Assessment for Learning and

Feedback Strategies
How to assess your students progress and the importance of using
appropriate feedback
July 2018
Assessment for Learning
• Learning Objectives
• To understand the importance of assessment for learning
• How it impacts on student progress and performance
• Success Outcomes
• To implement an assessment for learning practice in your
first lesson
• Understand how to give appropriate feedback
Assessment for Learning
• Key Points:
• We will look at AfL
• Peer and Self Assessment to see how students can be
actively involved in their own learning
• To see how students are able to judge the success of their
work an set and understand targets for improvements
• Able to take responsibility for their own progress
Assessment for Learning

• Definition - What is Assessment for Learning?

• This is the process of seeking and interpreting evidence for

use by learners and their teachers to decide where the
learners are in their learning, where they need to go and
how best to get there
Assessment for Learning
• AFL is embedded in a view of teaching and learning of which
it is an essential part
• Pupil learning is the principal aim of schools and AfL aims to
provide pupils with the skills and strategies for taking the
next steps in their learning

• Involves sharing goals with pupils. If pupils understand the

main purposes of their learning and what they are aiming
for they are more likely to grasp what they need to do to
achieve it
Assessment for Learning

questioning
Student
Feedback

Differentiation
ASSESSMENT FOR
LEARNING

Peer and Improving

Self Student
Assessment Outcomes
Assessment for Learning
• Assessment for Learning helps students to know and
recognise the standards that they are aiming for.
• Learners need to be clear about exactly what they have to
achieve in order to progress.
• They should have access to the criteria that will be used to
judge this and be shown examples or models where other
learners have been successful

• Assessment for Learning involves pupils in peer and self

assessment. Learners must be responsible for their own
learning. The teacher cannot do that for them. Therefore
pupils must be actively involved
Assessment for Learning
• AFL provides feedback which leads pupils recognising their
next steps and how to take them.
• Feedback should be about the qualities of their work with
specific advice on what needs to be done in order to
improve.
• Students needs to be given the time to act on advice and
make decisions about their work, rather than being the
passive recipients of teachers’ judgement
Assessment for Learning
• AFL involves both teacher and pupils in reviewing and
reflect on assessment data (information).
• Pupils need to have opportunities to communicate their
evolving understanding and to tact on the feedback they
are given.
• The interaction between teacher and student in an
important element of developing understanding and
promoting learning
Assessment for Learning
• Definition
• What is Formative Assessment?
• Formative assessment, including diagnostic testing, is a
range of formal and informal assessment procedures
conducted by teachers during the learning process in order
to modify teaching and learning activities to improve
student attainment.
Assessment for Learning
• Section 1: What Is Formative Assessment?
• Formative assessment refers to the ongoing process
students and teachers engage in when they
• Focus on learning goals.
• Take stock of where current work is in relation to the goal.
• Take action to move closer to the goal.
Assessment for Learning
• Formative Assessment
• The best formative assessment involves both students and
teachers in a recursive process. It starts with the teacher, who
models the process for the students. At first, the concept of what
good work "looks like" belongs to the teacher. The teacher
describes, explains, or demonstrates the concepts or skills to be
taught, or assigns student investigations—reading assigned
material, locating and reading materials to answer a question,
doing activities or experiments—to put content into students'
hands.
• For example, the teacher shares the aspects of a good descriptive
paragraph and tells students how their work compares to the
ideal. Gradually, students internalize the learning goals and
become able to see the target themselves. They begin to be able
to decide how close they are to it.
• (www.ascd.org)
Assessment for Learning
• What is Summative Assessment

• Summative assessment usually takes place after pupils have

completed units of work or modules at the end of each
term and/or year.
• The information it gives indicates progress and achievement
usually in grade-related or numerical terms.
• It’s the more formal summing-up of a pupil’s progress.
• This information can then be provided to parents or used
for certification as part of a formal examination course.
Assessment for Learning
• What is summative Assessment
Summative assessment gives pupils, parents and teachers valuable information
about a pupil’s overall performance at a specific point in their learning. It
provides information about their progress in:
•subject knowledge;
•understanding; and
•skills and capabilities.
A grade or percentage can indicate a pupil’s rank in the class, year group or
performance in a qualification such as a GCSE. However, without additional
information this grade is of little value in improving the pupil’s learning and will
remain only a record of a point in time. http://ccea.org.uk
Assessment for Learning
• What is Self Assessment
• Student self-assessment involves students in evaluating
their own work and learning progress. Self-assessment is a
valuable learning tool as well as part of
an assessment process.
• Through self-assessment, students can: identify their own
skill gaps, where their knowledge is weak.
TEMPLATES FOR SELF-ASSESSMENT

I am pleased with this piece of work because I

1.

2.

Two improvements I’ve made relating to the SC are

1.

2.

Next time I need to focus on

1.

2.
Assessment for Learning
• What is Peer Assessment
• Peer assessment, or self-assessment, is a process whereby
students or their peers grade assignments or tests based on
a teacher's benchmarks.
• The practice is employed to save teachers time and improve
students' understanding of course materials as well as
improve their metacognitive skills.
Assessment for Learning
ADVANTAGES
• Students often give/receive criticism more freely than in traditional
teacher/student interchange
• Peer language is more natural than ‘school’ language
GROUND RULES
• Partners of similar ability
• Time to reflect on own work before partner assesses it
• Opportunity to read own work to partner
• Time for partner to reflect on work and seek clarification if necessary,
before making judgements
• Positive comments first
• Both students agree on necessary changes
• Training in success/improvement process.

► ASK THE STUDENTS TO DEVISE THEIR OWN RULES AS

MARKING PARTNERS!
 PEER ASSESSMENT TASK
You did this really well:
1.

2.

You could have

1.

2.

Next time you need to focus on

1.

2.
Assessment for Learning
• TRAFFIC LIGHTS

The Traffic Lights enable you

and the students to identify
where their understanding
and learning lies

Traffic Lights Lollipops

 Back to AFL Tools

Smiley Faces
Students draw smiley faces to indicate how comfortable they are with the topic.

Ready to move on Understand some parts Do not understand and

but not all need to look at it again
Assessment for Learning
• Giving Effective Feedback
• One of the most important feature of assessment is giving
effective feedback to students to ensure that they know
what they need to do to improve their learning and achieve
their goals.
• Regular feedback is essential to ensure that students can
keep abreast of their own progress
• Each school will have an Assessment and Feedback policy
which teachers need to adhere to
Assessment for Learning
• Good feedback to students is
• Explicit
• Explains what the student needs to improve
• Outlines the steps where students need to make
progress
• Gives a time-frame as when the task needs to be
completed
Assessment for Learning
• Negative Feedback
• These statements are not feedback
• Well done
• Work harder
• You have done great
• Good
• You need to concentrate more in lessons
• You are too distracted, that’s why you achieved poor
grades
Oral Feedback
Task 1: In groups of 2 or 3 write down as many advantages
of oral feedback that you can think of.

immediate and context specific

dynamic and adaptable
ongoing
stimulating
personalised
versatile
motivating
Some possible difficulties of oral feedback
Task 2: In groups of 2 or 3 discuss possible ways of avoiding
these possible difficulties.
Instant responses from the teacher may not always be well considered
Pupils may not act on oral feedback and may not take it seriously. Other pupils may not listen to
it
Unplanned responses can become random and fail to develop pupils’ learning in a structured way
Pupils may feel exposed by public feedback
Pupils may not have the time needed to reflect on the feedback and
respond to it
Feedback may not be immediately understood
Individuals can dominate question and answer sessions
Fast-paced question and answer sessions may be mistaken for
fast-paced learning
Time for individual feedback is limited
A suggested sequence for giving individual oral
feedback in a planned review as intervention

1. Reinforce the value and importance of the pupils’ contribution

2. Focus on recent learning objectives and learning outcomes in the context of
pupil targets
3. Give the pupil(s) time to reflect and respond
4. Encourage the pupil(s) to ask questions to clarify their understanding of the
progress they have made
5. Identify and agree the most important next steps in learning and revise pupil
targets if necessary
6. Agree immediate and longer-term actions. Clarify when these will be
reviewed, by whom, and what evidence will be sought
7. Plan feedback which is positive and specific
Assessment for Learning
• Learning Objectives
• To understand the importance of assessment for learning
• How it impacts on student progress and performance
• Success Outcomes
• To implement an assessment for learning practice in your
first lesson
• Understand how to give appropriate feedback