4. Intentions
• After today, you will be able to…
– Describe different types of
Assessment and the purpose of each.
– Discuss various ways that Assessment
directly influences teaching and
learning
– Identify and describe specific
strategies of AFL
– Know how to set and use criteria and
rubrics with students

5. BC Ministry of Education
Principles of Learning
Learning requires the active participation of the
student.
People learn in a variety of ways and at
different rates.
Learning is both an individual and a group
process.
Learning is most effective when students
reflect on the process of learning and set
goals for improvement.

6. 3 types of Assessment (IRP)
• Assessment FOR Learning
– Formative Assessment
– Informs students and teachers
• Assessment AS Learning
– Student’s Metacognition
• Assessment OF Learning
– Summative/Final/Official Assessment
– Evaluation of students by teachers

7. What Is Assessment for Learning?
Assessment for learning occurs throughout the learning process. It is
designed to make each student’s understanding visible, so that teachers
can decide what they can do to help students progress. Students learn in
individual and idiosyncratic ways, yet, at the same time, there are
predictable patterns of connections and preconceptions that some
students may experience as they move along the continuum from
emergent to proficient. In assessment for learning, teachers use
assessment as an investigative tool to find out as much as they can
about what their students know and can do, and what confusions,
preconceptions, or gaps they might have.
The wide variety of information that teachers collect about their students’
learning processes provides the basis for determining what they need to
do next to move student learning forward. It provides the basis for
providing descriptive feedback for students and deciding on groupings,
instructional strategies, and resources.
Rethinking Classroom Assessment with Purpose in Mind, Western and Northern
Canadian Protocol (2006), p 29

8. DylanWiliam on Formative
Assessment

9. Rethinking Classroom Assessment with Purpose in Mind, Western and Northern
Canadian Protocol (2006), p 41
What Is Assessment as Learning?
Assessment as learning focusses on students and emphasizes
assessment as a process of metacognition (knowledge of one’s own
thought processes) for students. Assessment as learning emerges from
the idea that learning is not just a matter of transferring ideas from
someone who is knowledgeable to someone who is not, but is an active
process of cognitive restructuring that occurs when individuals interact
with new ideas. Within this view of learning, students are the critical
connectors between assessment and learning. For students to be actively
engaged in creating their own understanding, they must learn to be critical
assessors who make sense of information, relate it to prior knowledge,
and use it for new learning. This is the regulatory process in
metacognition; that is, students become adept at personally monitoring
what they are learning, and use what they discover from the monitoring to
make adjustments, adaptations, and even major changes in their thinking.

10. Rethinking Classroom Assessment with Purpose in Mind, Western and Northern
Canadian Protocol (2006), p 55
What Is Assessment of Learning?
Assessment of learning refers to strategies designed to confirm what
students know, demonstrate whether or not they have met curriculum
outcomes or the goals of their individualized programs, or to certify
proficiency and make decisions about students’ future programs or
placements. It is designed to provide evidence of achievement to parents,
other educators, the students themselves, and sometimes to outside
groups (e.g., employers, other educational institutions).
Assessment of learning is the assessment that becomes public and
results in statements or symbols about how well students are learning. It
often contributes to pivotal decisions that will affect students’ futures. It is
important, then, that the underlying logic and measurement of
assessment of learning be credible and defensible.

11. Some analogies
Damian Cooper

12. Some analogies
Damian Cooper

13. 3 types of Assessment

14. 3 types of Assessment
1 Rick Stiggins 2 Damian Cooper

15. Anne Davies, PhD
http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/1340135/
Assessment_For_Learning
www.wordle.net
“What is Assessment for
Learning?”
http://www.annedavies.com

16. So what?

17. Visible Learning,
John Hattie, (2009)
• 15 years research
• 1 synthesis
• 800 meta-analyses
• 50,000 previous
studies
• 23 million students

18. Visible Learning,
John Hattie, (2009)
• Compelling (definitive?) evidence of
what works and what doesn't:
– What doesn't 'work' includes class
sizes, homework and school type
– Top teaching influences are :
feedback, instructional quality, direct
instruction, remediation feedback,
class environment and challenge of
goals.

19. Visible Learning,
John Hattie, (2009)
Five areas covered in Hattie's latest book are;
Students to develop: a 'positive learning disposition' and to be 'open'
to new learning. They need to develop 'engagement' with learning goals
so as to become 'turned on' so as to gain worthwhile learning.
Homes to be helped develop 'positive parental expectations and
aspirations' as 'positive parent alignment' with school is vital.
Schools to provide a positive, optimistic, invitational, trusting and safe
learning climate. One that welcomes student errors and develops
positive peer influences; that gives both teachers and learner's respect
as learners.
Teachers who are seen by their students as quality teachers. Who
provide clarity of expectations and a belief that all can learn. Teachers
who are 'open' to new ideas, who develop positive learning climate, and
who value the importance of student effort to improve.
A curriculum that is explicit to learners and that provides challenging in
depth experiences.

20. Think, Pair, Share (#1)
What, if anything, is your enduring
understanding, “a-ha”, or topic/idea
you want to know more about from
this section (“Types of
Assessment”)?
Jot down your thoughts on the TPS
slip for discussion in your next
inquiry session.

21. 8 Big Ideas (Damian Cooper)

22. Big Idea #1
Assessment For Learning
AFL: Goal is to promote learning,
not measure it.
AFL: Think “sports”; think
“practice”, not “big game”

23. Big Idea #1
Assessment Of Learning
AFL: Goal is to measure learning
AFL: Think “sports”; think “big
game”—points matter

24. Big Idea #2

25. Big Idea #2
“Backward Design” Program Planning
Stage 1: Identify targetted understandings
(“key” ideas); desired results
Stage 2: Determine appropriate assessment of
those understandings; determine acceptable
evidence
Stage 3: Plan learning experiences and
instruction that make such understanding
possible;
Wiggins and McTighe, Understanding by Design

26. Big Idea #2
“Backward Design” Program Planning
Stage 1: Identify targetted
understandings (“key” ideas); desired
results
Think: MUST  SHOULD  COULD
(Essential  Desirable  Extension)
Wiggins and McTighe, Understanding by Design

27. Big Idea #2
Wiggins and McTighe, Understanding by Design
Stage 2: Determine appropriate assessment of
those understandings; determine acceptable
evidence
We must ask...
What would we accept as evidence that
students have attained the desired
understandings and proficiencies -
BEFORE - proceeding to plan teaching
and learning experiences?

28. Big Idea #3

29. Big Idea #3
Students must experience a balance of:
write
do
say
Look at your assessment methods from a parent’s eyes, as if the
student was your child.

30. Big Idea #3
Teachers, therefore, will need to:
mark
observe
listen

31. Big Idea #4

32. Big Idea #5

33. Big Idea #6

34. Big Idea #6
Assessment is NOT something we
doTO students, it’s something
we do WITH students.
e.g. conferences, checklists, teams
Wiggins: Root of word “assessment” ≠ evaluate,
judge. It comes from “to sit beside”

35. Big Idea #6
…becomes Assessment AS
Learning.
Develops students’:
• skills of metacognition
• critical thinking skills
• communication and interpersonal
skills

36. Big Idea #7

37. Big Idea #7
“Students have to know what
excellence looks like!”
3 ways of doing this:
Rubrics
Rubrics
Rubrics

38. “Most students can hit the
target if they can see it clearly
and it stays still for them.”
Rick Stiggins

39. Big Idea #8

40. Big Idea #8
• Has little (nothing?) to
do with teaching and
learning!
• Teacher as Accountant
• Do this infrequently, but
thoroughly!

41. Think, Pair, Share (#2)
What, if anything, is your enduring
understanding, “a-ha”, or topic/idea
you want to know more about from
this section (“8 Big Ideas”)?
Jot down your thoughts on the TPS
slip for discussion in your next
inquiry session.

42. 6 Strategies (Faye Brownlie)
• Learning Intentions
• Criteria
• Questions
• Descriptive Feedback
• Peer & Self Assessment
• Ownership
http://bcelc.insinc.com/webcastseries/20080416/archive.html 9 min

43. 1. Learning Intentions
= clear statements of what
students are expected to learn
and be able to do.

44. Some thoughts on
Learning Intentions
• Select key outcomes from
curriculum documents for students
to learn
• Keep the number small enough for
the brain to handle (3-5 for a unit)
• Talk with students about the
importance of knowing the
destination

45. Some thoughts on
Learning Intentions
• Record and post learning intentions
• Put each learning intention into a
bigger picture of “why” students
might want to learn it
• Keep bringing students’ focus back
to the learning intentions during
the lesson/task

46. Learning Intentions
Some tricks
• TSWBAT
• OLI the Owl
• Traffic lights
• Rubrics
– I don’t get it/can’t do it.
– I need some help with it
– I get it/can do it on my own.
• “INTU”’s: “I need to understand…”

47. 2. Criteria
• Criteria is what’s important or
what counts in an activity/task.
Students of all ages need a
clear understanding of the
criteria by which AND the level
to which their work will be
assessed.

48. Some thoughts on
Criteria
• Talk with learners about what
criteria is and what’s in it for them.
• Limit the number of criteria so the
brain can remember what’s
important
• Connect criteria to learning in
order to get to “what counts”

49. Some thoughts on
Criteria
• Post criteria in the classroom and
refer to it before, during, and/or
after the task
• Make criteria easier to understand
by getting concrete (through
language, through student work
samples, through concrete objects)

50. Setting Criteria:
Some tricks
• Show samples from previous years at
different levels of achievement/
performance
• Set criteria WITH the students. Lead a
discussion where students:
– Rank the samples from best to worst
– Brainstorm what made each sample better/worse
– Generate criteria from this brainstorming on what
makes an “excellent” piece of work
– Create a rubric based on this.

51. Rubrics
BothQuantityAND
Quality
EitherQuantityOR
Quality
NeitherQuantityNOR
Quality
Connection,
Sophistication,
Elaboration
4 3 2 1
Excellent NYMFully Meeting Meeting
Content
Format

52. In each of BC’s IRP’s.

53. Some sample rubrics

54. Some sample rubrics
8
8
4
20
7
6
3.5
17.5

55. Some sample rubrics

56. It’s easy!
• RubiStar is a free tool to help the
teacher who wants to use rubrics, but
does not have the time to develop them
from scratch.
• http://rubistar.4teachers.org
• Use 99999 as non-USA zip code
• CAUTION: not precise. Use as a
starting point (inspiration) for planning.
• IRPs have GREAT samples and models.

57. “Unless we specify to students what
the criteria for learning are, they
will continue to be mystified as to
what they are to do and what is is
they are learning.”
Grant Wiggins, 1992

58. People perform better
when they know the
goal(s), see models, know
how their performance
compares to the criteria.

59. 3. Questions
• Can be used to find out what
students know or to help them
think.
• Ask more questions to help
learners think.
• Involve students more in asking
their own questions.

60. Some thoughts on
Questions
• Talk with students about types of
questions
– Questions to find out what you know
(What? How? Why?)
– Questions to help you learn (How?)
• Give learners a brief time to think and/
or talk with a peer before inviting
responses (3-5 seconds; Most teachers
give 1 second or less Wiliam).

61. Some thoughts on
Questions
• Teach learners appropriate non-
judgmental ways to build on,
disagree, and support responses of
peers so that questions lead to
effective classroom discussion.
• Use Bloom’s taxonomy; seek higher
order questions where possible.

62. Bloom’s Taxonomy - revised
1956 2001

63. Bloom’s Taxonomy

64. Some thoughts on
Questions
• Don’t answer for your students.
• Refrain from being the arbiter of
right & wrong
• Don’t repeat students’ responses
 Empower the students
 Have them own it!
 Make them work harder, not you!

65. Questions
Some tricks
• Use ideas such as “hands down” or “all
write” to encourage participation
• Popsicle sticks (nested cans)
• If a student says “I don’t know”, say
you’ll go back to them after 2 more
people; if they say they still don’t know,
ask them to state their favourite
response from the others and tell why.

67. "Good teaching is more
a giving of right
questions than a giving
of right answers."
Josef Albers

68. 4. Descriptive Feedback
• Is non-judgmental given to the
learner about:
– What is working
– What’s not working
– What’s next

69. Descriptive Feedback
Must be:
• Specific
• Explicit
• Timely
• Focused on the skill not the product
– Direct student’s attention to their
work, rather than to their mistakes

70. Some thoughts on
Descriptive Feedback
• Talk with students about the
differences between descriptive
(neutral, objective) and evaluative
(subjective, judgmental) feedback
• Give students oral and written
descriptive feedback in relation to the
agreed upon criteria
• Give at least double the # of strengths
before focussing on an area(s) of
improvement

71. Some thoughts on
Descriptive Feedback
• Make specific suggestion(s) for next
steps that are easy for students to
understand
• Give students time in class to use the
descriptive feedback to make changes
• Teach students to use multiple sources
of descriptive feedback such as self,
peer, student created rubrics,
anonymous work samples, and immediate
answers

72. Dylan Wiliam on Feedback

73. 5. Peer and Self Assessment
• Refers to students giving
themselves and peers information
or feedback to help support
learning.
• The feedback required is
descriptive rather than evaluative.
• Make students active players (BC
Principle of Learning)

74. Some thoughts on Peer & Self
Assessment
• Talk with learners about the
importance of receiving feedback
from themselves and from their
peers to support learning
• Teach students to use words from
the class-set criteria to offer
descriptive feedback to peers and
self

75. Some thoughts on Peer & Self
Assessment
• Make it very clear to learners that
their role is to offer useful
information rather than making
judgments that rank and sort
• Establish a pattern for peer
feedback such as identify 2 or 3
strengths before giving one
suggestion for improvement

76. 6. Ownership
• Is strongly connected to
motivation and engagement.
• One way students demonstrate
ownership is when they show
and talk about their own
learning with others.

77. Some thoughts on Ownership
• Give students clear information up
front about what it is they are
supposed to learn so they can take
a lead role in monitoring their own
learning
• Increase ownership by involving
learners in the development of
criteria

78. Some thoughts on Ownership
• Teach students self assessment skills so
they can take more responsibility for
their own learning
• Have students collect concrete
examples of their own learning so they
can see their growth over time
• Establish times and routines where all
students show and talk about their work
with their families and other adults.

79. Dylan Wiliam on AFL Strategies

80. AFL: “Look fors” to see if
you’re doing it:
1. Do I routinely share learning goals
with my students so they know where
we are heading? Intentions
2. Do I routinely communicate to
students the standards they are
aiming for before they begin work on
a task? Criteria
3. Do I routinely have students self and
peer assess their work in ways that
improve their learning? S & P
Damien Cooper

81. AFL: “Look fors” to see if
you’re doing it:
4. Does my questioning technique include all
students and promote increased
understanding? Questions
5. Do I routinely provide individual feedback to
students that informs them how to improve?
Feedback
6. Do I routinely provide opportunities for
students to make use of this feedback to
improve specific pieces of work?
Ownership
(Can the student “re-submit” work? Allow them to do so
provided they attach a note directing the teacher to what
they did to improve it.)
Damien Cooper

82. Think, Pair, Share (#3)
What, if anything, is your enduring
understanding, “a-ha”, or topic/idea
you want to know more about from
this section (“6 Strategies”)?
Jot down your thoughts on the TPS
slip for discussion in your next
inquiry session.

83. What does it all mean?
• “Teaching” can only truly be called
“teaching” when it results in
learning. It is a means to an end.
• What we often call “teaching” is
merely a set of activities and
strategies “teachers” choose to use
to bring forth that learning.

84. Showing
Providing
opportunities
Repeating
Giving Experiences
Sharing Feedback
Rehearsing
Modelling
Demonstrating
Motivating
Telling
Practising
Inspiring
Activating prior
knowledge
Engaging
Lecturing
Questioning
Coaching
Guiding

85. What does it all mean?
• Doing all these things does not
guarantee learning.
• The activities and strategies
chosen by the teacher must be
determined by the needs of each
learner.
• The art of teaching is knowing
which activities best suit the
learner.

86. "We think too much about
effective methods of
teaching and not enough
about effective methods of
learning."
John Carolus S. J.

87. Concept Retention: What will a
learner remember 24 hours later?
90%
80%
50%
20%
10%
hear
see & hear
write/talk/sketch
teach/demonstrate
present
Debbie Walsh (1986),
Conference on Critical Thinking

88. Coincidence?
Creating
Evaluating
Analyzing
Applying
Understanding
Remembering
hear
see & hear
write/talk/sketch
teach/demonstrate
present

89. Always ask WHY?
• Why are you teaching a given concept?
(Purpose/Big idea)
– Why am I asking the students to:
• Spell correctly?
• Colour their work?
• Hand in work on time?
• Do homework?
• Is it a key concept/enduring
understanding or just an activity?
(Intention)

90. Always ask Why?
• Are you “counting” homework?
WHY?
– What is the purpose of
homework?
• Practice?
• To complete an assignment?

91. Always ask Why?
• Are you “counting” effort?
WHY?
– What about the student who does
not seem to have to put forth
much effort to fully demonstrate
understanding of the PLOs?
– Judging effort is highly
subjective.

92. Always ask Why?
• Are you “counting” attendance
or participation? WHY?
– What about the student who can
fully demonstrate understanding
of the PLOs without even
attending?
– Ask how participation is part of
the PLOs.

93. Always ask Why?
• More on participation:
– If students believe they are
being “marked” on everything
they say or do in class, they may
fear making mistakes and will stop
making attempts or taking risks.
– They will shut down!

94. Then what have you
done to their
learning???

95. Think, Pair, Share (#4)
What, if anything, is your enduring
understanding, “a-ha”, or topic/idea
you want to know more about from
this section (“Teaching & Learning”)?
Jot down your thoughts on the TPS
slip for discussion in your next
inquiry session.

96. 2 Main Goals (Damian Cooper)
1. Make sure assessment is good for kids
• Relevant
• Meaningful
• Flexible
• Results in increased learning
2. Make sure assessment is efficient and
effective for the teacher
• Examine your practice
• E.g. rubrics
• Cause the students to think (don’t do the work
for them)
• Work smarter, not harder

97. Effective teachers:
• Are self-reflective
• Put their students’ learning needs first
• Focus on the learning vs the teaching
• Are more concerned with learning than with marks
• Give lots of practice with lots of descriptive
feedback before “the big game”
• Leave their ego at the door (It’s not about you; it’s
about them !)
• Collaborate with colleagues to form Professional
Learning Communities
• Are open to changing their practice
• Are life-long learners
• Take risks
• Don’t give up! (Be resourceful & creative)

98. None of this is meaningful unless
you do something with it.
Ask yourself, “So now what?”
What one thing will you actually
do with what you have heard so
far today?

99. “Who dares to teach must
never cease to learn.”
John Cotton Dana

100. Resources
• “Rethinking Classroom Assessment with Purpose in
Mind” (Western and Northern Canadian Protocol)
(http://www.wncp.ca/media/40539/rethink.pdf)
• BC Ministry of Education
– Classroom Assessment and Student Reporting
(http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/classroom_assessment/)
– Performance Standards (
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/perf_stands/)
– IRPs (http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/irp.htm)
• www.annedavies.com
• “Talk About Assessment: Strategies and Tools to
Improve Learning”, Damian Cooper, 2007, Nelson
• Learning About Learning video series. Learning and
Teaching Scotland,
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/learningaboutlearning/
index.asp

104. Session Evaluation