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Growing Success: Assessment, Evaluation, and Reporting in Ontario Schools, First Edition, Covering Grades 1 to 12, 2010 sets out the Ministry of Education's assessment, evaluation, and reporting policy. The policy aims to maintain high standards, improve student learning, and benefit students, parents, and teachers in elementary and secondary schools across the province.

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About Assessment

This resource focuses on assessment practices and includes information on the types of classroom assessment; the purpose of classroom assessment; the assessment process; and assessment strategies and tools.

Please select a section from the table of contents to read more about assessment.

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This resource focuses on assessment practices and includes information on the types of classroom assessment; the purpose of classroom assessment; the assessment process; and assessment strategies and tools. Please select a section from the table of contents to read more about assessment.

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Formative assessment is a proven technique for improving student learning, and the strategies shared here by Jay McTighe work both in the classroom and remotely.

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Feedback is information linked to success criteria students and teachers share during learning so that students can close the gap between their current level of performance and the learning goals.

A video viewing guide exists to support the use of these videos in a professional learning setting. To access the viewing guides, please visit our Professional Learning Facilitators' section of this site.

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Feedback is information linked to success criteria students and teachers share during learning so that students can close the gap between their current level of performance and the learning goals. A video viewing guide exists to support the use of these videos in a professional learning setting.

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Even though constructivist learning theorists for many decades promoted the benefits of self-directed learning or autodidactism it wasn't until the COVID crisis of 2020 and the mass forced remote learning that most educators had realized that too many students were not suited or prepared to learn online. Why? Justin Reich (2020) points to research in his book, A Failure to Disrupt: Why Technology Alone Can't Transform Education, which shows that the learners who are most successful in an online or blended environment that requires self-pacing and personal motivation are those who are already successful in school. These self-directed, self-motivated, and academically prepared learners will succeed in any learning environment because they know how to learn and assess the quality of their own work. The problem that we face is that the vast majority of students are dependent on their teachers to direct their learning and to administer standardized testing. If autodidactic learners are able to learn in any type of environment then we should be asking how do we help our learners become autodidacts and adopt a learner's mindset. I have explored this notion further in the post, We Need More Autodidacts and the related Learner's Mindset Discussion.

Our research in the Digital Learning and Leading (DLL) program at Lamar University, our experience in the School of Instructor Education at Vancouver Community college over the past several years, and several decades of related research and experience in a wide variety of learning environments have confirmed that if you create a significant learning environment where you give your learners choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning opportunities (CSLE+COVA) you can incorporate assessment FOR/AS learning which can help shift a learner toward a learner's mindset. We have also learned through our experience and research that incorporating feedforward or educative formative assessment will also help to continue that shift toward the learner's mindset. By giving learners choice over most aspects of their learning experience and through the use of authentic learning opportunities and ePortfolios, our students over the past several years have incorporated many aspects of the assessment as learning perspective which are essential to the learner's mindset.

Unfortunately, all too often there is a very different learning environment that our students experience in the courses and programs I have developed and instructed than the type of the learning environment that my students are able to create for their learners in their organizations. Finding the right balance between assessment of learning, assessment for learning, and assessment as learning is one more factor that plays a significant role in the learning environment. In much the same way that we have explored and differentiated the role of choice, ownership, and voice through authentic learning opportunities we have to do the same for assessment OF/FOR/AS learning.

Rather than add to the decades of literature on assessment OF/FOR/AS learning I will draw upon the key ideas and summarize the salient points that are most important to contributing to a significant learning environment.

For those who prefer a more typical written definition the New South Wales (Australia) Education Standards Authority (2017) provide a good summary of "assessment for, as, and of learning"

Assessment of learning assists teachers in using evidence of student learning to assess achievement against outcomes and standards. Sometimes referred to as 'summative assessment', it usually occurs at defined key points during a teaching work or at the end of a unit, term or semester, and may be used to rank or grade students. The effectiveness of assessment of learning for grading or ranking purposes depends on the validity, reliability, and weighting placed on any one task. Its effectiveness as an opportunity for learning depends on the nature and quality of the feedback.

Assessment for learning involves teachers using evidence about students' knowledge, understanding, and skills to inform their teaching. Sometimes referred to as 'formative assessment', it usually occurs throughout the teaching and learning process to clarify student learning and understanding.

Assessment as learning occurs when students are their own assessors. Students monitor their own learning, ask questions and use a range of strategies to decide what they know and can do, and how to use assessment for new learning.

The following assessment OF/FOR/AS learning table is a compilation of from a wide variety of resources that goes a bit further than simple definitions (Chappuis et al., 2012; Fenwick & Parsons, 2009; McNamee & Chen, 2005; Rowe, 2012; Schraw, 2001; Sparks, 1999):

If we want to encourage our learners to become more autodidactic it would then seem reasonable to shift from assessment of learning to assessment for learning and ultimately get to assessment as learning. We see this perspective from Lorna Earl (2012) in her highly cited text Assessment as Learning: Using Classroom Assessment to Maximise Student Learning.

Earl's assessment pyramids are featured in many different sources and her argument that the traditional assessment of learning is the dominant form of assessment is widely accepted. Even though she calls for a balance in the use of assessment of/for/as learning her revised assessment pyramid that replaces assessment of learning with assessment as learning as the base of the pyramid still doesn't represent a realistic balance nor an effective way to incorporate assessment into the learning environment.

Rather than view assessment of/for/as learning as hierarchical it may be more effective to view assessment of/for/as learning more holistically as more of an interplay of assessment within the learning environment. The National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in Ireland (2017) offers a wonderful perspective on assessment of/for/as learning that emphasizes the interplay of the different types of assessment and the key roles that the assessment and the people involved play.

While some learning theorists may desire to craft a potential learning environment that uses assessment as learning, the reality we face, and that our learners face is not theoretical. We live in a world where we use credentialing exams and other forms of standardized testing and while we have seen a recent move toward implementing formative feedback most educators' reality reveals that assessment of learning dominates. Moving toward assessment for learning and assessment as learning will only be possible if we look at the bigger picture. We need to help educators to recognize that we are not asking for a full pendulum swing away from assessment of learning to assessment as learning with assessment for learning somewhere in the middle. We are acknowledging that an interplay of all three is not only realistic it will be the most productive approach to improving the learning environment.

We must also acknowledge that our teaching and learning environment are dramatically influenced by the assessments we use. If we consider assessment of/for/as learning as an integral part of the learning environment and we look to fully integrate assessment as part of the learning process then we do our learners justice by helping them to experience a balance in the assessment of/for/as learning. If we model an integrated approach to assessment of/for/as learning then we will be equipping our learners so that they too can integrate assessment of/for/as learning into their own learning environments that they create for their learners.

While this more focused examination of assessment of/for/as learning may provide a novel perspective for some, we have been incorporating the assessment of/for/as learning inter-relationship in the creation of our significant learning environments and when we give learners choice, ownership and voice through authentic learning. This assessment as learning perspective is a practical way to move into what the researcher Mizerow would argue is transformational learning. Mizerow (2000 & 2010) argues that you do not learn things until you tell someone about what you have learned. The transformation to deeper learning happens in the reflective process and the sharing of your learning process with others.

The entire shift toward the learner's mindset includes the shift toward assessment as learning and you and the following posts and video are a few examples of how we have been supporting and exploring how to help learners become self-directed or autodidactic.

Related posts:
References
Alberta Education. (2003). Types of classroom Assessment http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/mewa/html/assessment/types.html

Assessment OF/FOR/AS Learning. (2017, March). [National Forum]. The National Forum for the enhancement of teaching and learning in higher education. https://www.teachingandlearning.ie/our-priorities/student-success/assessment-of-for-as-learning/

Chappuis, J., Stiggins, R. J., Chappuis, S., & Arter, J. (2012). Classroom assessment for student learning: Doing it right-using it well. Pearson Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Earl, L. M. (2012). Assessment as learning: Using classroom assessment to maximize student learning. Corwin Press.

Earl, L. M., & Manitoba School Programs Division. (2006). Rethinking classroom assessment with purpose in mind: Assessment for learning, assessment as learning, assessment of learning. Manitoba

Education, Citizenship and Youth. https://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/assess/wncp/index.html

Fenwick, T. J., & Parsons, J. (2009). The art of evaluation: A resource for educators and trainers. Thompson Educational Publishing.

McNamee, G. D., & Chen, J.-Q. (2005). Dissolving the Line between assessment and teaching. Educational Leadership, 63(3), 72-76.

Mezirow, J. (2000). Learning as transformation: Critical perspectives on a theory in progress. Jossey-Bass Publishers. San Francisco, CA.

National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. (2017, March 30). Expanding our Understanding of Assessment and Feedback in Irish Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.teachingandlearning.ie/publication/expanding-our-understanding-of-assessment-and-feedback-in-irish-higher-education/.

NSW Education Standards Authority. (n.d.). Assessment For, As and of Learning. Retrieved December 7, 2020, from https://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/portal/nesa/k-10/understanding-the-curriculum/assessment/approaches

Rowe, J. (2012). Assessment as learning-ETEC 510. http://etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/Assessment_as_Learning

Schraw, G. (2001). Promoting general metacognitive awareness. In Metacognition in learning and instruction (pp. 3-16). Springer.

Sparks, D. (1999). Assessment without victims: An interview with Rick Stiggins. Journal of Staff Development, 20, 54-56.

Revised Feb 21, 2021

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Even though constructivist learning theorists for many decades promoted the benefits of self-directed learning or autodidactism it wasn't until the COVID crisis of 2020 and the mass forced remote l...

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"Support Every Child, Reach Every Student" is the goal outlined by the Ontario Ministry of Education. The goal of education is to improve student learning and prepare students for the world beyond the classroom. Learning takes many forms; however, in the classroom learning is guided by effective and well-planned assessments to guide student learning.

Assessment is much more than receiving a sticker for a job well done or a game on your report card. In fact, this type of assessment does little to motivate students intrinsically and provides no feedback for improvement. In order to improve, students require meaningful feedback on an ongoing basis in the form of next steps. On a daily basis, teachers must plan meaningful activities which provide evidence of student learning and progress and must somehow record these learning through the use of observation checklists, anecdotal notes, rubric, inventories and more.

There are three types of assessment and three overarching goals for these assessments. Teachers must integrate these types of assessment into their classrooms on a daily basis to inform instruction and guide students to reach their full potential. The three types of assessment are outlined in the "Growing Success" document on page 31.

Effective teachers use a variety of assessments on an ongoing basis.
Assessment for learning Below is a breakdown of the three types of assessment - assessment AS learning, assessment FOR learning, and assessment OF learning and various assessment tools that teachers can use to gather data for each type of assessment.

Diagnostic Assessment (ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING)

Diagnostic assessments are carried out at the beginning of the school year or at the beginning of a unit to determine a child's strengths, needs and areas of interest. These assessments provide feedback for future learning. Diagnostic assessment tools for reading include but are not limited to... Formative Assessment (ASSESSMENT AS LEARNING)

Formative assessments are ongoing assessments that are carried out throughout a unit to assess a child's progress and to help teachers plan future lessons. Formative assessments may be conducted by the teacher, student or a peer. Formative assessment tools for reading include but are not limited to...

Think-Pair-Share
Guided reading groups
Oral Reading (with teacher or peer)
Word Sorts (word families, prefix, suffixes)
BAS, PM Benchmark or Running Records
Comprehension worksheets or activities
Student-Teacher Conferences
Reading Journal Responses
Quizzes
Exit Slips

Word Recognition Tests
BAS, PM Benchmark or Running Records
Oral Reading
Observational Notes
Word Wall Word Recognition
Sound/Letter Recognition
Reading Checklists
KWL Charts

Summative Assessment (ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING)

Summative assessments occur at the end of a unit to get a better understanding of what the child learned throughout the unit in comparison to the curriculum expectations. Summative evaluations are carried out to provide a mark for a child's report card. Summative assessment tools for reading include but are not limited to...

Reading Portfolio
BAS, PM Benchmark or Running Records
Reading Reflections
Book Reports
KWL Charts
Mind Maps
Dramatizations

The purpose of assessment is to improve student learning. Here is a diagram of how assessment has occurred in the past with ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING occurring most often. The second image is a reconfigured pyramid to show ASSESSMENT OF learning occurring the least- with ASSESSMENT AS LEARNING taking place in the classroom most often.

"Ongoing descriptive feedback linked specifically to the learning goals and success criteria is a powerful tool for improving student learning and is fundamental to building a culture of learning within the classroom " (Growing Success, 2010, p. 34). Assessments must include effective and meaningful feedback to challenge students to grow academically. To ensure student success, teachers must make success criteria known to students prior to assessments in a language the students understand.

Various assessment tools can be used for various reasons; it is the way teachers will collect, analyze and react to the data that dictates which type of assessment the teacher should carry out at a given time in the classroom.

To ensure teachers are using assessment tools (rubrics, checklists, observation checklists and more), teachers are encouraged to collaborate with one another through teacher moderation to assess and adjust assessments of reading. When teachers collaborate with one another, their teaching practices improve and so too does student learning.

When preparing a lesson for students, ask yourself:
1. What is it that I want students to learn?
2. How will I assess student learning?
3. What is the purpose of the assessment tool I am using? (AS, FOR, OF learning)
4. How will I support future learning for all students?
5. What will I do with the data I collect through the assessment?
6. How can I make my expectations and the success criteria known to students?

Now that you know more about the different types of assessment and the purposes of assessment:
1. What do you feel is the most important type of assessment and why?
2. How could you use the same assessment tool in your classroom as assessment for, assessment as and assessment of learning?
3. What is one thing that you would still like to learn more about and who could you speak to or where could you go to find out more?

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"Support Every Child, Reach Every Student" is the goal outlined by the Ontario Ministry of Education. The goal of education is to improve student learning and prepare students for the world beyond the classroom. Learning takes many forms; however, in the classroom learning is guided by effective and well-planned assessments to guide student learning.

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Formative assessment-discovering what students know while they're still in the process of learning it-can be tricky. Designing just the right assessment can feel high stakes-for teachers, not students-because we're using it to figure out what comes next. Are we ready to move on? Do our students need a different path into the concepts? Or, more likely, which students are ready to move on and which need a different path?

When it comes to figuring out what our students really know, we have to look at more than one kind of information. A single data point-no matter how well designed the quiz, presentation, or problem behind it-isn't enough information to help us plan the next step in our instruction.

Add to that the fact that different learning tasks are best measured in different ways, and we can see why we need a variety of formative assessment tools we can deploy quickly, seamlessly, and in a low-stakes way-all while not creating an unmanageable workload. That's why it's important to keep it simple: Formative assessments generally just need to be checked, not graded, as the point is to get a basic read on the progress of individuals, or the class as a whole.

7 Approaches to Formative Assessment

1. Entry and exit slips: Those marginal minutes at the beginning and end of class can provide some great opportunities to find out what kids remember. Start the class off with a quick question about the previous day's work while students are getting settled-you can ask differentiated questions written out on chart paper or projected on the board, for example.

A quick way to see the big picture if you use paper exit tickets is to sort the papers into three piles: Students got the point; they sort of got it; and they didn't get it. The size of the stacks is your clue about what to do next.

No matter the tool, the key to keeping students engaged in the process of just-walked-in or almost-out-the-door formative assessment is the questions. Ask students to write for one minute on the most meaningful thing they learned. You can try prompts like:

What are three things you learned, two things you're still curious about, and one thing you don't understand?

How would you have done things differently today, if you had the choice?

What I found interesting about this work was...

Right now I'm feeling...

Today was hard because...

Or skip the words completely and have students draw or circle emojis to represent their assessment of their understanding.

2. Low-stakes quizzes and polls: If you want to find out whether your students really know as much as you think they know, polls and quizzes created with Socrative or Quizlet or in-class games and tools like Quizalize, Kahoot, FlipQuiz, Gimkit, Plickers, and Flippity can help you get a better sense of how much they really understand. (Grading quizzes but assigning low point values is a great way to make sure students really try: The quizzes matter, but an individual low score can't kill a student's grade.) Kids in many classes are always logged in to these tools, so formative assessments can be done very quickly. Teachers can see each kid's response, and determine both individually and in aggregate how students are doing.

Because you can design the questions yourself, you determine the level of complexity. Ask questions at the bottom of Bloom's taxonomy and you'll get insight into what facts, vocabulary terms, or processes kids remember. Ask more complicated questions ("What advice do you think Katniss Everdeen would offer Scout Finch if the two of them were talking at the end of chapter 3?"), and you'll get more sophisticated insights.

3. Dipsticks: So-called alternative formative assessments are meant to be as easy and quick as checking the oil in your car, so they're sometimes referred to as dipsticks. These can be things like asking students to:

write a letter explaining a key idea to a friend,

draw a sketch to visually represent new knowledge, or

do a think, pair, share exercise with a partner.

Your own observations of students at work in class can provide valuable data as well, but they can be tricky to keep track of. Taking quick notes on a tablet or smartphone, or using a copy of your roster, is one approach. A focused observation form is more formal and can help you narrow your note-taking focus as you watch students work.

4. Interview assessments: If you want to dig a little deeper into students' understanding of content, try discussion-based assessment methods. Casual chats with students in the classroom can help them feel at ease even as you get a sense of what they know, and you may find that five-minute interview assessments work really well. Five minutes per student would take quite a bit of time, but you don't have to talk to every student about every project or lesson.

You can also shift some of this work to students using a peer-feedback process called TAG feedback (Tell your peer something they did well, Ask a thoughtful question, Give a positive suggestion). When you have students share the feedback they have for a peer, you gain insight into both students' learning.

For more introverted students-or for more private assessments-use Flipgrid, Explain Everything, or Seesaw to have students record their answers to prompts and demonstrate what they can do.

5. Methods that incorporate art: Consider using visual art or photography or videography as an assessment tool. Whether students draw, create a collage, or sculpt, you may find that the assessment helps them synthesize their learning. Or think beyond the visual and have kids act out their understanding of the content. They can create a dance to model cell mitosis or act out stories like Ernest Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" to explore the subtext.

6. Misconceptions and errors: Sometimes it's helpful to see if students understand why something is incorrect or why a concept is hard. Ask students to explain the " muddiest point" in the lesson-the place where things got confusing or particularly difficult or where they still lack clarity. Or do a misconception check: Present students with a common misunderstanding and ask them to apply previous knowledge to correct the mistake, or ask them to decide if a statement contains any mistakes at all, and then discuss their answers.

You can use sticky notes to get a quick insight into what areas your kids think they need to work on. Ask them to pick their own trouble spot from three or four areas where you think the class as a whole needs work, and write those areas in separate columns on a whiteboard. Have you students answer on a sticky note and then put the note in the correct column-you can see the results at a glance.

Several self-assessments let the teacher see what every kid thinks very quickly. For example, you can use colored stacking cups that allow kids to flag that they're all set (green cup), working through some confusion (yellow), or really confused and in need of help (red).

Similar strategies involve using participation cards for discussions (each student has three cards-"I agree," "I disagree," and "I don't know how to respond") and thumbs-up responses (instead of raising a hand, students hold a fist at their belly and put their thumb up when they're ready to contribute). Students can instead use six hand gestures to silently signal that they agree, disagree, have something to add, and more. All of these strategies give teachers an unobtrusive way to see what students are thinking.

No matter which tools you select, make time to do your own reflection to ensure that you're only assessing the content and not getting lost in the assessment fog. If a tool is too complicated, is not reliable or accessible, or takes up a disproportionate amount of time, it's OK to put it aside and try something different.

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7 Smart, Fast Ways to Do Formative Assessment

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Within these methods you'll find close to 40 tools and tricks for finding out what your students know while they're still learning.

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In his blog about The importance of the right questions in teaching, Dylan Wiliam talks about how he used to ask whole class questions:

"I would make up a question right there and then, which I would then ask the class. Typically four or five students would raise their hands, and I would select one of those students for a response. If the answer was correct, I would say, "Good" and move on. In other words, I was using the response of a single student-a single, confident, generally high-achieving student at that-to make a decision about the learning needs of thirty or thirty-five students."

He goes on to discuss the usefulness of a well-designed hinge-point question in determining next steps. Hinge-point questions are a multiple choice question that you ask your students when you reach the point in a lesson when you need to check if students are ready to move on, and if yes, in which direction.

There are a wide number of ways you can respond as a teacher to the evidence elicited from using hinge point questions. If all the class show they understand the concept, move on in the teaching. If there is a mixture of those that understood and did not understand the concept:

move the ones who understood on and do additional support work with those that didn't understand.

get those that understood to work in groups and explain/teach those that didn't.

get those that understood to apply their learning in different contexts/produce their own examples using the idea, whilst supporting those that did not understand.

have consolidation/challenging questions ready and regroup the room to allow students to discuss ideas in small groups.

use different out of class learning to either consolidate or challenge depending on answers.

If no one understood the concept, plan to teach the idea in a different way to the first time.

Collecting answers

The most important thing is that the students can reply quickly and the teacher can make sense of replies in a very short time so as not to interrupt the learning. There are a range of ideas and all have benefits and limitations. Ideas include:

Plickers - a tool that lets teachers collect real-time formative assessment data without the need for student devices.

ZipGrade - a tool that lets teachers collect real-time formative assessment data without the need for student devices.

Finger voting.

Mini white boards.

ABCD cards.

Supporting course

Our Introducing Assessment for Learning course explains the role of diagnostic questioning and the use of hinge-point questions in more detail.

Compile

Above are some ideas for a diagnostic activities that you could use. There are many others - and you will encounter some more in the upcoming steps. Please use the space below to add to a bank of ideas for collecting evidence of students thinking.

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In his blog about The importance of the right questions in teaching, Dylan Wiliam talks about how he used to ask whole class questions: "I would make up a question right there and then, which I would then ask the class.

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Scroll down for PPTS that goes over the basics of formative assessments.

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Whether you are a beginning teacher, or an experienced teacher who wants to think more deeply about classroom assessment, these professional learning modules are for you!

The goal of AAC professional learning is to provide food for thought. Whether you are browsing these materials on your own, or looking for something to use for a conversation with colleagues, we're confident you will find something here to spark your curiosity and deepen your understanding of classroom assessment.

And when you're ready to move beyond Assessment 101, there are plenty of other professional learning modules on the site to help you continue on your assessment journey.

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Assessment 101 - Alberta Assessment Consortium

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Key Principles of Assessment - from the AAC Perspective Whether you are a beginning teacher, or an experienced teacher who wants to think more deeply about classroom assessment, these professional learning modules are for you! The goal of AAC professional learning is to provide food for thought.