User:Lincy Varghese/sandbox

1. Assessment of learning :
“To measure or to learn; that is the question.”  - Broadfot (1996)

Assessment of Learning in classrooms is typically done at the end of something (eg, a unit, course, a grade, a Key Stage, a program) and takes the form of tests or exams that include questions drawn from the material studied during that time. In Assessment of Learning, the results are expressed symbolically, generally as marks across several content areas to report to parents.

This is the kind of assessment that still dominates most classroom assessment activities, especially in secondary schools, with teachers firmly in charge of both creating and marking the test. Teachers use the tests to assess the quantity and accuracy of student work, and the bulk of teacher effort in assessment is taken up in marking and grading. A strong emphasis is placed on comparing students, and feedback to students comes in the form of marks or grades with little direction or advice for improvement. These kinds of testing events indicate which students are doing well and which ones are doing poorly. Typically, they don’t give much indication of mastery of particular ideas or concepts because the test content is generally too limited and the scoring is too simplistic to represent the broad range of skills and knowledge that has been covered.

2. Assessment for learning :
“When the cook tastes the soup, that’s formative; when the guests taste the soup, the summative.” - Robert Stake

Assessment for Learning shifts the emphasis from summative to formative assessment, from making judgments to creating descriptions that can be used in the service of the next stage of learning. When they are doing Assessment for Learning, teachers collect a wide range of data so that they can modify the learning work for their students. They craft assessment tasks that open a window on what students know and can do already and

use the insights that come from the process to design the next steps in observation, worksheets, questioning in class, student-teacher conferences or whatever mechanism is likely to give them information that will be useful for their planning and teaching. Marking is not designed to make comparative judgments among the students but to highlight each students’ strengths and weaknesses and provide them with feedback that will further help their learning.

Recordkeeping in this approach may include a grade book, but the records on which teachers rely are things like checklists of student’s progress against expectations, artefacts, portfolios of students work overtime, and worksheets to trace the progression of students along the learning continuum.

3. Assessment as learning :
“Self-assessment is at the heart of the matter.”

It intends to reinforce and extend the role of formative assessment for learning by emphasizing the role of the student, not only as a contributor to the assessment and learning process, but also as the critical connector between them. The student is the link. Students, as active, engaged, and critical assessors, can make sense of information, relate it to prior knowledge, and master the skills involved. This is the regulatory process in metacognition. It occurs when students personally monitor what they are learning and use the feedback from this monitoring to make adjustments, adaptations, and even major changes in what they understand. Assessment as Learning is the ultimate goal, where students are their own best assessors. At some point, students will need to be self-motivating and able to bring their talents and knowledge to bear on the decisions and problems that make up their lives. They can’t just wait for the teacher to tell them whether or not the answer is “right.” Effective assessment empowers students to ask reflective questions and consider a range of strategies for learning and acting. Over time, students move forward in their learning when they can use personal knowledge to construct meaning, have skills of self-monitoring to realize that they don’t understand something, and have ways of deciding what to do next.

Recordkeeping in assessment as Learning is a personal affair. Students and teachers decide about the important evidence of learning and how it should be organized and kept. Students routinely reflect on their work and make judgements about how they can capitalize on what they have done already. Comparison with others is almost irrelevant. Instead, the critical reference points are the student’s own prior work and the aspirations and targets for continued learning.