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Unit 5

The tools of the trade

Part 3

The four schools

If you remember they are:

Turnfurlong Infant School, Aylesbury, BucksSandylands Primary, Morecambe, LancsBarrowford Primary, Nelson, LancsArchway School (11-18), Stroud, Gloucs

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They are not being held up as the four best schools in the country or the very best examples of assessment that we should all emulate – although they may be both!

For each school, there is a link to a case study, and also a link to the school’s own website where you can learn more.

The case study gives a brief sketch of the approach the school has taken to assessment.

There are four approaches to the same issue – life without levels.

Think about how they fit with all we have been saying – and how the approach could apply to your own school.

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First up is Turnfurlong Infant School in Aylesbury, Bucks. (Do you see the eponymous ducks? Go the school’s website and you can see them swimming!)

The link to the Case Study is here.

The school’s website is: http://www.turnfurlong-inf.bucks.sch.uk

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Turnfurlong Infant School feels that:

“Much of the new National Curriculum appears unduly prescriptive, and assessment has moved from an approach based on Bloom’s Taxonomy which gave emphasis to criterion referencing and flexibility to the curriculum, to a norm referenced approach where the emphasis is comparing the attainment of one child with another against detailed knowledge. This does not fit easily with the ethos of the school which has a focus on developing individual children”

It’s good to see Bloom getting a mention! And also the distinction between criterion and norm-referencing (do you remember Unit 2?).

Turnfurlong’s response is based on the guidance in “Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage”

www.foundationyears.org.uk/files/2012/03/Development-Matters-FINAL-PRINT-AMENDED.pdf

They have gone beyond what they see as the “unduly prescriptive” approach of the new national curriculum (it is particularly so in English and Maths at Key Stage1), and have created their own “concept ladder” for these subjects.

These “concept ladders” do two things:

1. The ladders go beyond the “undue prescription” of the new national curriculum, and by focusing on concepts, they are mapping the deeper understandings (Remember Unit 1?)

2) The criteria of the ladders are: “pasted on the inside cover of each exercise book” for staff and children to see, and “staff use (them) to identify the next steps for learners.”

The ladders therefore become the basis for ongoing formative assessment. (Who do you associate with that phrase?)

We raised some issues about ladders in Unit 2, but that was in the context of generic skills. Turnfurlong makes good use of the approach for analysis and for conversation:

“the formative data .. is recorded on computer for analysis to identify common gaps and trends. What drives improvement is how the analysis of formative data informs the nature of intervention … Addressing misconceptions involves a child-led conversation..”

The key to the value of formative assessment is its use to impact on learning – and conversations with learners are the most powerful way of doing this.

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Now we are off to the seaside, and Sandylands in Morcambe. This is large (470 pupil) 3-11 Community Primary School

The case study is here

And the school’s website is: http://www.sandylands.lancsngfl.ac.uk

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Have you read the case study? If not, you should! If you have, then you will know that Sandylands saw the introduction of the new national curriculum as the opportunity to do something different. In the new curriculum structure:

• A range of subjects is divided into a series of “strands” derived from the national curriculum and the school’s own aims and principles

• Strands are translated into “competencies” that express how the learner will be successful in applying their learning

• Strands and competencies are used by teachers to plan “threads” of activities through which learning takes place

Did you notice the reference to “applying their learning”? You no doubt recognised it as the third level of Bloom’s Taxonomy!

Sandylands points out that this curriculum structure means that assessment is integral rather than “bolt-on” and is based on the six principles set out in the case study. They are that assessment should:

• Relate to learning outcomes rather than levels or grades (like Turnfurlong)• Focus on competencies (ability to apply learning)• Be personalised so that all learners face appropriate challenges• Focus on the entire school curriculum (and not just the national one)• Happen routinely in lessons on a daily basis• Give learners an active role in their own assessment

Sandylands has actually developed it own ‘App’ to help with this process. The learners use iPads to access the appropriate ‘thread’ for the lesson and then self-assess against the competencies.

When they think they are successful they use the iPad to take a photograph of what they have done and so build a personal portfolio.

Teachers use the live self-assessments to guide learning to appropriate next steps.

The assessment also informs and gives structure to conversations between learners and their teachers and parents.

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Staying in Lancashire, we come to Barrowlands in Nelson. This is a 4-11 Community Primary School of slightly above average size.

The case study is here

And the school website is: http://www.barrowford.lancs.sch.uk

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The change process at Barrowford has been influenced by Guy Claxton’s “Building Learning Power” and Carole Dweck’s work on “Mindset”. So the key drivers have been:

• A focus on learning rather than grades• Active rather than passive learners• A wide range of skills and values in addition to knowledge• Developing a love of learning

The school also bases its approach on “Rounded and Grounded” (there’s more about this on its website).

An interesting feature of Barrowford’s approach is its use of the ‘Key Dials’ application. This is a piece of commercial software than can be adapted to different uses. In this case, adapted to ‘Rounded and Grounded’ and used in assessment.

No software makes the assessments for you, but some schools find certain software packages helpful in structuring their approaches, or recording and displaying the data that they collect. In particular, some software can “track back” to previous assessments and so show progress over time.

Barrowford also uses the ‘Target Tracker’ software for national curriculum subjects.

There is a wide range of software on the market to do this, and we do not want to produce a “Which?” type report to recommend the ‘best buy’. Or even recommend that schools use software at all. No one approach will suit all schools.

The value at Barrowford is that the packages are used to involve learners in self-assessment and to inform conversations between learner and teacher.

So the software is an interesting, but not key feature of the approach. The key feature is the focus on learning rather than grades or the completion of tasks, and looking at a broad range of learning:

• Rounded and Grounded attributes• National Curriculum requirements• Additional learning identified by the school

This then underpins a dialogue with learners. The role of software is to help this process and underpin the dialogue – not to replace the teacher in the process!

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The key to the software discussion is that this:

Is no substitute for this:

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And finally we come to Archway School in Stroud, Gloucs. This is an 11-18 comprehensive School with 1150 students on roll, 170 of whom are in the 6th Form.

The case study is here

And the school website is: http://www.archwayschool.net

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As you see from the case study (you have read the case study, haven’t you?) Archway School has replaced the Levels with its own system based on the marking and grading approaches at GCSE.

Some people might object that this is to drag GCSEs down to Year 7 – or to spend 5 years doing GCSEs and so restrict learning. However, in this case, what is happening is that assessment techniques that are used at GCSE are being applied to other forms of learning for younger students.

The key principles for the school are that:

• Grades will be used at all key stages, but should not be seen as drivers. The language sitting behind each grade will be used to inform learning outcomes or success criteria and both verbal and written feedback.

• Assessment language should focus on competences ie the ability to apply learning.

• Learning and assessment should be personalised so that all learners (regardless of ability) are challenged to make progress from their particular starting point.

• Learners should have an active role in their own assessment.

To do this, the departments worked backwards from the GCSE grade criteria to create comparative grade criteria for each year group.

These criteria are then shared with students and used as a basis for self and peer assessment. These assessments are monitored by teachers and are the basis of dialogue with students.

The criteria have also proved valuable in informing discussions with parents.

Of course, the success of such a system depends upon the quality, validity and reliability of the criteria that are produced for each year group. This quality will depend upon the experience, expertise and professionalism of the teachers concerned. But then, most of education depends on this.

If the criteria are good, then the system could have all the advantages of the Levels with the added advantage that they are specific to the school’s programmes, and underpin a system of self and peer assessment and dialogue with teachers.

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Part 4

Lessons to be learned

Unit 5

The tools of the trade

So, what have we learned from all this?

You might well guess that if this were not the final Unit, the homework would be for you to make a list!

But even though we cannot collect in your homework, you might want to make your own list before reading on.

Could you make a list of the key principles that will underpin your approach?

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The list of principles put forward by Sandylands School would be a good start:

Assessment should:• Relate to learning outcomes rather than levels or grades

(criteria referenced) • Focus on the ability to apply learning (competency-based)• Take account of the whole range of our learning goals (broad)• Happen routinely in lessons on a daily basis (embedded)• Give learners a role in their own assessment (active)• Be used to guide learning (formative)

Is there anything you would add?

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Some of the other things we have mentioned are:

Assessment should:• Be based on curriculum design (integral)• Be carried out in real or realistic setting (authentic)• Use a range of information (triangulated)• Be used to underpin dialogue with the learner

(transactional)

We might add that we should always remember that assessment is not an exact science. We are trying to find out what is going on inside a human brain. Any system that purports to assess to a decimal point needs to be treated with suspicion.

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So that’s it – the end of the final Unit!

Thank you for sticking with us all the way through (if you didn’t join in right at the end) and best of luck with developing your “preferred approach”. The website stays open – so please post your ideas and comments.

Here’s a final thought to take away:

W. B. Yeats said:

"Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire."

It is the exciting curriculum that lights

the fire.

So we must make sure that assessment does not become the bucket of cold water that puts it out!

So we must make sure that assessment does not become the bucket of cold water that puts it out!

Assessment must be the fuel that makes

the fire burn brightly!