Assessment is for Learning
Glossary
This glossary explains terms used in AifL - Assessment is for Learning. It is not intended to be exhaustive in educational terms, nor does it include an explanation of every word used in the case study extracts. Instead, it seeks to clarify meanings in order to remove potential barriers to understanding and help the reader to appreciate the messages intended more fully.
Keyword search
| Fair questioning | A wide, open and inclusive approach to receiving responses to questions. In one sense this might mean allowing everyone in a group the opportunity to answer or respond to a question, and not accepting answers from only 'star' pupils or those who insist on answering before others. In another it can mean questioning which takes appropriate account of pupils' experience, including school work and social and cultural background; or that which does not aim to 'trick' them into providing answers based on ignorance of the topic. |
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| Feedback | The process of providing a structured response, with information about work in terms of strengths and aspects for improvement. Feedback can be written or oral. However, the aim is to bridge the gap between present performance and desired goal, and is instrumental in moving towards next steps in learning. Feedback will only be effective in moving learning forward if it provides constructive advice and learners are allowed the opportunity to read it and act on it. |
| First-stage remediation | The process of self or peer review of a piece of completed work in order to eliminate small or trivial errors in advance of evaluation by the teacher. If pupils are encouraged to look critically at their own work or pass it to another pupil for checking, simple or careless errors can be corrected before asking for teacher feedback. This enables the teacher to focus on genuine misunderstandings. |
| Focus group | Generally, a small group of participants, usually no more than 12, invited to examine and provide feedback on an issue in the presence of a moderator. A school might work with focus groups of staff, pupils or parents to identify school improvement issues. In teaching, the phrase might refer to small group tutorials focusing on an identified area of weakness or a particular skill or aspect of knowledge. |
| Folder of evidence | Also referred to as a folio or portfolio. Essentially, it should contain work which illustrates how pupils met the outcomes intended. As part of local moderation, examples would be selected by staff through discussion and reviewed and updated from time to time. Folders of evidence can be used by staff for benchmarking to evaluate pupil or school progress. In personal learning planning, pupils should be encouraged to maintain their own folders and, as they move on in their learning, to evaluate the extent of improvement and to update evidence of their achievements. |
| Folio | Sometimes called a portfolio, a representative collection of work by one individual. It should illustrate what the student or pupil has achieved and may imply next steps in learning. |
| Formal moderation | The planned, systematic process of establishing comparability standards, in order to ensure that assessment is valid and reliable. In schools it involves groups of teachers looking at examples of work, discussing the extent to which these meet the expected standard and coming to agreement on the Level of attainment represented by each example. The group may be teachers from within a school or department or from different schools. |
| Formative assessment | Assessment which focuses on the gap between present performance and desired goal. To be formative, the information gathered must be used to adapt the teaching or the learning to meet the needs of the learner. In the 5-14 national assessment guidance, this type of activity is called 'assessment as part of teaching'. In the AifL - Assessment is for learning programme, it is called 'assessment for learning'. |
| Formative use of summative assessment | Summative assessments, such as end-of-unit tests, used formatively with an emphasis on using the information gathered to support the learner in future learning, for example in identifying next steps in learning revealed in the test. |
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