1 What is effective assessment?
This resource should enable you to critically review the assessment process in respect of ICT capability.
Preparatory reading
The UK assessment agenda is dominated by guidance from the Primary Strategies, which has its roots in the publication Inside the Black Box [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] by Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam.
You should also consider what the National Curriculum indicates as the current legal requirements for children in Primary School.
Have look at the National Strategies website for assessing pupils’ progress (APP). Consider the goals it outlines for the assessment of children.
Reflection
The summary review of Beyond the Black Box differentiates between the characteristics of assessment that promote learning and those that simply add procedures.
Spend some time evaluating what you do with regard to assessment in ICT at KS1, how much is merely adding procedures?
For each of these features of assessment, which do you have in place, which do you need to learn more about and which do you need to support colleagues with?
- it is embedded in a view of teaching and learning of which it is an essential part
- it involves sharing learning goals with pupils
- it aims to help pupils to know and to recognise the standards they are aiming for
- it provides feedback which leads to pupils recognising their next steps and how to take them
- it involves pupils in self-assessment
- it is underpinned by confidence that every student can improve
- it involves both teacher and pupils reviewing and reflecting on assessment data.
Key questions
What impact do you want assessment of ICT at KS1 to have upon the children in your school?
What level of information does the school leadership need about progress in ICT ?
Resources