5 Using assessment data to track students’ progress
As well as supporting students to develop more holistically as learners, assessment for learning allows teachers to regularly collect assessment data about students’ progress. This in turn allows for more individualised and targeted activities and feedback that is appropriate to the student, also known as differentiation.
Some students make incremental shifts in their learning; others improve by leaps and bounds. Teachers who are aware of how students learn will have a variety of activities that can be run simultaneously to meet the different needs of the class. The aim is to challenge each student appropriately, so that no student is left behind, and those making good progress feel that they are also learning effectively.
Every student in class has a different starting point. The teacher must know each student’s baseline. This enables teachers to plan their activities so that they are appropriate for all their students’ needs, and can differentiate the formative feedback on these activities to support all students to learn effectively.
Activity 5: Using assessment data to track students’ progress
Spend some time thinking about how you will check that your teachers:
- have a baseline for the students in the classes they teach
- offer differential learning
- recording formative assessments
- track their students.
Make notes in your Learning Diary about the sources of information that you can use and how you will get evidence – assumptions and reputations can get in the way. You may find that you currently have very little hard evidence of these practices and your notes will then be about what you will do to build up to the point of having such data.
Discussion
Depending on the context of your school, you may feel that your teachers are already establishing assessment for learning as a daily part of their practice. Alternatively, you may feel that they are at the very start of understanding its potential. Whatever the position you are in, embedding assessment for learning takes time and effort. This is because it underpins so many aspects of teaching, such as classroom activities, the nature and purposes of assessments, and the nature of teacher–student dialogue.
Leading such change is likely to require careful planning and monitoring, both of which will depend on your context and how many teachers you are working with. In a small school, you may be able to discuss the ideas with all your teachers and monitor the change through observing, sharing ideas and discussing the outcomes. In a larger context, you may choose to start with a small group of teachers and develop a working example that others in the school can learn from.
The data that is gathered provides the evidence on which to build sound teaching strategy and short- and longer-term planning for classes and individual students. Rather than guessing levels of learning, comprehension, skills and attitudes, formative assessment provides hard evidence of actual levels and the baselines for measuring individual and class progress.
4 Establishing learning goals