ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING Policy and Procedures
Whole School ASSESSMENT Approach
St. Bernard’s Catholic Primary School
Central to 'Assessment for Learning' is that it:







Is embedded in the teaching and learning process of which it is an essential part
Shares learning goals with pupils
Helps pupils to know and to recognise the standards to aim for
Provides feedback which leads pupils to identify what they should do next to improve
Has a commitment that every pupil can improve
Involves both teacher and pupils reviewing and reflecting on pupils' performance and progress
Involves pupils in self-assessment
To improve the quality of assessment for learning we need to - involve pupils in their learning:




Explaining clearly the reasons for the lesson or activity, in terms on the learning objectives
Sharing the specific assessment criteria with pupils
Helping pupils to understand what they have done well and what they need to develop
Showing pupils how to use the assessment criteria to assess their own learning
Model quality - show pupils the learning strategies and goals:





Encouraging pupils to listen to the range of pupils' responses to questions
Showing pupils the learning strategies
Showing pupils how the assessment criteria have been met in some examples of work from children not
known to the pupils
Encouraging pupils to review examples from anonymous pupils that do not meet the assessment criteria,
in order to suggest the next steps to meeting the assessment criteria
Using examples of work from other pupils in the class highlighting the ways it meets the assessment
criteria or standards
Give feedback to pupils on their work:







Focusing on the task, giving regularly and while still relevant
Confirming pupils are on the right track and stimulating the correction of errors or improvement of a
piece of work.
Giving suggestions for improvement and act as "scaffolding" i.e. give pupils as much help as they need to
use their knowledge. Do not give the complete solutions as soon as they get stuck so that they must think
things through for themselves
Help pupils find alternative solutions if simply repeating an explanation continue to lead to failure
Give feedback on progress over a number of attempts rather than feedback on performance treated in
isolation
Oral feedback is usually more effective than written feedback
Give pupils the skills and confidence to ask for help
Develop self-assessment and peer assessment - in self-assessment:




Help pupils reflect on their own work
Support pupils to admit problems without risk to self-esteem
Given time to work problems out
Help pupils understand the criteria or standards that will be used to assess their work

Give pupils the ability make judgements about their work in relation to these and any feedback from the
teacher
Help them work out the implications of this for future action.

For peer assessment:



Give pupils the ability to explore each other’s work to allow them to see different ways of tackling the
same task and, as a result, extend their own repertoire
Help pupils work with others to look at a range of imperfections and misconceptions through which they
can explore their own understanding and misunderstanding
Help pupils to become clearer about their own expectations through trying to explain strengths and
weaknesses to others. This may result in the learning of new and more efficient strategies
Practical Strategies and Advice from Research - Sharing Criteria with Learners
 Explain learning objectives at start of lesson/unit
 Give criteria in pupils’ language
 Have posters of key words to talk about learning e.g. describe, explain, evaluate
 Use planning/writing frames
 Have annotated examples of different standards to ‘flesh out’ assessment criteria
 Use examples of pupils’ work to show pupils what criteria look like in practice
 Share marking schemes with pupils and give time to think through, in discussion with others,
what this might mean in practice, applied to their own work
 Pupils often learn best from seeing work that is just a little better than the standard they
currently achieve
 Pupils learn to judge quality by discussing how examples of weak work could be improved
 Give opportunities for pupils to design their own tests
Effective questioning
The kinds of question asked, the way they are asked and the responses given influence both the selfesteem and the level of participation of pupils. We should aim to cultivate a supportive environment in
which pupil contributions are valued highly
Lead questions should be carefully thought through and planned as should the direction (to whom) and
distribution (across the class or groups) of the questions
Prompts and cues should be used to guide pupils step-by-step towards a higher level of participation and
learning
Grouping strategies should be designed to maximise pupil involvement and minimise the feeling of
intimidation which sometimes constrains pupils at whole class level.
Low order questions for factual recall may be used to check on previous learning, but these should be
minimised and Socratic questioning should prevail – These are questions that probe the underlying logic or
structure of our thinking and enable us to make reasoned judgements. There are six types of questions.
1. Questions of clarification
What do you mean by that? Can you give me an example?
2. Questions that probe assumptions
What is being assumed? Why would somebody say that?
3. Questions that probe reason, depth of learning and evidence
What are your reasons for saying that? What criteria do you base that argument on?
4. Questions that probe implications and consequences
What might be the consequences of behaving like that? Do you think you might be jumping to
conclusions?
5. Questions about viewpoints or perspectives
What would be another way of saying that? How do Hannah's ideas differ from John's?
6. Questions about the question
How is that question going to help us? Can you think of any other questions that might be useful?
Appropriate choice of questions about understanding, and the inclusion of questions that stimulate
thinking about thinking, reinforce the importance of reflective and metacognitive thinking
Pupils must be given time to respond and the teacher should not answer their own questions
The quality of the answer is as important as that of the question. An expectation of high order answers
should be the norm and pupils should be encouraged to generate further questions
Pupils should be involved in planning and negotiating learning situations. Encouraging pupils to develop
their own questions for planning and self-assessment is a skill from which the more gifted will benefit.
Common errors in teachers' questioning are:

asking too many questions at once

asking a question and answering it yourself

asking questions only to the brightest or most likeable

asking a difficult question too early

asking irrelevant questions

always asking the same type of question

asking questions in a threatening way

not indicating a change in the type of question

not using probing answers

not giving pupils time to think

failing to see the implications of answers

failing to build on answers
Feedback and Marking
Feedback can be oral or written. Choice is dependent on context. More effective teachers use praise rather
less often than less effective teachers. Praise needs to be specific, describing what is praiseworthy, rather
than generalised.
Feedback is more effective if it focuses on the task (task-involving) rather than the person (ego-involving).
Grades, marks, scores, ticks etc. have little effect on subsequent performance.
Frequent feedback on behaviour and presentation (e.g. neatness) impair its meaning as feedback on quality
of thinking.
Narrative comments help pupils to understand how to improve.
Indications of areas for improvement and possible strategies are better than total solutions (e.g. teachers’
corrections of work) because pupils have to think.
Opportunities need to be provided for pupils to improve on earlier efforts.
There are dangers in making feedback to individuals at times but public feedback involving the whole class
in general discussion is valuable.
Mistakes can be viewed as important learning opportunities. If pupils’ efforts are recognised they are
more likely to believe they can improve (if they think success depends on innate ability they may give up
to avoid failure).
Self-Assessment and Peer Assessment
Involving pupils in marking
Pupils can mark their own work and that of others against clear criteria and learning intentions. The criteria
can be developed as a class activity; this clarifies the teacher’s expectations and involves the pupils in
reflecting on how far their work fulfils these expectations. The aim of the activity should be to identify ways
that the pupil whose work is being marked can move forward.
Marking in groups
An alternative to marking individually is for pupils to do this as a group. The focus should be on a recently
completed piece of work and the group help each other to assess the work against agreed criteria and
suggest ways in which the work could be improved.
Marking against annotated examples
Another useful marking strategy is for groups to work together to see how closely their work measures up
against an ‘ideal solution’. Whilst it will be important to emphasise that there could be many ‘ideal
solutions’, group discussion should aim to help each pupil understand the extent to which their response
achieves the criteria and what they can do to improve.
Individual self-assessment sheets
These can be developed for some elements of a programme and invite pupils to reflect on the extent to
which their work has achieved identified criteria. In the light of this they have to indicate what they need
to do to improve.
Smiley face symbolic assessment
This has proved a popular strategy and invites pupils to reflect on the current state of their learning in
relation to a particular task or activity. If they feel confident that they understand a given piece of work,
they use a smiley face (a marker, coloured pencil / crayon, or a sticker). If they are not quite sure of their
understanding they use a sad/uncertain face.
In the light of their judgement, it is important that pupils then think about what they need to do to move
on. Students indicating smiley faces could be used to advise those who used uncertain faces and the
teacher where appropriate.
Last five minutes
At the start of a lesson, the teacher makes the purpose of the lesson clear and during the last five minutes,
one of the pupils might explain what they have learned in the lesson. Others in the class question them
about this.
Questions and tasks to extend understanding
At the end of a lesson or a unit of work, pupils can be invited to suggest questions that could be used to
assess their understanding against the established criteria. These could become homework tasks, which
could be assessed by pupils in ways described above.
Gauging self-improvement against their own past work
The same problem or task could be reintroduced from time to time, as part of a revision exercise, so that
pupils can judge for themselves how much better or more sophisticated their reasoning is now than before.
By returning to a problem or task and comparing current responses to those produced in the past they can
develop an appreciation of their own mental growth and the development of new forms of thought and
perspective.
Portfolios of past work
Pupils could be invited to produce a class or subject portfolio of completed work that illustrates the
standards expected. This could be regularly added to by drawing on examples from the above activities.
Presentations
During the course of a unit of work, providing opportunities to present to the class allows an individual and
groups to illustrate current understanding and progress. Self-assessment is involved in making decisions
about what to include and how best to present. Feedback from teachers and peers contributes to the
development of Peer assessment.
Videoing group presentations
This allows pupils to reflect on and review their knowledge in the light of their own reflections and
further feedback from other members of the class.
“Plan, Do and Review”
At the start of any activity the teacher works with the children to decide on the focus for a session. The
children engage in the activity or task and then at the end, time is allocated for them to work with the
teacher to review what has been learned. Over time, this responsibility can be devolved to the children
themselves.
It’s OK not to understand and be stuck
An important element of developing the skills of self-evaluation is how the teacher deals with situations
where pupils find their work difficult. The language that teachers use is influential in building an
acceptance that it is OK to find things difficult and that recognising this is an important aspect of learning.
Consider ways in which you can get that message over to pupils. To supplement this teachers have found
that introducing a framework for reflecting on learning can help develop confidence in pointing out areas
which need support as well as those that have proved successful.
For example, the following list of questions (perhaps using one or two at a time) can be used to start the
process. It is usually best to relate these to the specific learning intentions of the lesson:









Have you learned anything new?
What were you most pleased with?
What did you find easy?
What did you find more difficult?
What helped you to solve your difficulty?
What can you do now that you couldn’t do before?
What do you need more help with?
How would you change this activity for another group?
Do you have any questions?
St. Bernard’s Catholic Primary School uses School Pupil Tracker (SPTO) software as part of the school
assessment process. Teacher daily formative assessment is used in conjunction with the SPTO
software so pupil progress can be tracked regularly. Informed teacher judgements on whether a pupil
is ‘achieving, mostly achieving or not achieving’ daily objectives, lead to deeper assessment on
whether a child is an ‘emerging, developing or a secure’ individual in relation to all the curriculum
objectives taught during the school year. Greater depth of learning assessment also takes place using
the SPTO assessment process. Teacher judgements are moderated at different times during the
assessment cycle and external moderating takes place also with ‘peer to peer’ school support (St.
Bernard’s works closely with other primary schools monitoring processes. At different times during the
academic year the school staff visit and support other primary schools leading moderation and analysis
processes).
The Governing Body and staff regularly receive assessment reports which outline pupil and class
performance (attainment and progress). Analysis of different groups of pupils (boys/girls, pupil
premium, different ethnic groups, SEN, summer birth etc) is also shared and discussed with school
stakeholders.
The World of Assessing without Levels
In summary, the ‘Commission for Assessment without Levels’ says schools, teachers and leaders need
to know how children are learning against the expectations of a new, rigorous curriculum. Our ‘School
Pupil Tracker’ system uses Age Related benchmarking (Age Related Expectations) to explore pupil
learning so we as a school can see who is on track for End of KS1 and End of KS2 Standards and who is
falling behind and needs extra support.
Furthermore the Commission for Assessment without Levels’ stresses that formative assessment is
the key to good assessment. St. Bernard’s assessment for learning processes and SPTO assessment
system enables staff to see possible gaps in pupil learning and target individual and groups of children
accordingly. The new curriculum is not about racing through all the new and relevant objectives, it is
about greater depth of learning/understanding too and St. Bernard’s assessment procedures cater for
the new depth of learning model also.
St. Bernard’s Catholic Primary School
Mr P O’Leary
Governing Body – Summer 2016