Assessment OF learning
What is assessment of learning?
Assessment of learning involves working with the range of available evidence that enables staff and the wider assessment community to check on pupils' progress and using this information in a number of ways.
Judgments about pupils’ learning need to be dependable. This means that:
- they are valid (based on sound criteria)
- they are reliable (accuracy of assessment and practice)
- and they are comparable (they stand up when compared to judgments in other departments or schools).
Local Moderation
It is important that staff have a shared understanding of the criteria for success, and that quality assurance takes place to ensure assessments are consistent between classes and schools. This practice is called local moderation.
The best moderation practice would involve staff in discussing pupils' work produced in the course of a class activity, evaluating the effectiveness of the learning and teaching that has taken place, and agreeing appropriate feedback on next steps in learning. These discussions focused on assessment of learning help build teachers' confidence in their own judgments and support them in planning more effectively for learning and assessment.
All these ideas can be found in the key features on the assessment of learning side of the AifL triangle.
National Assessments 5-14
In National Assessments 5-14, teachers have available to them another means of quality-assuring the judgements they have reached about pupils' attainment in the 5-14 curriculum. National Assessments are available in reading, writing and mathematics.
The Scottish Survey of Achievement
The Scottish Government wants to know how well pupils are learning across Scotland. One way in which it gathers evidence about what pupils have learned is through national sample surveys. Since 2005 there has been a Scottish Survey of Achievement (SSA). This replaced the Assessment of Achievement Programme (AAP), which carried out annual surveys from the 1980s.