Using assessment/aromatawai to promote learning

Assessment is a continuous process

The teacher:

• notices what is happening during learning activities;
• recognises how individual students' learning is going;
• engages in conversations that include responsive feedback to take learners further.

"How is this learning going?"
"What do we need to do next?"
"What could we do better?"

How am I going?

The teacher needs to reflect on whether or not he or she has:

• selected and used appropriate teaching strategies;
• interacted effectively with all the students;
• helped the students to monitor their own learning.

What does quality work look like?

Students benefit from discussing a variety of examples of other students' work. These varied examples help students to see that there are many ways to do something. Having a chance to make judgments on these examples, which they then discuss with their peers and their teacher, helps students to develop a "nose" for quality.

Learning to understand and use appropriate words and concepts in these discussions further heightens students' sensitivity to their own work and encourages them to focus consciously on quality. Student work in The New Zealand Curriculum Exemplars could be used as the basis for such discussions.

What is the next learning step?

The matrices of progress indicators that have been developed as part of The New Zealand Curriculum Exemplars can help teachers to identify possible further learning steps for their students. Teachers working with the matrices might ask themselves: "What features can I see in my student's work?" "What are some possible next steps for this student?"

The exemplar matrices may be thought of as maps with signposts. Students will take different paths and progress at different rates as they incorporate and build on earlier learning. Teachers' judgment of level represents an informed assessment on where a student's work "best fits" Ð they may assess some aspects of the student's work as being at lower or higher levels.

Quality feedback conversations

Quality feedback, based on assessment information, helps students to:

• confirm the intended outcome of the learning;
• become motivated to continue or move on;
• accept responsibility for their own learning;
• assess their own learning;
• identify their next learning step.

Feedback to students is most effective when it:

• focuses on the tasks and the associated learning, not the student;
• confirms for the student that he or she is on the right track;
• includes suggestions that help the student (that is, that "scaffold" their learning);
• is frequent and given when there is opportunity for the student to take action;
• is in the context of a dialogue about the learning.

Benefits of quality feedback

Student engagement, interest, and learning is enhanced when feedback relates to specific and challenging goals. When the classroom interactions are related to clear goals and focused feedback:

• students are better able to focus on the goals, rather than on the presentation of their work or the social aspects of their learning activities;
• they are better able to identify their own knowledge and skills and take appropriate actions;
• they are more likely to see and acknowledge gaps in their own learning and to seek appropriate advice and help.

Assess to Learn (AToL) professional development

Teachers and schools can access professional development programmes that support teachers with their assessment practice in the classroom. The regionally provided Assess to Learn (AToL) programmes can help schools to make best use of assessment tools including The New Zealand Curriculum Exemplars and asTTle. There is also an AToL online option (see page 17). Contact your nearest AToL provider to enquire about programme details. (Page 20 lists AToL contact details.)

"Kei te ako mātou i ngā āhuatanga me ngā pukenga o te tuhituhi hei whakanikoniko i ngā tuhinga, ahakoa te kaupapa."

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