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Needs assessment and situational analysis

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Needs assessment and situational analysis

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The items below come from our needs assessment and situational analysis work. They are part action plan, part goal statements, part final recommendations.

1. Teachers should use a variety of formative assessment methods (techniques) flexibly as students are learning.
2. Teachers should believe (or accept in practice) that formative assessment is THE aspect of teaching and public education that brings together student-centred (progressive) and curriculum-focused (traditional) approaches to teaching and learning, with the student in the centre.
3. Teachers should be confident and able to create their own formative assessments.
4. Teachers should have ready-to-go formative assessment materials available to them that match the learning outcomes of the Australian Curriculum and the curriculum of the school.
5. Teachers should be confident and able to make accurate assessments of students learning and achievement in all specific learning outcomes of their subject.
6. Teachers should be provided with and know how to use learning achievement standards specific to each and every learning outcome of the Australian Curriculum and the curriculum of the school.
7. Schools (including teachers) should have an use reporting systems that make learning and achievement identified through formative assessment visible to all parties (students, teachers, school, parents, media, government etc.).
8. Schools (including teachers) should be committed to using formative assessment (which may be supplemented by internal summative assessment) as the context against which other standardised and external assessment is interpreted.
9. Students and other non-school parties with an interest in students’ learning and achievement should be aware of, be able to access and be able to interpret reporting of student learning and achievement that is based on formative assessment in the classroom.
10. Teachers should support and be supported by networks of teachers at the local, regional, state, and national levels to share and improve formative assessment strategies and materials.

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Visual reporting of formative assessment

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Visual reporting of formative assessment

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When I think about how to record and report via formative assessment, I think of a “graph” like this. There is a general flow from left to right, but nothing is strictly linear or sequential. Green means the learning has been demonstrated through formative assessment. Yellow means an attempt was made but it didn’t meet the expected standard.

I think something like this could be part of the “tool set” for teachers to use. It is also valuable to students themselves, school leadership, parents and community.

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Possible solutions to administering more formative assessment in clasrrooms

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Possible solutions to administering more formative assessment in clasrrooms

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A recognised Formative Assessment Schedule would be an effective tool for schools to assess and report the academic performance of its cohorts through routine formative assessments (in targeted academic disciplines) during the course of an academic year.

Linking schools (within districts/ territories and socio-economic standing) will improve support networks and allow consultancy and moderation groups to maintain and improve formative assessment standards.  It can also provide comprehensive information for district performance.

A professional body, employed at the school, can administer and report formative assessments.  The staff work loading would need to be negotiated by the school’s administration, to reflect the effort and resources required to administer a schedule.

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Using more Formative Assessment in the classroom

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Using more Formative Assessment in the classroom

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Professional trust should exist in the school’s administration and staff to administer a schedule of formative assessments.  This recognises that schools have the ability to collect and report accurate information that takes into account the broader learning performance and experiences of its students.

It provides schools with comprehensive opportunities and strategies to validate, assess and improve learning performance through structured formative assessments that is more indicative of the needs and abilities of the students during the course of an academic year, rather than solely relying on NAPLAN and OLNA.

"Results" can be reported and interpreted in line with established national standardised testing, such as NAPLAN and OLNA.

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Schools, students, parents/caregivers and stakeholders are concerned with the emphasis that is being placed on national standardised testing, such as NAPLAN and OLNA, and the impact this has when assessing school performance.

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Students
Teachers
Parents
Policy makers
Administration
Media
Post education facilities

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Summative assessments can provide motivation for students who thrive on recognised rewards.
The summative assessment can be used as a classroom management mode to keep students on task.
Students and parents see Summative assessment as a clear indication of success.
Formative assessments could be perceived by to be less rigorous, limited/inconsistent in their delivery, opaque, time consuming and may not necessarily provide more/better insight.

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Do we apply our De-emphasis on summative to a new curriculum or do we look at an established scope and sequence and develop Authentic learning opportunities which empathise with the learning whilst allowing them the scope to demonstrate their learning in a less formal environment.

How might we form a useful toolbox and offer professional development for schools and teachers to understand, implement and routinely use formative assessments?

Are school’s equipped with the necessary resources and support networks to develop a system of routine formative assessments that will meet recognised standards for school based assessment of performance?

How might the inclusion and cooperation of governing bodies, schools, students and stakeholders improve the implementation and recognition of formative assessments being used to assess school-based performance?

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Additional work perceived by the teacher in collating the information.
how will we convince administration and parents of the knowledge teachers have to ensure they assess at a standard in parity to other schools.

A requisite number of (or access to) specialist trained and experienced teachers, in targeted academic disciplines, are needed to administer a schedule of formative assessments.  (N.b. this recognises the limited resources for country and regional schooling)

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An interesting starting point for us to map learning against the rigor of formative assessment

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creating a venn diagram of learning points
hand in anonymous questions
quizzes
students make use of mini-whiteboards
whiteboard splash
students provide an Exit slip at the en of the lesson
Thumbs up, middle or down
Students make use of traffic lights during the lesson to inform of understanding
Use Jigsaw groups in class
making use of self assessments