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
| Partnership | Recognises all stakeholders in a pupil's learning and their contribution to the process. Schools and parents often work in partnership. In some cases, social work and psychological services may also contribute to this partnership to help individual pupils make progress. |
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| Peer assessment | Where pupils or colleagues provide feedback on another's work. This works best if the criteria have been shared and fully understood; if the teacher has modelled the process; and if quality is monitored as it is undertaken. Peer assessment can provide the bridge between teacher assessment and self-assessment. That is, it can be a stage in the process of helping pupils become confident and skilled in self-assessment, as opposed to relying always on the teacher. |
| Peer feedback | Pupils or colleagues provide advice on others' work, based on peer assessment, making clear the strengths and an area for improvement. In some schools 'two stars and a wish' has established a culture where everyone expects constructive advice. |
| Peer observation | Staff seeking to improve their practice ask a colleague to watch them as a critical friend and make notes on points agreed. This provides a non-threatening opportunity for objective assessment. Points raised in subsequent discussion become ideas for improvement. |
| Peer teaching | A strategy for checking how well pupils have understood a topic or issue – or, perhaps more significantly, one of ensuring high motivation in undertaking a task or project. For example, in jigsawing, pupils might read materials and research a range of resources, becoming 'experts' on a topic, which they then teach to others. |
| Personal learning plan | Any means used to record outcomes of discussions in which learners are involved in identifying strengths, areas for development and targets for improvement. In Assessment is for Learning, it is the process of planning which is valued and learners may record the outcomes in any way agreed. |
| Personal learning planning | The process in which pupils, teachers and other relevant stakeholders, including parents and carers, are involved in discussions about an individual's strengths, areas for development and goals for self-improvement. Personal learning planning is key in addressing individual learning needs, and covers concepts such as self-evaluation, identifying and reflecting on the evidence of learning, planning, goal-setting and monitoring. This process feeds into a range of developmental areas including career and personal development. The discussions between the teacher and the learner can help to define objectives, highlight progress and illustrate the way forward (next steps). |
| Physical disability | The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 defines a person as disabled who has ‘a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities’. There is a wide range of physical disabilities among pupils. Some are able to access the full curriculum and learn effectively without additional educational provision. Others may have significant additional support needs, which an inclusive education system seeks to meet. |
| PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) | Scotland participates in PIRLS - a five-year cycle of assessments that measures trends in children’s reading literacy achievement at fourth grade and policy and practices related to literacy. It includes information on the impact of the home environment and how parents can foster reading literacy. It assesses two major purposes for reading – to acquire and use information and for literary experience. Staff can use this summative information at any local level to judge their performance relative to the national sample and to plan their next steps. |
| PISA (OECD Programme for International Student Assessment) | A survey carried out every three years, of 15-year-olds in the principal industrialised countries, which assesses how far students near the end of compulsory education have acquired some of the knowledge and skills that are essential for full participation in society. Staff can use this summative information at any local level to judge their performance relative to the national sample and to plan their next steps. |
| Planning (for learning) | Planning that takes account of prior learning and current achievement. It may apply at many different levels – individual pupil, class and whole school improvement. |
| Plenary (questioning) sessions | Time set aside at the end of a lesson for the teacher to discover what pupils have learned and re-emphasise the main points. |
| Point of reference | In working toward improvement, a means by which progress can be measured. Also known Benchmarking. |
| Post box | A non-threatening strategy to discover potential areas of misunderstanding, involving the use of a ‘post box’, where pupils can post questions anonymously. A box is set up as the 'post box' into which pupils 'post' questions. The teacher collects the 'post', reads the questions at random and addresses any misunderstandings in session with the whole class. |
| Practicability | The extent to which a strategy or task is manageable or can be carried out, within a range of constraints – for example, time, cost, staffing. |
| Predictive validity (of assessment) | The extent to which the results of one assessment accurately predict performance in a future assessment. For example, are 5-14 levels reported at P7 good predictors of performance at Standard Grade? The assessments made at different points in time need not measure exactly the same things. The important thing here is the correlation between the two results. |
| Profile/profiling | Compiled by the teacher, it consists of a continuing record of a pupil's progress. This is more effective as narrative rather than in the form of ticked boxes, and usually indicates goals for improvement. |
| PSD (Personal and Social Development) | One of the 5-14 curriculum areas. Personal and social development is a fundamental aspect of the education of the whole child. It is essentially concerned with the development of life skills. All aspects of a child's experience at home, in school and outwith school contribute to personal and social development. |
| PSE (Personal and Social Education) | It refers to both the curriculum and lessons in this area and covers all the learning experiences and opportunities in class and in other school contexts which promote the personal and social development of pupils. |
| Pupil-speak | Language that is accessible to pupils, in relation to their age, stage and culture. Communication specialists emphasise the importance of effective communication. Adapting the language and style of communication so that it is appropriate to the purpose and context is a key skill. |
| Pupil-teacher meetings | Discussions that take place between a teacher and a pupil. Also sometimes referred to as pupil-teacher conferences or interviews. |
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