All 5 entries tagged Assessment

The Pivotal Role of Peer Assessment in PE… WWW and EBI?

Since learning about assessment for learning within my undergraduate degree and developing this knowledge further within my teacher training year, I have become a keen advocate for embedding, in particular, peer and self-assessment activities within my lessons. As supported by numerous research articles, feedback is critically important in helping pupils to make progress within PE, and peer assessment is key to allowing all pupils to receive immediate, individual feedback - an impossible task of the teacher! A number of sources suggest how peer assessment is not only a great way of engaging pupils within the lesson (rather than just allowing pupil to be stood ‘waiting for their turn’) but also in aiding their peers to progress and scaffold their own progression. As a result they are able to develop a better understanding of the standards they are aiming for within their own performance. With university, literature and my school all advocating the role of peer assessment within PE lessons, it seemed a relevant topic to inform my action research.

As there is already a vast selection of existing research around peer assessment and its benefits within PE, I decided to explore how peer assessment impacts the perceived competence of girls within their PE lessons. It is reported that girls are the more sedentary sex and it is has been found that girls are less likely to lead a lifelong participation in sport; linked to the negative perceptions girls have about their ability in sport and a fear of the negative evaluation they might receive from others. I therefore wanted to explore if the frequent use of a pedagogic tool, peer assessment, would change this. So how did this research impact my practice?

Firstly, the research that I carried out around peer assessment was supportive of the findings of other researchers; peer assessment can support the progress that the pupils make within PE. It also taught me about the importance of structuring peer assessment activities within a lesson. I am sure many teachers are familiar with the more common feedback practices of asking pupils to tell their peers what they did well and what they could to do to improve or to give three stars and a wish - myself included. But this alone without any scaffolding often leads to a lack of quality feedback and instead the pupils identifying and providing superficial feedback such as something “looking good” but not really influencing the way a pupil feels about their ability in an activity. Although, of course, some feedback is better than none at all! I therefore invested time into creating peer assessment resources with an explicit success criteria supported by pictures, alongside key words that the pupils should try to include within their feedback. These resources scaffolded the peer assessment activities really well and the quality of the feedback was much better as well as the pupils cognitive knowledge of teaching points and technical vocabulary increasing. One example of this was that a pupil, during a synchronised swimming lesson, provided feedback suggesting her peer’s body was streamlined and fully extended, as opposed to saying straight, flat or some other synonym. I also learnt that pupils need time to be able to analyse and identify the success criteria within their peer’s performance and pupils need to be clear on what each skill or success criteria should look like, through a modelled example, so that they can more effectively evaluate their peer’s achievements.

My research showed that the participants involved had mixed feelings about how the peer assessment activities impacted their perceived competence, with lots of them saying that this is affected mainly by their own perceptions of their ability and other people’s views. It was very interesting to capture the thoughts and opinions of the pupils about peer assessment activities. Although some of the participants felt that they liked being able to get instant feedback from a peer who was just focusing on them, lots of them doubted their peer’s ability to give accurate feedback and stated they themselves found it hard to give feedback even though the success criteria did make it easier.

The participants expressed lots of concern about offending their peers and admitted that when receiving critical feedback they ignored it due to not valuing or believing what was being said. This suggested to me the importance of my role as a teacher in teaching pupils to peer assess effectively before implementing peer assessment activities, the groupings of pupils for peer assessment and the important role that ICT and videoing performances could have in allowing pupils to show and justify they feedback that they give. Based on my research, it appears the most significant factor could be the facilitation of the peer assessment. It has become evident that I need to support the feedback the pupils make (as long as it is accurate) in order to help develop relationships of trust between the pupils, encourage reflective and justified feedback and dialogue between peers and guide them to see the fully understand the benefits of peer assessment to enhance their learning.

Abigail Ball : 08 Jul 2019 09:00 |  Tags: Assessment |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

How can assessment encourage & motivate learners to succeed, academically & socially? – Danielle

Defined by Wiliam and Black as “activities undertaken by teachers…which provides information to be used as feedback to modify teaching and learning” (Black & Wiliam 2010, p. 82), assessment is considered to be vital for pupil progress (TS6 and TS2). However, it can also provide opportunities for teachers to encourage and motivate learners to succeed, both academically and socially.

Formative assessment can also provide opportunity for teachers to encourage and motivate learners. For example, once a topic has been introduced, a teacher can engage students in an open discussion to determine how pupils can progress in their learning (TS6 and TS2). As strategies such as this also promote the development of higher-order thinking skills, which are typically required for high GCSE grades, pupils are encouraged to succeed academically. Furthermore, and through the use of character sheets, students can be prompted to think empathetically about both sides of the debate. As this helps students to cultivate a flexible mind-set and become more understanding of other people’s views, pupils are also being helped to succeed socially.

Conducting frequent summative assessments, and using them to motivate learners to succeed, can lead to students becoming demotivated and disengaged (Harlen 2007; Hendrick et al. 2017). However, if end-of-topic tests are required, demotivation can be avoided by allowing the students to conduct the test as both open and closed-book. Within the first half of the lesson, pupils attempt the test under exam conditions; this helps the teacher to identify what pupils know and understand, and to determine where progress can be made (TS6). For the remainder of the lesson, pupils are then allowed to use a different colour pen and amend their test using information from textbooks and other resources.

There are many benefits to using assessments in this manner. Firstly, by allowing pupils the opportunity to alter their work, the tests are not considered to be ‘high-stakes’ (Trotter 2006). As such, students do not lose motivation with studying the subject and are encouraged to succeed academically (ibid.). Secondly, as pupils are given marks for both the open and closed-test, they are able to clearly see the grade that they could achieve with further revision (TS2); this can help motivate students to take responsibility for their learning, and thus help them to improve. Finally, by identifying gaps in their knowledge, pupils are able to focus their revision on the weakest aspects of that subject. As this can encourage students to develop skills such as: time-management; prioritising work-load; and self-evaluation, summative assessment can be used to promote social success.

Allowing time for pupils to reflect and respond to feedback from assessments is similarly important for pupils’ academic and social success (TS6). As a trainee teacher, the incorporation of this aspect into my practice needs to be improved. However, when I have prompted my pupils to respond to feedback, they have engaged with the process and have reflected upon how to improve their learning. As Roorda et al. (2011) highlight, this engagement stems from forming positive relationships with the students that are rooted in mutual respect (TS1). If the students trust that it is within their best interest to action the feedback that has been provided, they will be more likely to engage in activities that will help them to succeed.

References:

Black, P. & Wiliam, D., 2010. Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards through Classroom Assessment. Phi Delta Kappan, 92(1), pp.81–90. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/003172171009200119.

Harlen, W., 2007. Assessment of Learning, SAGE Publications. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=4j8mGC5cLVUC.

Hendrick, C., Macpherson, R. & Caviglioli, O., 2017. What Does this Look Like in the Classroom?: Bridging the Gap Between Research and Practice, John Catt Educational Limited. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=ufgzswEACAAJ.

Roorda, D.L. et al., 2011. The Influence of Affective Teacher–Student Relationships on Students’ School Engagement and Achievement: A Meta-Analytic Approach. Review of Educational Research, 81(4), pp.493–529. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654311421793.

Trotter, E., 2006. Student perceptions of continuous summative assessment. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 31(5), pp.505–521. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02602930600679506.

Abigail Ball : 21 Nov 2018 08:32 |  Tags: Assessment Motivation |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

How can assessment encourage & motivate learners to succeed, academically & socially? – Jade

Summative and formative assessments can both enable students to succeed, academically and socially. Summative assessments are “cumulative assessments…that intend to capture what a student has learned, or the quality of learning, and judge performance against some standards” National Research Council, 2001). This method of assessment is often used to evaluate student knowledge and understanding at the end of a topic (Gardner, 2010), and is often graded. Consequently, summative assessments may encourage and reassure students who have performed well, or motivate those who have under-achieved to try harder. In my practice, I summatively assess end-of-topic tests, and keep an accurate, up-to-date mark book with comparisons to target grades. This enables student performance to be monitored, which may lead to conversations with students or parents, or interventions, if students are underachieving.

Formative assessment refers to “frequent, interactive assessments of student progress and understanding to identify learning needs and adjust teaching appropriately” (OECD, 2005, p.21). Since formative assessments can inform teachers of student comprehension, this can, in turn, inform planning. For example, recently, after beginning teaching the topic of electrolysis to a year 10 class, through whole-class questioning, I realised that they knew very little about ionic bonding. Therefore, I planned and devoted a full lesson to teaching these principles, before continuing with electrolysis.

Importantly, formative assessments enable students to consider feedback, and improve upon their work and understanding, rather than purely focussing on their grade (Education Endowment Foundation, 2016, p.5). Consequently, I rarely write students’ grades or scores on their classwork or homework, but instead offer positive comments, effort grades and several action points. Students then complete these actions during lessons in a different-coloured pen, for easy comparison to the original work. In my opinion, this method is extremely effective; students have to correct mistakes (scientific or literacy), give more detailed, well-written answers, or complete challenge questions, which encourage higher-order thinking. This also allows for students to reflect on the progress they have made, which may motivate students to continue to learn through making improvements.

In terms of the type of written feedback, rather than offering vague remarks such as “great job” or “nearly there”, I try to give more constructive, specific comments. This type of feedback has been shown to focus students’ attention on certain aspects that require improvement (Hattie and Timperley, 2007). For verbal feedback, I try to give lots of praise (including merits) when students answer questions, even if their answers are wrong. As Mueller and Dweck (1998) argue, it is more important to reward effort than intelligence, and socially, I believe that this makes students feel safe and builds their confidence, meaning that they are more likely to volunteer answers in the future. To further help students succeed socially, I set peer assessment tasks, in which students are encouraged to give each other positive comments, in addition to suggestions for improvement.

Furthermore, I assess students’ learning through a range of a plenary activities. I have found that competition encourages learners to succeed, for both academic and social reasons, and thus, I try to implement a variety of games into my lessons, such as bingo, splat, noughts-and-crosses and team quizzes.

References

Education Endowment Foundation, 2016. A marked improvement? A review on the evidence of written marking. London: Education Endowment Foundation.

Gardner, J., 2010. Developing teacher assessments: An introduction. In: J. Gardner, W. Harlen, L. Hayward, G. Stobart and M. Montgomery, eds. 2010. Developing teacher assessment. New York: Open University Press. pp.1−11.

Hattie, J. and Timperley, H., 2007. The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), pp.81−112.

Mueller, C. M. and Dweck, C. S., 1998. Praise for intelligence can undermine children’s motivation and performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75(1), pp. 33−52.

National Research Council, 2001. Assessment in the classroom. [online] National Academies Press. Available at: https: https://www.nap.edu/read/9847/chapter/5 [Accessed 8 February 2018].

Office of Economic Co-operation and Development, 2005. Formative assessment: Improving learning in secondary classrooms. Paris: OECD Publishing.

Abigail Ball : 05 Nov 2018 10:48 |  Tags: Assessment Formative Summative |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

How can assessment encourage & motivate learners to succeed, academically & socially? Dominic

Assessment, whether it is formative or summative, can be used to encourage and motivate learners to succeed, both academically and socially, in a number of different ways. Reflecting on my own teaching practice in my Initial Teacher Training year, I have met Teacher Standard 6 and its sub-standards by not only making “accurate and productive use of assessment” (Department for Education, 2011, p.12) on a regular basis, but by using assessment to encourage my pupils to stretch and challenge themselves both academically inside the classroom (Evidence 1) and socially outside of the classroom (Evidence 2).

Using assessment to encourage and motivate learners to succeed socially (Evidence 1) has also helped me meet Teacher Standard 2 and its sub-standards by helping me promote “good progress and outcomes by pupils” (Department for Education, 2013, p.10) not just academically in the classroom but socially outside the classroom too. For example, I co-led a GCSE PE kayaking expedition to Wales in half-term (Evidence 2).

In my Initial Teacher Training Year I have learned to use assessment to encourage and motivate learners to succeed by identifying and rewarding success – no matter how small – and using this as a basis for pupil self-improvement (Evidence 1 and Evidence 2). Chappuis and Stiggins write: “Teachers who assess for learning use day-to-day classroom assessment activities to involve students directly and deeply in their own learning, increasing their confidence and motivation to learn by emphasizing progress and achievement rather than failure and defeat” (Chappuis and Stiggins, 2002, p.40).

In terms of using assessment to encourage and motivate learners to succeed academically, I frequently use both formative and summative assessment at the beginning and at the end of my lessons respectively to test the extent to which pupils have retained and recalled prior learning. I use formative assessment at the very start of my lessons to encourage pupils to remember one or more key facts they’ve learned from a previous lesson (not necessarily the preceding one). I link my questioning to the classes scheme of learning. For example, with my three Year 8 classes I often ask pupils when I greet them at the door what one of the key causes or consequences of the First World War was. If the pupil cannot immediately recall the information, then they have to go to the back of the queue. In this respect I use assessment to encourage learners to succeed by introducing an element of competition to the start of the lesson. Most pupils want to get the answer right the first time and enter the classroom before their friends.

In my Initial Teacher Training year I have made a conscious effort to attended numerous CPD sessions on Assessment for and of Learning in order to find new and innovative ways to use assessment as a tool to encourage and motivate learners to succeed academically and socially (Evidence 3). Eadie writes that: “There is clear evidence that assessment can motivate learning in the intrinsic sense of stimulating intellectual curiosity…Assessment which motivates students is likely to be achieved by tasks which are… probably more achievable when the method of assessment is innovative.” (Eadie, 2004, p70).

Academic references

Chappuis, S. and Stiggins, R. (2002). ‘Do Students Care About Learning?’ in Educational Leadership, Vol. 60, pp. 40-43.

Department for Education (2011). Teachers’ Standards Guidance for school leaders, school staff and governing bodies, Crown Copyright.

Eadie, A. (2004). Using Assessment to Motivate Learning - An Overview, Glasgow Caledonian University.

Abigail Ball : 10 Sep 2018 09:06 |  Tags: Assessment Motivation |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

How can assessment encourage & motivate learners to succeed academically & socially? – William

Assessment can motivate pupils to succeed academically by providing bespoke feedback that praises areas of strength and highlights methods and skill sets that pupils need to improve upon in subsequent tasks. Improvement of areas of weakness can be most efficiently achieved by informing a pupil of how to nurture areas of weakness, so that advancement in academic skill may be observed within the next assessment (Black and Wiliam, 1998).

Assessment in relation to social success is a less obvious connection. Advancement of the social agility of pupils could provide the highest chance of success in a pupil’s life as positive working relationships are key to any team-based professional team. Advancing social success may be best achieved by considering this important ‘soft’ skill development from the pupil’s point-of-view (Jarvinen and Nicholls, 1996).

Relationships which contain intimacy, nurturance, sincerity, responsibility, feigning concern and entertainment were observed by adolescent pupils to encompass social success (Jarvinen and Nicholls, 1996). Social success in secondary school is considered by adolescent pupils to culminate in obtaining satisfaction from relations with peers. What a pupil is required to receive in order to feel socially satisfied could vary considerably from individual to individual. Roles that pupils perceive as bringing about satisfaction within a social setting are leadership, popularity, dominance and even being considered to have a tough and almost unfriendly character (Jarvinen and Nicholls, 1996). Some of these perceived requirements for social success, such as the projection of a tough and unfriendly approach, run counter to aspects actively promoted in school policies which stipulate a foundation of basic respect for others. Social skills have been observed to influence academic outcomes of pupils to such a degree that assessment of social agility can be employed as a viable avenue through which to predict and possibly use to advance academic achievement for pupils (Agostin and Bain, 1997).

Assessment which focuses on providing commentary aimed at advancement of pupils’ academic skills is seen as a way to expedite pupil progress a lot more than just the competition which ensues between pupils in achieving the highest grades (Black and Wiliam, 1998). This approach is of mainstream focus now in schools for both formative and summative assessments led by teachers and on a whole-school level. Self-esteem and perceived levels of social support have all been observed to promote a more confident handling of academic work-loads and challenges (Friedlander et al., 2007). Assessment can influence both social and academic success by attending to the self-esteem of pupils and through accentuating the positive achievements of a pupil’s efforts, regardless of ability level. This positive feedback should be interwoven into any critical and constructive appraisal of pupil’s academic weaknesses. This then could promote a stable and positive working relationship between the pupil and the teacher, which assists a rapport that encourages the pupil to listen and engage with lesson activities and instruction provided by the teacher.

References

AGOSTIN, T. M. & BAIN, S. K. 1997. Predicting Early School Sucess with Developmental and Social Skills Screeners. Psychology in the Schools, 34, 219-228.

BLACK, P. & WILIAM, D. 1998. Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment, London, GL Assessment.

FRIEDLANDER, L. J., REID, G. J., SHUPAK, N. & CRIBBIE, R. 2007. Social Support, Self-Esteem, and Stress as Predictors of Adjustment to University Among First-Year Undergraduates. Journal of College Student Development, 48, 259-274.

JARVINEN, D. W. & NICHOLLS, J. G. 1996. Adolescents' Social Goals, Beliefs About the Causes of Social Success, and Satisfaction in Peer Relations. Developmental Psychology, 32, 435-441.

Abigail Ball : 11 Jun 2018 08:21 |  Tags: Assessment Social Success |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem