Assessment for Teaching (Patrick Griffin and Pam Robertson)

to inform teaching has major consequences for classroom practice

Skills, not scores

more significant change occurs in the minds of teachers and school leaders

requiring
teachers to recognise a range of abilities in their classes and to teach accordingly

use targeted
instruction

students at different levels are taught different skills and knowledge

to teach each student
individually

Argued

we argue that this is not necessary,

Since students in most classes can be grouped into three, four or five readiness groups for teaching purposes.

needed.

longstanding practice of assuming a particular standard for a particular year level is abandoned

assumption encourages the view that students who do not meet the standard are operating below the
expected level

attention focuses on what they cannot do.

developmental approach does not
establish a standard or expectation that some students may not meet

developmental level at which students are actually operating, and targets instruction to focus on the skills
and knowledge the student needs to develop in order to move to the next level.

development, not deficit

Evidence, not inference

More than tests

A focus on students

change in attitude toward assessment is the recognition that scores such as percentages,
and grades such as A’s and B’s, are not helpful or informative representations of assessment

They do not tell us what the student is ready to learn – what actual skills or knowledge they
have learned – or what they are ready to be taught next.

If students are given tests to assess their
progress through different stages of developmen

students are tested at a
level where they are likely to answer approximately 50 per cent of questions correctly

the important comparison is between their current skill level and the result of their previous skills assessment

not between their results and those of other

this change can be difficult to accept for students who are
accustomed to receiving a grade (for example, ‘A’) or a high percentage score

Teachers, too, can
struggle to accept that a high score for a student is not helpful

skills

strength

knowledge of their discipline,

understanding of student learning styles

activities for students

resource and teaching strategies

ability to select suitable

classroom-management skills

their home background and its influence on learning

Intuition

intuitions regarding the strengths and weaknesses of their students

make inferences about the intellectual ability

academic potential,
of individual students

An evidence-based approach ensures that teachers’ inferences are founded on
observable and recordable behavior

these behaviors provide evidence of skills that can be
located on a developmental progression

teacher teams can help each other to stay on track by reminding each other to rely on evidence, not inference

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tests provide the only acceptable evidence of learning

classroom observations, are required to provide evidence of student progress to
complement test results

Teachers often feel that a test result does not match their view of a student’s
ability

Written assignments can provide additional evidence of literacy skills,
including knowledge of vocabulary, grammar and logic

Work on a Maths problem can provide evidence
of method or strategy that is not mere trial and error

Work on a Maths problem can provide evidence
of method or strategy that is not mere trial and error

observations can help to inform teaching, giving teachers a more complete picture of what their students

Success story: T may share stories of their
pedagogical methods, classroom strategies or teaching techniques

how a teaching method or approach has succeeded in engaging a class or communicating a new
concept

Failure: how a lot of hard work in planning, preparation and
execution led to a disappointing outcome