label x & y axes likes and dislikes

equal intervals examples of personality

key attitude to self

connect points attitude to others

etc.
Pupil generated success criteria

Doing it wrong

Presenting something wrong or incomplete

An excellent product
Comparing products (for closed literacy L.O.s)
Sloppy success criteria
Uplevelling
Demonstrate/visualiser
Retrospective generation
 Its bright
The Christmas trees are nice
The letters are a bit funny sometimes
 The reindeer is nice.
Yellow drawings dont stand out.
This is the easiest to read.
 Success Criteria
make all your letters the same size
use dark colours
dont use yellow
put pictures round the edge, not in the middle
check that you have copied all words &
numbers
 Analyse selected extracts

Cinderella picked the Cinderella found a nice

most beautiful pumpkin big pumpkin.
that she could find.

Cinderella obeyed and, Cinderella waved her wand

with a wave of her and every mouse became
wand, each mouse a horse
that scurried was
transformed into
a dappled grey horse.
 Formative Assessment
Effective
Self-peer-teacher
questioning
feedback
Talk
Capturing interest
Learning objectives
Planning Success criteria
Excellence
A Learning culture
self-belief
meta-cognition
 Impact
Cognitive progress
Social development
Pupil voice
Talk partners have widened childrens
social understanding and increased their
tolerance of other people.

One autistic boy has gone from being barely able to

tolerate one person to really enjoying being included in
changing partners and meeting his social targets.
One child with special needs
said shed learned so much with
her partners and in previous
years had been with other
children who didnt know what
to do and couldnt help her.
Referring to Y6 child
 So far . . .
1. Range of answers
2. Statement
3. Right and wrong Answering
these types
4. Starting from the end of questions
5. Opposing standpoints makes me
confident and
6. Odd one out more
7. True or false independent.

8. Always, sometime, never

9. Silly questions
 Statement
1. There is a relationship between the
circumference of a circle and its diameter.
2. It is not possible to think without words.
3. Exercise leads to a healthy lifestyle.
4. Little Red Riding Hood was innocent!
5. The wolf was innocent! We had
6. Girls are cleverer than boys! 3 different statements
and our teacher let us
independently find out
the result. I like this
way of learning.
 Start from the end
1. Bricks are the best material for building a house. Why?
2. 1066 was a very turbulent year. Why?
3. The Romans invaded Britain. Why?
4. Water, glass, the moon and shiny material can all do this. What
might the question have been?
5. Here is a finished puppet. How was it made?

These
questions
make you
think more.
 Which is the ODD ONE OUT and why?

The triangle because The square because

it has 3 sides and 3 its the only one with
corners. All the equal sides.
others have 4 of
each.

The triangle The parallelogram

doesnt have because it is the only
opposite parallel one with no right
sides. angles.
 True or False - prove it!

To move these things

you will need a heavy force.
True or False?

All odd numbers are prime.

True or False?

Its good because you

have to come up with a theory and
then find a way to prove it.
Always, sometimes, never - say why

A car will travel the same distance on any

surface if the starting force is the same.
Always, sometimes, never ?

A good friend listens to you.

Always, sometimes, never ?
 Formative Assessment
Effective
Self-peer-teacher
questioning
Feedback
Talk
Capturing interest
Learning objectives
Planning Success criteria
Excellence
A Learning culture
self-belief
meta-cognition
Learning objective: effective similes

Choose to include

alliteration
exaggeration
humour
powerful imagery
effective adjectives, adverbs, etc.
As soggy as a wet weekend in
Cleethorpes.

As eager as a teacher at 3:30 on Friday.

As surprising as receiving a bunch of

flowers from your husband when it
isnt your birthday!
 SIMILES

As soggy as ...

As eager as ...

As surprising as ...
 Formative Assessment
Effective
Self-peer-teacher
questioning
feedback
Talk
Capturing interest
Learning objectives
Planning Success criteria
Excellence
A learning culture
self-belief
meta-cognition
Understanding Formative Assessment
active learning not mechanistic strategies

Shirley Clarke
MEd, Hon DEd
Associate, Institute of Education
University of London