Embedding formative assessment Disc 1 presentation Sustaining assessment

Embedding formative assessment Disc 1 presentation Sustaining assessment for learning with teacher learning communities

Overview of the day • Why raising achievement is important • Why investing in teachers is the answer • Why formative assessment should be the focus • Why teacher learning communities should be the mechanism • How we can put this into practice

Raising achievement matters… For individuals • Increased lifetime salary • Improved health For society • Lower criminal justice costs • Lower health care costs • Increased economic growth

…now more than ever… Source: Economic Policy Institute

Which of the following categories of skill is disappearing from the workplace most rapidly? 1. Routine manual 2. Non-routine manual 3. Routine cognitive 4. Complex communication 5. Expert thinking/problem-solving

…but quality matters too Autor, Levy & Murnane, 2003

Where’s the solution? Structure • Smaller secondary schools • Larger secondary schools • Creating/getting rid of middle schools Governance • Specialist schools • Academies Alignment • Curriculum reform • Textbook replacement Technology • Computers • Interactive whiteboards

School effectiveness Three generations of effectiveness research • Raw results approaches – Different schools get different results – Conclusion: schools make a difference • Demographic-based approaches – Demographic factors account for most of the variation – Conclusion: schools don’t make a difference • Value-added approaches – School-level differences in value-added are relatively small – Classroom-level differences in value-added are large – Conclusion: an effective school is little more than a school full of effective classrooms

It’s the classroom • Variability at the classroom level is up to four times greater than at school level • It’s not class size • It’s not the between-class grouping strategy • It’s not the within-class grouping strategy • It’s the teacher

Teacher quality A labour force issue with two solutions • Replace existing teachers with better ones? – No evidence that more pay brings in better teachers – No evidence that there are better teachers out there deterred by certification requirements • Improve the effectiveness of existing teachers – The ‘love the one you’re with’ strategy – It can be done – We know how to do it, but at scale? Quickly? Sustainably?

Cost/effect comparisons Intervention Extra months of learning per year Cost per year Class-size reduction (by 30%) 4 £ 20 k Increase teacher content knowledge by 2 sd 2 ? Formative assessment/ assessment for learning 8 £ 2 k

The research evidence Several major reviews of the research • Natriello (1987) • Crooks (1988) • Kluger & De. Nisi (1996) • Black & Wiliam (1998) • Nyquist (2003) All find consistent, substantial effects

Formative assessment (Black et al. , 2002) Assessment for learning is any assessment for which the first priority in its design and practice is to serve the purpose of promoting pupils’ learning. It thus differs from assessment designed primarily to serve the purposes of accountability, or of ranking, or of certifying competence. An assessment activity can help learning if it provides information to be used as feedback, by teachers, and by their pupils, in assessing themselves and each other, to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged. Such assessment becomes ‘formative assessment’ when the evidence is actually used to adapt the teaching work to meet learning needs.

Types of formative assessment Long-cycle • Span: across units, terms • Length: four weeks to one year Medium-cycle • Span: within and between teaching units • Length: one to four weeks Short-cycle • Span: within and between lessons • Length: – Day-by-day: 24 to 48 hours – Minute-by-minute: five seconds to two hours

Effects of formative assessment Long-cycle • Student monitoring • Curriculum alignment Medium-cycle • Improved, student-involved, assessment • Improved teacher cognition about learning Short-cycle • Improved classroom practice • Improved student engagement

Unpacking formative assessment Key processes • Establishing where the learners are in their learning • Establishing where they are going • Working out how to get there Participants • Teachers • Peers • Learners

Aspects of formative assessment Teacher Peer Learner Where the learner is going Where the learner is How to get there Clarify and share learning intentions Engineering effective discussions, tasks and activities that elicit evidence of learning Providing feedback that moves learners forward Understand share learning intentions Activating students as learning resources for one another Understand learning intentions Activating students as owners of their own learning Adapted with permission of ETS

Five ‘key strategies’. . . Clarifying, understanding, and sharing learning intentions • Curriculum philosophy Engineering effective classroom discussions, tasks and activities that elicit evidence of learning • Classroom discourse, interactive whole-class teaching Providing feedback that moves learners forward • Feedback Activating students as learning resources for one another • Collaborative learning, reciprocal teaching, peer-assessment Activating students as owners of their own learning • Metacognition, motivation, interest, attribution, self-assessment Wiliam & Thompson (2007), adapted with permission of ETS

. . . and one big idea Use evidence about learning to adapt teaching and learning to meet student needs

An educational positioning system A good teacher: • establishes where the students are in their learning • identifies the learning destination • carefully plans a route • begins the learning journey • makes regular checks on progress on the way • makes adjustments to the course as conditions dictate

Engineering effective classroom discussions, tasks and activities that elicit evidence of learning

Kinds of questions: Israel Which fraction is the smallest? Success rate 88% Which fraction is the largest? Success rate 46%; 39% choose b) Vinner, PME conference, Lahti, Finland 1997

Misconceptions

Misconceptions 3 a = 24 a + b = 16

Molecular structure of water?

Feedback that moves learning forward

Kinds of feedback: Israel • 264 low and high ability grade 6 students in 12 classes in 4 schools; analysis of 132 students at the top and bottom of each class • Same teaching, same aims, same teachers, same classwork • Three kinds of feedback: scores, comments, scores + comments Feedback Gain Attitude Scores None Top +ve Bottom -ve All +ve Comments 30% [Butler (1988) Br. J. Educ. Pyschol. , 58 1 -14]

Responses Feedback Gain Attitude Scores None Top +ve Bottom -ve All +ve Comments 30% What do you think happened for the students given both scores and comments? A. Gain: 30%; Attitude: all +ve B. Gain: 30%; Attitude: top +ve, bottom –ve C. Gain: 0%; Attitude: all +ve D. Gain: 0%; Attitude: top +ve, bottom –ve E. Something else [Butler (1988) Br. J. Educ. Pyschol. , 58 1 -14]

Kinds of feedback: Israel (2) • 200 grade 5 and 6 Israeli students • Divergent thinking tasks • 4 matched groups: – experimental group 1 (EG 1); comments – experimental group 2 (EG 2); grades – experimental group 3 (EG 3); praise – control group (CG); no feedback • Achievement – EG 1>(EG 2≈EG 3≈CG) • Ego-involvement – (EG 2≈EG 3)>(EG 1≈CG) [Butler (1987) J. Educ. Pyschol. , 79 474 -482]

Effects of feedback • Kluger & De. Nisi (1996) • Review of 3000 research reports • Excluding those: – without adequate controls – with poor design – with fewer than 10 participants – where performance was not measured – without details of effect sizes • Left 131 reports, 607 effect sizes, involving 12652 individuals • Average effect size 0. 4, but – effect sizes were variable – 40% of effect sizes were negative

Feedback Formative assessment requires • data on the actual level of some measurable attribute • data on the reference level of that attribute • a mechanism for comparing the two levels and generating information about the ‘gap’ between the two levels • a mechanism by which the information can be used to alter the gap Feedback is therefore formative only if the information fed back is actually used in closing the gap

Formative assessment • Frequent feedback is not necessarily formative • Feedback that causes improvement is not necessarily formative • Assessment is formative only if the information fed back to the learner is used by the learner in making improvements • To be formative, assessment must include a recipe for future action

How do students make sense of this? • Attribution (Dweck, 2000) – Personalisation (internal v external) – Permanence (stable v unstable) – Essential that students attribute both failures and success to internal, unstable causes (it’s down to you, and you can do something about it) • Views of ‘ability’ – Fixed (IQ) – Incremental (untapped potential) – Essential that teachers inculcate in their students a view that ‘ability’ is incremental rather than fixed (by working, you’re getting smarter)

Sharing learning intentions

Sharing criteria with learners • Three teachers each training four year 8 science classes in two US schools • 14 week experiment • Seven two-week projects, scored 2 -10 • All teaching the same, except: • for a part of each week – two of each teacher’s classes discuss their likes and dislikes about the teaching (control) – the other two classes discuss how their work will be assessed [White & Frederiksen, Cognition & Instruction, 16(1), 1998]

Sharing criteria with learners Iowa Test of Basic Skills Group Low Middle High Likes and dislikes 4. 6 5. 9 6. 6 Reflective assessment 6. 7 7. 2 7. 4

Activating students as owners of their own learning Activating students as learning resources for one another

Self-assessment: Portugal • Teachers studying for MA in Education – Group 1 do regular programme – Group 2 work on self-assessment for two terms (20 weeks) – Teachers matched in age, qualifications and experience using the same curriculum scheme for the same amount of time • Pupils tested at beginning of year, and again after two terms – Group 1 pupils improve by 7. 8 marks – Group 2 pupils improve by 15 marks [Fontana & Fernandez, Br. J. Educ. Pyschol. , 64 407 -417]

Comments? Questions?

Practical techniques

Practical techniques: eliciting evidence Key idea: questioning should • cause thinking • provide data that informs teaching Improving teacher questioning • Generating questions with colleagues • Closed v open • Low-order v high-order • Appropriate wait time Getting away from I-R-E • Basketball rather than serial table tennis • ‘No hands up’ (except to ask a question) • Class polls to review current attitudes towards an issue • ‘Hot seat’ questioning All student response systems • ABCD cards, mini whiteboards, exit passes

Questioning in maths: discussion Look at the following sequence 3, 7, 11, 15, 19, . . . Which is the best rule to describe the sequence? A. B. C. D. n+4 3+n 4 n – 1 4 n + 3

Questioning in maths: diagnosis In which of these right-angled triangles is a 2 + b 2 = c 2 ? A b a B a c C b a b D a a c b c E c F b c a

Questioning in science: discussion Ice-cubes are added to a glass of water. What happens to the level of water as the ice-cubes melt? A. The level of the water drops B. The level of the water stays the same C. The level of the water increases D. You need more information to be sure

Questioning in science: diagnosis The ball sitting on the table is not moving. It is not moving because: A. no forces are pushing or pulling on the ball B. gravity is pulling down, but the table is in the way C. the table pushes up with the same force that gravity pulls down D. gravity is holding it onto the table E. there is a force inside the ball keeping it from rolling off the table Wilson & Draney, 2004

Dinosaur extinction Why did dinosaurs become extinct? A. Humans destroyed their habitat B. Humans killed them all for food C. There was a major change in climate

Save the ozone layer What can we do to preserve the ozone layer? A. Reduce the amount of carbon dioxide produced by cars and factories B. Reduce the greenhouse effect C. Stop cutting down the rainforests D. Limit the number of cars that can be used when the level of ozone is high E. Properly dispose of air-conditioners and fridges

Questioning in English: discussion Macbeth: mad or bad?

Questioning in English: discussion Where is the verb in this sentence? The dog ran across the road A B C D

Questioning in English: diagnosis Which of these is the best thesis statement? A. The typical TV show has nine violent incidents B. The essay I am going to write is about violence on TV C. There is a lot of violence on TV D. The amount of violence on TV should be reduced E. Some programmes are more violent than others F. Violence is included in programmes to boost ratings G. Violence on TV is interesting H. I don’t like the violence on TV

Questioning in history: discussion In which year did World War II begin? A. 1919 B. 1937 C. 1938 D. 1939 E. 1941

Questioning in history: diagnosis Why are historians concerned with bias when analysing sources? A. People can never be trusted to tell the truth B. People deliberately leave out important details C. People are only able to provide meaningful information if they experienced an event first hand D. People interpret the same event in different ways, according to their experience E. People are unaware of the motivations for their actions F. People get confused about sequences of events

Questioning in MFL: discussion Is the verb ‘être’ regular in French?

Questioning in MFL: diagnosis Which of the following is the correct translation for ‘I give the book to him’? A. Yo lo doy el libro B. Yo doy le el libro C. Yo le doy el libro D. Yo doy lo el libro E. Yo doy el libro le F. Yo doy el libro lo

Hinge-questions • A hinge-question is based on the important concept in a lesson that is critical for students to understand before you move on in the lesson • The question should fall about midway during the lesson • Every student must respond to the question within two minutes • You must be able to collect and interpret the responses from all students in 30 seconds

Figurative language A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. Alliteration Hyperbole Irony Metaphor Onomatopoeia Personification Simile None of the above 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 He was a bull in a china shop May I have a drop of water? This backpack weighs a ton The sweetly smiling sunshine… He honked his horn at the cyclist I’ve told you a million times already The Redcoats are coming! ‘They in the sea being burnt, they in the burnt ship drown’d’ He was as tall as a house

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, March 25, 1911

Triangle Factory fire Which of the following sources is biased? A. Photograph of the event B. New York Times story on March 26, 1911 C. Description of the fire in the textbook D. Transcript of talk by Frances Perkins, September 30, 1964

Practical techniques: feedback • Key idea: feedback should – cause thinking – provide guidance on how to improve • Comment-only grading • Focused grading • Explicit reference to mark-schemes and scoring guides • Suggestions on how to improve – ‘Strategy cards’ - ideas for improvement – Not giving complete solutions • Re-timing assessment – (e. g. two-thirds-of-the-way-through-a-unit test)

Practical techniques: sharing learning intentions • Explaining learning intentions at start of lesson/unit – Learning intentions – Success criteria • Intentions/criteria in students’ language • Posters of key words to talk about learning – e. g. describe, explain, evaluate • Planning/writing frames • Annotated examples of different standards to ‘flesh out’ assessment rubrics (e. g. lab reports) • Opportunities for students to design their own tests

Practical techniques: students owning their learning and as learning resources • Students assessing their own/peers’ work – with rubrics – with exemplars – ‘two stars and a wish’ • Training students to pose questions/identifying group weaknesses • Self-assessment of understanding – Traffic lights – Red/green discs • End-of-lesson students’ review