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
| Scaffolding | A strategy of guided learning where the teacher continually adjusts the level of tutoring to match the pupil’s level of performance. Scaffolding derives from ideas about learning and culture put forward by Lev Vygotsky and elaborated by Jerome Bruner. They key idea is that, to learn from new experiences, young children/learners use the support of adults/teachers, who mediate to them the culture in which they live. Scaffolding is the support provided when setting pupils new, challenging work, with the intention that, in due course, they will establish independent command of the learning without the aid of the scaffolding. |
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| Schonell Test | A standardised reading test requiring those taking it to recognise and read aloud a series of individual words claimed to be representative of current vocabulary in regular use. Properly called the Schonell Word Reading Test. |
| Self-assessment | Pupils are involved in self-assessment when they look at their own work in a reflective way and identify aspects that are good and others which need to be improved. Black and Wiliam highlighted this as an important part of learning. One way of doing this is by traffic lighting, where pupils are asked to assign red, amber and green colours to their work to indicate their level of confidence. Like peer assessment, self-assessment benefits if teachers explain and demonstrate it and ensure pupils have a clear understanding of learning objectives and criteria of success. |
| SEN (Special educational needs) | The term was previously used in relation to pupils whose learning was significantly behind their peers' for a range of reasons, such as a disability or learning difficulties, or who needed special support to enable them to benefit from education. The former concept of Special Educational Needs is now subsumed in a wider Additional Support Needs Framework under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004. |
| Set class | Where pupils are allocated to subject classes or groups on the basis of their previous attainment in the subject. This is different from streaming, in which pupils of the same perceived ability are grouped together for all lessons. |
| Sharing criteria | When pupils are made aware of the standard of work expected at a particular level. It is important to ensure that criteria are expressed in language that is accessible to the learner. It is helpful also if pupils are able to discuss examples of work which does / does not meet the criteria. |
| SMART(ER) targets | An acronym used for targets which are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-related (and enjoyable and rewarding). The Department for Education and Skills states that good performance targets should be SMART, in other words ‘specific: clear, unambiguous and easy to understand by those who are required to achieve them’. Targets must also be gauged against specific measures. They should be achievable in ways that are realistic yet challenging but not out of reach. They should also be relevant to those required to meet these targets; and learners should have sufficient control over their work to be able to meet them. Targets should also function within a set timescale otherwise they may become unfocused. In addition, targets are more efficient if they are also enjoyable and rewarding for the learner. |
| SMT | An abbreviation for senior management team. This will typically consist of the headteacher and depute headteachers responsible for the strategic management of a school. |
| SOHCAHTOA | A mnemonic for remembering trigonometry ratios. SOH stands for sine equals opposite over hypotenuse. CAH stands for cosine equals adjacent over hypotenuse. TOA stands for tangent equals opposite over adjacent. |
| Specific learning difficulties | Describes difficulties met by a learner in one or two areas, such as reading, writing, or numbers. Difficulties may take many forms; however, the best known is dyslexia, which involves difficulty with written symbols. Some pupils with this type of difficulty may have reading, writing or mathematics attainments significantly below standards they achieve in other areas. |
| SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority) | An executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Scottish Government. It is the national body in Scotland responsible for the development, accreditation, assessment and certification of qualifications other than degrees. |
| SSA (Scottish Survey of Achievement) | The annual national survey of pupils' attainment in the Scottish 5-14 curriculum at P3, P5, P7 and S2. It plays an important part in the overall pattern of assessment in Scottish schools. Surveys take place in late April/May each year when pupils are close to completing their programmes of work for the year. The main findings of surveys are published by the Scottish Government in the year following the one in which the survey took place. Reports on specific aspects of pupils' performance may be produced subsequently, where there are findings which may be of particular interest to teachers and schools. Staff can use this summative information at any local level to evaluate their performance in relation to the national sample, and to plan their next steps. |
| Standard | A term that defines the criteria for success at a particular level. 'Sharing the standard' happens at moderation meetings, when teachers within and across schools/departments ensure they assess pupils' work in the same way. |
| Standard Grade | A two-year course generally taken over the third and fourth years at secondary school, with an exam at the end of the fourth year. There are three levels: Credit, General, and Foundation. Students generally take exams at two – Credit and General, or General and Foundation. This makes sure that students have the best chance of achieving as high a grade as possible. Coursework is also assessed and projects, or folios, count towards the final mark along with the exam. |
| Standardised test | A formal, norm-referenced test, for example in mathematics, reading, 'general intelligence' and so on. In a test that has been 'standardised', a mean score and typical pattern of performance has been established by setting it to a large random sample of the population. When the test is subsequently taken by groups or individual pupils, their performance is reported in relation to the mean and/or distribution of scores in the standardising sample. |
| Starter quiz | A non-threatening way of establishing prior knowledge at the start of a lesson or series of lessons. |
| Stem | In multiple choice test items/tasks, this is the introductory question or the unfinished statement which pupils complete by selecting from the options provided. |
| Strategy | A strategy is the means by which objectives can be achieved. It is often broken down into discrete tasks or small steps. |
| Success criteria | Statements of standards from which success in an activity, for example a test/examination or a development plan, can be measured. They specify the acceptable evidence that the aim(s) of the enterprise has/have been achieved. |
| SULP (Social Use of Language Programme) | This uses a multi-sensory, metacognitive approach, to enable children and adolescents to understand fully the skills being learned, before practising and using them in real-life situations. SULP was developed by Dr Wendy Rinaldi, a Speech and Language therapist, to address pragmatic or social communication skills, and/or those with moderate learning difficulties or specific language and communication disorders. |
| Summative assessment | Assessment designed to establish the extent to which pupils have achieved the learning aims of a programme of work. It can take various forms: a review of a significant body of classwork evidence to establish whether learning aims/criteria of success have been achieved, an end-of-unit test to check whether key points have been understood/key skills have been acquired; a pass/fail criterion-referenced test or examination in which the pupil demonstrates whether he or she can meet the success criteria for a longer period of work (for example, a term or a year); or an examination which samples a representative range of a large programme of work and grades pupils' performance. Feedback is usually in the form of a mark or a pass/fail or achieved/not achieved statement, without comment on strengths and future learning needs or next steps. However, it is often possible to use summative assessments formatively - for example, to identify areas of understanding or skill which need more attention. |
| Support for learning | Specialist provision in schools and education authorities to help groups of pupils, typically those who have learning difficulties or exceptional abilities, to deal effectively with learning challenges. Support for learning staff may plan and teach collaboratively with class teachers, work with individual pupils or groups within the classroom or in tutorials, and offer advice and staff development to class teachers. |
| Supporting learning / support of learning | Teachers often need to recognise a range of factors which can affect pupils' learning. These have to be considered when planning how to provide the right kind of support that will help pupils make progress. |
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