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Assessment and Learning

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Assessment and Learning

Edited by John Gardner

~SAGE Publications London • l'haoJ_ Oab • New DelhI

I • AS6II5Smml and Lo.arruns: An Introduction C John Gardner 2006 o,.pler I C Paul Blad< and Dylan wm~m 2006 Olapte. 2 C Mary JMne$ and D.,'W J\odder 2006 Chapter} C Mary J."....,. 2006

Chapter 4 C W)--.me Harlen 2006 Chapter 5 C Paullllacl< and Dylan WHiarn 2006 Chapler6 C WynM Hat"'" 2006 Chapter 7 C raul Blad< and. Dylan Wilia'" 2006 Chapter 8 C Gordon 5tobart 2006 Chapler 9 C Richard o..ugherty and Kathryn Ecd... tonl' 2006 10 C Dylan Wiliarn 2006 Chapter 11 C Judy Sebba 2006 Aosess"""lt for learning: A Compelling Conceplualiution C John Gard"". 2006

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Fi",t published 2006 Co Edited malerial C John Gardner 2006 Apvl from any fair de... or in the ca... of ~phic reproduclion. in ocrordar>C'e with tlw lrms of ~ issued. by the Copyright Litoin.bl~ l'l'$Ollm!S PrinlM in (;....1 Brit.in by Athenaeum P...ss. GotO'Shea""

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CONTENTS

Contributors'Details

AsSt'SSment and Learning: An Introduction

YII

1

101m Gardner Part I Practice

7

1 Assessment for Learning in the Classroom Paul Blllct Imd

9

Dvlsm Wiliam

2 Professional Learning as a Condition for Assessment for Learning

27

Mary }Illllts lind David Pedder Theory 3 Assessment, Teaching and Theories of Learning

Pllrl /I

45

47

Mllry lamo::>

4 The Role of Assessment in Developing Motivation for Learning W'v.me Harltll 5 Developing a Theory of Formative Assessment

61

81

PI/ul Black Imd Dylan Wi/lam Pari //I Eurmlltiw atrd Surnmatj!1f' Issue'S

6 On the Relationship betw~ Asst.'S5ment for Formative and Summative l'u~"S Wy111l1'

101

103

Harlef!

7 The Reliability of Assessments

119

Palll BIllet lind DY/II" Wi/iam

8 The Validity of Formative Assessment

133

Gmla!! SloWlrt

Part IV Policy

147

9 Constructing Assessment for Learning in the UK Policy Environment 149 Richard DUlisll/~rll/ ond IVII/rfll'l Ecc/(S/on,' ]0 Assessment for Learning: Why No Profile in US Poli9'? 169 Pyloll Wiliom

Assessment and Learning

II Policy and Practict> in Assessment for Learning: the Experience of 5('lected DECO Countries Judy Si'bba Assessment for Learning: A Compdling Conceptualil..ation 101m Gardnrr References Author jndi'S SUbjl'Ct index

185

197

205 222 225

CONTRIBUTORS' DETAILS

Paul Black

Paul is Emeritus Professor at King's CoUege, London. He has published extensively on science education,. curriculum development and educational assessment. He is co-author, with Professor Dylan Wiliam, of Inside lhe B/llck Box: raising achil.'tl61lellt through {vrm/ltivt! ~mml (King's CoUege, London) and Asse55ment lind Classroom lLaming (Assessment in Education 5(1) which was commissioned by the Assessment Reform Group. Ridulrd Dnugherty

Richard is Emeritus Professor in the School of Education and Lifelong Learning at the University of Wales, Aberystwylh. His research interests are in the field of assessment, education policy and geography education. In re 3, and into how teachers consult pupils and respond to their views about teaching and leaming. Dave worked full time as senior

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Contributors' details research associate on the Learning How to Learn pro;ect until 2005, when he took up his current post as lecturer in School Leadership, at the University of Cambridge.

Judy

Seb~

Judy is Professor of Education at the University of Sussex where she leads the teaching, learning and assessment research, including assessment for learning in the Portsmouth Learning Community Programme. Previously, she had been Senior Adviser (Research) for the Standards and Effectiveness Unit, Department for Education and Skills (DrES), with responsibilities which included work on using assessment for learning research to inform policy and practice. Previous research while in the universities of Cambridge and Manchester included work on school improvement and inspection- self- and peer assessment and special needs and inclusion. She is currently a member of the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Co-ordinating Centre (EPPI-Centre) review group on assessment. GordQn SlobiJrt

Gordon is Reader in Assessment at the University of London. Institute of Education haVing moved from the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) where he worked on both national tests and examinations. His membership of the Assessment Reform Group reflects his commitment to the use of assessment for learning as well as of learning. He ro-authored, with Caroline Gipps, Asses5mrnt: a Teacher's Guide to the Issues (3rd edition., 19(7) and is currently editor of the }Dumal Assessment in Educatioll. Dylan Wiliam

Dylan directs the Learning and Teaching Research Center at the Educational Testing Service (ETS) in Princeton- New Jersey. After teaching in serondary schools in London for seven years, he joined King's College, London in 1984 and continued teaching at college level until 2003, when he joined ETS. He served as dean and head of the School of Education at King's before taking up the position of assistant principal there. He is co-author, with Paul Black, of Inside /he Black Box: raising achit:Vmumt through fomla/iut: assessmnJ/ (King's College, London) and Assessment and Classroom Learning (Assessment in Education 5(1»), which was commissioned by the Assessment Reform Group.

Assessment and Learning: An Introduction John Gardner

On first inspection. th~ title of this book arguably places [earning. one of the most fundamental processes in a person's lifecourse, secondary to one of the most oonlri\'ed processes, the assessment of that learning. Our intention, however, is quite the opposite. As members of the Assessment Reform Group

I'Ve have accumulated over seven!(>(>n years of collective research into assessment policy and practice, and many more years as individuals. Asst'S5ment and Leaming is a book, therefore, that places learning at the centre of our concerns bUI unambiguously underscores the importance of assessment in that leaming. The Assessment Reform Group is based in the UK and though it is natural

for us to tum 10 our own contexts to illustrate analyses of assessment practice, the key aspiration throughout the group's existence has Ix.-en to collate and use research from around the globe to develop a better understanding of how assessment can significantly contribute 10 learning. The reader will therefore fmd a liberal sprinkling of research-informed insights from a wide variety of international contexts in addition to chapters thai specifically consider the policies in relation to asscssm(!ll! for learning in a variety of countries. Here and there, throughout the book, we refer to various types of learning contexts in these countries but it is fair to say that we draw heavily on the compulsory phases of education {roughI}' 4-16 years in most countries) to contextualize the practice of assessment for learning. II is also fair to say that it is in this context that the majority of research and experimentation has been recorded. We rec~ ognize that il is beyond the capacity of anyone book to cover the huge span of educational endeavour in a world in which lifelong learning is the name of the game but we hope that the concepts and processes we illuminate throughout the chapters, such as learner engagement, feedback, motivation and pedagogic style, are key to any learning environment facilitated by leaching or instruction. Translating them to other learning contexts such as work-based learning, adult and community education or post-{'()mpulsory education, is not straightforward but the principles and practices will be relevant. In most developed countries, the pursuit of reliable and valid means of assessing people's learning generates high volumes of published discourse and, not infrequently, dissent; the documentation on the various assessment policies, practices and theories could conceivably fill whole libraries. Some of the discourse and much of the dissent relate to whether the use to which assessment

,

Assessment and Learning is put is valid or, to put it more mundanely, useful to the learners themselves or to other audiences. Our pursuit is somewhat different. We would argue that learning should take centre stage and we address the role that assessment should play in this. Assessment is our focus but learning is the goal. Two phrases, 'formative assessment' and 'assessment for learning', are throughout all of the chapters that follow. The older phrase, 'formative assessment', can be traced back to Scriven's (1967) concepts of formative and summative evaluation, distinguished at the time solely on the basis of when the £'valuation in question is carriro out. While timing is merely one of the distinctions today, formative assessment remains a Widely used concept in roucation. However, it is sometimes used to describe a process in which frequent ad hoc assessments, in the classroom or in formal assessment contexts such as practical skills work, ar£' carriro out over time and collatro specifically to provide a final (summative) assessment of learning. Such assessments potentially do not contribute to the students' learning. The second phrase, 'assessment for learning', came into use in the late 19805 and early 19905 and may therefore be considered a somewhat 'newer' concept. In truth, though, assessment for learning comprises the same time-honoured practices as formativ£' assessment, that is, 'what good teachers do' (AAIA, 2005b) and have always done when using assessment to assist students to tak£' the next steps in their learning. In contrast to the ternl 'formative assessment', however, assessment for learning is arguably less likely to be used to describe the summative use of multiple assessments of learning. The words focus squarely on the essence of our pursuit: the promotion of assessment to support learning and this is neatly contra-distinct from assessment of learning. In the final analysis there is little of substance to distinguish the two terms 'formative assessment' and 'assessment for learning', but for the wider educational and policy-making audiences we feel, as Daugherty and Ecclestone report in Chapter 9, that the latter is more accessible than the more technicaltel1Il, 'formative assessment'. That said, we are content to use both phrases interchangeably, when there is no ambiguity in the type of assessment process being describl..>d. In order to emure we remain consistent in how we describe the type of process that assessment for learning is, we have defined it to be: thr proass ofsnking lind intrrprrlingevidrnCT for USf! try frllmn'S lind their ttll(:htrs, to identify when- thr ltllmrrs llrt in thrir Itllrning, whtrt tMy nerd to go lind how best to grl therr. (ARG, 2002aJ

Unpacking this deceptively simple definition, in terms of classroom practi('l:', reveals a complex weave of activities involving pedagogic style, studentteacher interaction, self-reflection (teacher and student), motivation and a variety of assessment processes. For example, teachers need to plan the learning environment and activities, students need to engage in the assessment of their learning and teachers need 10 assess the extent of the students' understanding as they are learning. They then need to challenge and support these 2

Assessment and learning: An Introduction students to enable them to reach the nexl stage in their learning progress. An analysis of such a complex learning approach could never be exhaustive but we have tried to make it accessible through a previous publication entitled Asstssnuml for Learning: 70 Principlts. These principles are mentioned in various places in the chapters that follow and are summarized below: Assessment for learning • Is part of effective planning; • Focuses on how students learn; • Is central to classroom practice; • Is a key professional skill; • Is sensitive and constructive; • Fosters motivation; • Promotes understanding of goals and criteria; • Helps learners know how to improve; • Develops the capacity for self-assessment; • Recognizes all educational achievement. (ARG, 2002a) All of these qualities, which we attribute collectively to assessment for learning. appear in various guises throughout the book - in their practice, in the theories underlying them and in the educoltional policies that relate to them.

Practice, theory and policy Under these generic headings the structure of the book proceeds in four parts, which in tum address how assessment for learning manifests itself in the classroom, its theoretical underpinnings, how it relales to sumrnative assessment and how nalional policies in a selection of nations do (or do not) reflect its role in learning. Chapter 1 by Black and Wiliam drolws empirical evidence from the King's-Medway-Oxfordshire Formative Assessment Project (KMOFAP) to portray how the findings from fonnative assessment research may be translolted to classroom practice. In addition to Significant changes to pedagogy, the chapter demonstrates that a full espousal of assessment for learning creates inevitable changes in teaclwrs' and learners' understanding and attitudes to learning itself. James and Pedder pick up the story in Chapter 2, which draws on it second project. Learning How to Learn. to tackle how such changes can be promoted and supported through teachers' professionalleaming. Central to the findings is the observation that very often, in an assessment for learning context, there is little to distinguish between the processes of learning for students and teachers. These initial chapters comprise Part I, Practice. Part II, ThaJry, takes readers to chapters that consider the existing knowledge and understanding that underpin assessment for leaming as a concept and its close relationship to pedagogy. In Chapler 3 James considers three major clusters of leaming theory: behaviourist, constructivist and socio-culturaJ. Acknowledging the overlaps, the chapter deals with the implications these theories have for assessment and leaching generaUy and establishes the basis by

3

Assessment and learning which the baton. of explaining the processes foslered by assessmenl for learning, is passed to Chapters 4 and 5. Harlen's Chapler 4 addresses a key element of formative assessment's armoury. Drawing on rcscarch from around the world, Harlen argues that some summative assessment practict'S may have a negatin' impact on learners while steps that ameliorate the worst effects, by developing and sustaining learnt'r motivation. are often based on the principles of assessment for learning. Black and Wiliam return in Chapter 5 to propose a tenlative four component model, developed using Engestrom's Activity System (1987), as a theoretical framework for formative assessment. Cenlral to the model is the triangle of teacher-tools-outromcs; the way that 'tools' (a I('rm that includes procedures such as fet.>dback and pt.'er asscssmcnt) alter the teacherstudenl inleraction; lhe role of !hI." leacher in the regulation of Il."arning and the slud('nt's own role in th('ir learning; and how such changl'S bear upon the outcomes of learning work. Part III, F"rmillive lind Summllllv;' Issues, continul."S thl." theoreticallheme but with a focus on more technical aspects of the distinctions and overlaps bE-tween assessment for learning and summative assessment. In Chapter 6 Harlen I."xplores whl."ther it is fl."asible for evidence gathl."red for one purpos.e to bE- used for another. Proposing a spectrum of possibilities that allows an overlap of purpost"S in its middle region, the chapter highlights the pitfalls of blithely advocating dual usagl." of the same information and suggests the conditions under which ils integrity may be preserved. However, the question of whether teachers' assessments are reliable looms in the background. Black and Wiliam's Chapll."r 7 specifically deals with this issul." of a perceived lack of reliability in any aSSCSSml'1lt carried out by teachers, whether formative or summative. The chaptl'r debunks the corresponding folk-myth thai external asscssmmts (statutory tests and so on) are highly reliable and argues that dependability in rontext is the key attribute for any assessment. Stobart's Chapter 8 picks up the validity issue and concludes that there is a simpl(' test for the validity of any assessment for learning pl"OC('Ss: did learning take place as a consequence? A negative response suggests that lhe formative assessment is invalid because it did not achieve its purpose of promoting learning. TIle book lhus far seeks to build a platform of disrourse, informed by practice and research, on which to articulate the processes and proclaim the benefits of assessml."nl for learning. rolft IV, Policy, turns to the lhomy issue of how governments and national educational organizations ref1C'ct devl."lopments in assessment for It"aming in tht"ir policies. In Chaprer 9 Daugherty and Ecclestone analyse the recent assessment policy activities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northl."m Ireland in terms of the key policy texts and the discourse surrounding policy development. Wiliam's Chapter 10 charts thl." I."mphasis in the USA on high stakes tests and the psychoml."lric dimensions of reliability and validity as primary concerns. Although there is an emerging interest in monitoring student progress current moves involving portfolio assessment, for example, are limited and formative assessment is generally better understood as 'early wanting' summalive measures in relation to predicting perlonnance in annual 510111" tesls. Concluding Part IV, Sebba's Chapter 11 acknowledges the probll."ms 4

Assessment and Learning; An Introduction

inherent in any attempt to compare practices across cultures but points to the commonalities of understanding and practice across several nations. Finally Gardnel"'5 Olapter 12 serves a5 a concluding discussion on the main messages the book offers.

The AssHSment Reform Group Ever 5ince its establi5hment in 1988, 015 the then A5se55ment Policy Task Group of the Briti5h Educational Research A5SOCiation (BERA), the group has occasionally changed in personnel but has doggedly pursued the agenda of improving assessment in all of its forms. 1111.' founding members were Patricia Broadfoot, B'Yan Dockrell, Caroline Gipp5, Wynne Harlen and Desmond Nuttall and its first task was to consider the implications of the 1988 Education Reform Act. FollOWing Bryan Dockrell's retirement, Mary James and Richard Daugherty joined the group in 1992 and, in 1994, after the untimely death of Desmond Nuttall the previous year, Gordon Stobart and John Gardner also joined. The membership then remained more or less unchanged until Caroline Gipps and Patricia Broadfoot moved on, in 2000 and 2002 respectively. Very able replacements were on hand and the current group now includes Paul Black. Kathryn Ecdestone and Judy 5ebba. Dylan Wiliam was also a member for a short time before leaving to take up a post in the USA. In this book we are very pleased to welcome him back as a guest contributor, along with Dave redder as a co-author of a chapter with Mary James. Since 1997, when BERA ceased to Sp0n50r policy task groups, we have continued to work as an independent group. Our primary source of funding has bet'n the Nuffie1d Foundation, which has generously supported a variety of our activities including group meetings, regional seminars and the dissemination of our work. This hmding has been vital and we would be very remiss if we did not take the opportunity here to acknowledge our grateful appreciation of both BERA's and, in more recent times, the Foundation's support. This introduction to the book would be seriously deficient if acknowledgement of our sources and influences was not formally recorded. Over the period of its existence, the group has worked with many people including teachers, academics and curriculum and assessment agency personnel from around the world, local authority advise.rs and district superintendents, government officials, politicians and, most importantly, students in a variety of national and local contexts. There are too many to name and it would be inappropriate to singl" out s?"cific people. However, the ront.,nt of this book has bt.'CIl in(h..eneed by them all and we humbly record our thanks to everyone with whom we have had the privilege to work.

5

Part I Practice

Chapter 1 Assessment for Learning in the Classroom Paul Black and Dyliln Wiliam

Assessment in education must, first and foremost, St'rve the purpose of supporting learning. So it is filling to start a study of assessml.!Tlt with an exploration of the meaning and practices of assessment which serve this purpose most dil"\'ctly. This chapler is the story of a development which started with a review of whal research had 10 say about formative assessment. The background to this review, and tht' main features of its findings, are first described. Its results led to development work with teachers to explore how ideas taken from the research could be turned into practice. A description of this work is followed by reflections on its outcomes and implications. There is then a fm