LITERACY AND ASSESSMENT FOR

LEARNINGVancouver Principals and Vice-

PrincipalsMay 13th, 2009Faye Brownlie

Literacy…It’s all

about…

Engagement &

Meaning Making

Literacy is about more than reading or writing – it is about how we communicate in society. It is about social practices and relationships, about knowledge, language, and culture.

Those who use literacy take it for granted – but those who cannot use it are excluded from much communication in today’s world. Indeed, it is the excluded who can best appreciate the notion of ‘literacy as freedom.’

UNESCO, Statement for the UN Literacy Decade, 2003-2012

Model

Guided practice

Independent practice

Independent application

Pearson & Gallagher (1983)

GRADUAL RELEASE MODEL

BLACK & WILIAM (1998)

HATTIE & TIMPERLEY (2007)

Assessment OF Learning

Purpose: reporting out, summative assessment, measuring

learning

Audience: parents and public

Timing: end

Form: letter grades, rank order, percentage scores

Assessment FOR LearningPurpose: guide instruction, improve learning

Audience: teacher and student

Timing: at the beginning, day by day, minute by

minute

Form: descriptive feedback

Assessment FOR Learning

Purpose: guide instruction and learning

•The Grand Event

•Ongoing in the Class

Assessment FOR LearningPerformance Based Assessment Descriptive scoring Coding in teams Class/grade profile of strengths and areas

of need Action plans developed - what’s next? Individual students identified for further

assessment

What do I need to teach?

(with the goal in mind)

Moscrop Secondary, Burnaby

Literacy teacher pulled 40/70 students who were identified at risk in fall assessment

1:1 assessment, performance based Read text orally Looked for patterns

Moscrop Secondary, Burnaby

Encouraged kids to mark the text Predicting from title, picture, caption –

average of 4 seconds Comprehension – analyzed 3 samples,

students ranked by performance standard rubric

Inference – adding your thinking, not summarizing - practiced

1

From Assessment to Instruction

Brownlie, Feniak, Schnellert, 2006

2

4

3

Assess(against criteria)

Set a Goal (target)

Plan/Teach(with the goal in mind)

Reassess

BILL’S YEAR AT A GLANCE-SEPT.

BILL’S YEAR AT A GLANCE-OCT.

The Six Big AFL Strategies

1. Intentions

2. Criteria

3. Descriptive feedback

4. Questions

5. Self and peer assessment

6. Ownership

What’s working?

What’s not?

What’s next?

Descriptive Feedback

School Leadership and Student Outcomes: What works? – V.Robinson

•ensuring an orderly & supportive environment

•planning, coordinating & evaluating teaching and the curriculum

•strategic resourcing•promoting & participating in teacher

learning & development•establishing goals & expectations

Low Impact•ensuring an orderly & supportive environment•strategic resourcing•establishing goals & expectations

School Leadership and Student Outcomes: Identifying What Works and Why – Viviane M.J. Robinson, University of Auckland

Medium Impact

•planning, coordinating & evaluating teaching and the curriculum

High Impact

• promoting & participating in teacher learning & development

ACEL, #41, Oct. 07

…the more leadership is focused on the core business of teaching and learning the greater its impact.

Robinson, 2007