4 Planning and implementing the changes to assessment procedures

This resource looks at processes in school that are impacted by changes to assessment procedures.

If you identify changes and improvements that you wish to make, then first you must consult on the changes you need to make to your ICT policy, and next you must consider how to effect sustainable change.

If you have no changes to make, you should consider encapsulating your evaluation of your practice (see Resources 1 to 3) as a report to present to governors and for your senior leadership to use as evidence for their self-evaluation form.

Reflection

Below is a checklist of the stakeholders in the change consultation process:

  • Colleagues
  • Key stage leader
  • Senior leadership of school
  • Children
  • Governors
  • Parents.
  • Are you able to explain what you wish to do and why?
  • Can you justify it in terms of learning gain for the children?

Once you have established the change in policy, you should consider how to embed changes in practice.

There is little evidence to suggest that whole staff training in assessment is effective.

Spend some time considering the Diffusion of Innovations [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .

  • How will your approach differ for the innovators and early adopters in your school when compared with your approach for the laggards?
  • Will you phase the implementation to give the late majority the evidence of success required to overcome their scepticism?

Now consider the conscious competence learning model.

  • How will you raise awareness in your colleagues to enable them to address the gaps in their understanding required to implement your policy?

Having considered these issues, you must now create an action plan to communicate your intentions to the school leadership, colleagues and governors. Avoid writing ‘ongoing’ tasks, try to create a Gantt chart for your activities.

A Gantt chart will push you to plan specific quantifiable activities and to contextualise them visually. Plan to collect evidence of the improvements you have made, so that you can supply that evidence to the school leadership to include in their self evaluation documentation.

3 How do I validate assessment judgements?

References