Teach-Primary-Issue-19.4

information to move individuals forwards? • What is the main or overarching purpose of the assessment? • How am I going to track progress over time – what method of data collection will I use? • What impact might this assessment have on individual motivation, particularly for any pupils who find it impossible to access? • How can I make this assessment hard enough to check the point that the higher-attaining children have reached, while still ensuring that it is accessible for A ssessment is fundamental to adaptive teaching, because unless we can figure out what a learner knows, understands or can already do, we can’t work out what they might need or want to learn next. It’s important, of course, for teachers to be aware of where their learners are at any given moment, but it is also key for pupils to understand where they are in their own learning. It can be tempting to associate the word ‘assessment’ with tests and exams such as SATs, sat in silence then marked and graded. However, assessment comes in many different forms both formal and informal, and it happens all the time in a classroom. It is an ongoing process that plays a vital part in your everyday teaching. Creating When you are thinking about creating assessments, it is helpful to consider the following questions: • Which bit of knowledge, skill or understanding do I plan to test for – what is the specific learning objective I am testing? • Am I checking to see if a target was achieved? How will I define the target? • What skills or concepts am I assuming the learners have already? • How will I use the information I get from the assessment to move everyone forwards? • How will I use this those who struggle? (A nice, simple idea that you can use to adapt for your highest attaining learners is to finish any test by asking them to write down ‘Everything I know about this topic that wasn’t asked in the test’.) Revamp your APPROACH Adapting how you use assessments can result in less work and more insight for both you and your pupils, says Sue Cowley “Bear in mind that any written assessment tests your pupils’ knowledge of English as much as their knowledge of a subject” 52 | www.teachwire.net