Using assessment to encourage effective learning

Ciara Gillespie explores ways that schools can rethink their assessment practice so that it acts to support rather than dominate the curriculum. 

Is assessment in schools currently being used to encourage effective learning, or simply ‘audit’ student performance? 

Assessment has always been the bridge between teaching and learning. It is the most powerful weapon teachers have to positively impact student learning, and it is how teachers know that the intended learning has happened. In recent years however, accountability, cultural expectations, and a lack of global reform in assessment has led to a greater emphasis on quantity rather than quality, with a culture of high stakes testing replacing meaningful assessment. Many educators now associate assessment as a product, not a process of shedding light on student achievement (Wiggins, 1998). It has become a series of isolated tests that lie outside the process of learning, with teachers and students failing to monitor and reflect upon their understandings. Not only has testing become more aggressive, it also encourages the development of a single skill or knowledge set, reducing the diversity, creativity and passion within society (Brady, 1997). Moreover, current systems fail to assess skills that are deemed to be even more important than academic ability in the modern workplace, including communication, teamwork and problem solving. 

Teachers play an integral role in the development of lifelong learning attitudes of students, but current assessment practice reduces their motivation for learning (Kortez, 1991). Pressure is mounting for students to meet the criteria of a mark scheme, leaving no room for creativity or personalised examples to support their answers. For students who struggle with traditional assessments, it has become impossible for teachers to convince them that they can succeed in other tasks when all some of them experience is failure. Meanwhile, students who are incredibly successful within the current system of assessment are usually motivated by performance goals rather than learning goals. Students of all abilities are also constantly comparing what they lack in relation to their peers. When grades are associated with how well one has mastered content as opposed to demonstrating skills related to critical thinking, inquiry or other forms of high-order thinking, an unhealthy obsession with perfection emerges (Affrunti & Woodruff-Borden, 2014). These students have to sacrifice their pursuit of non-academic experiences, such as debating, sport, and music, at an age when they are most passionate. This is detrimental to students’ wellbeing. 

I believe there is a need for major reform in assessment, but even within our present culture, it is possible to open a dialogue to help create an assessment system that promotes more meaningful learning within the classroom, promoting student success in a more sustainable way for their future. 

Is your current assessment policy fit for purpose? 

To decide if your current approach to assessment is fit for purpose, or if that upcoming assessment is really necessary, there are a number of questions you need to ask yourself. 

1. Will I make any changes to the curriculum as a result of this test?
2. Will the outcomes of this test improve the quality of learning and the responsiveness of my teaching for students?
3. Is this the most appropriate and effective way to assess student performance at this time?
4. Does this test assess a broad range of skills, or does it mostly test students' ability to memorise facts?
5. Will the outcomes of this test cause me to evaluate my current assessment practice to achieve more specific aims?
6. Do my students know how their performance in this test fits into their overall learning goal?
7. If students have not demonstrated progress towards their overall learning goal in this test, have I identified strategies they can select in order to make changes? Have students had enough time to adopt strategies to make progress, and gauge the success of these strategies, since the last time they were assessed in my subject? 

Is a shift in approach feasible in schools? 

There are a number of things we can do to make a shift towards a more meaningful and impactful assessment policy. These include, but are by no means limited to: 

1. Student voice: as assessment shapes the emphasis students place on the different aspects of the curriculum, it is crucial that they have a positive experience of the process. As we know, students and teachers have very different opinions of what makes meaningful assessment. Therefore, open and continuous communication via student voice is paramount. If students tell us that we need to re-evaluate how we are supporting their learning, and that inconsistencies in assessment practice exist across the school, we need to act.
2. Open book examinations: these promote assessment based on application, comprehension and critical thinking, rather than simply assessing student's ability to recall information. This shift would involve changing the focus of tests from content to skills. If managed correctly, such a change could result in better retention for students than more traditional methods. Well designed open book assessments still require students to revise, but cause them to view assessment more positively, and restore the true meaning of assessment for learning.
3. Synoptic assessment: This helps students to make links between different topics, and encourages ‘big-picture thinking’; it is particularly valuable when planning the assessment of topics taught by different teachers. It improves application skills, increases student engagement, and also gives teachers a more realistic gauge of student progress compared to isolated tasks or topic tests. It shifts the emphasis back to the process rather than the outcome of learning, and with fewer tests, there is now more time for the former.
4. Frequent low-stake testing: This can enhance student learning compared to summative practice, especially as this learning is not linked to reporting. Increased use of well designed assessment in the form of mastery learning quizzes, clickers, and differentiated starters and plenaries provide more learning opportunities, allowing students to thoughtfully respond to questions. This increases retrieval over a long period of time, and gives teachers more useful insight to evaluate student understanding.
5. Assessment scheduling: placing a greater emphasis on the volume, mode and frequency of assessments and avoiding ‘assessment bunching’ can positively impact student attainment. It leads to a greater emphasis of formative rather than summative practice, gives students time to concentrate sufficient effort on each assessment, and allows students to reflect on their learning in time for their next assessment, rather than focus solely on the final grade.
6. Involving all subject leaders in the development of a school-based assessment policy which connects with the assessment for learning culture of the school: The purpose of assessment needs to be clearly communicated so that subject leaders can decide what knowledge, skills and attitudes should be assessed. Opportunities to identify and reflect on daily assessment practice and the language we use when talking to students about assessment must be facilitated. This will allow teachers to design and refine assessment criteria for all subjects and ensure a greater balance between formative and summative practice. 

Although there has been growing recognition within education communities about the need to bring about reforms in assessment, more and more teachers passively accept the mandated assessment procedures with little resistance, or worse still, embracing these procedures, even though they have proven to be socially damaging to their students.

With a small shift in our current approach, students would end up with more authentic, meaning-based assessments that enhance learning rather than detract from the learning process. 

 

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