Harnessing & Enhancing Assessments in Schools

29th April 2020

Name of Course/Programme/Seminar: Harnessing & Enhancing Assessments in Schools

Provider/Presenter: Stuart Kime

If I was to summarise the key things I took away from this Professional Development what would they be and why?

• There are 4 key principles that should always guide assessment; purpose, validity, reliability and value.
• I really liked the way Stuart explained how assessment, pedagogy and curriculum interrelate. He explained that assessment is only a tool for pedagogy which is guided by curriculum and that assessment is a tool used to understand the next steps when guiding a student through a curriculum and therefore can guide pedagogy.
• Tips for assessment while distance learning - ensure there is a slower pace and do fewer assessments however, do them better. This could be by varying the mode of assessment

How has this professional development challenged my thinking?

This presentation helped to remind me that testing and assessment are different, although testing can be a part of assessment. This is something I often get caught up in with my IG students. The tip of varying the mode of assessment has also made be consider the assessment I have been conducting with my IG students while distance learning. I have been completing the same style of tests that I would in class however, they are open book. I have actually found that some students have done worse in these open book tests than they do in a closed book test. I believe this is because students are focusing on certain key words to do with content and writing from their notes about that rather than reading the entire question properly. This has already made me think about how I can trial different methods of assessments with my students to see if I achieve better results.

What aspects of my practice would I consider changing as a result of this professional development and why?

His tip about ensuring a pragmatic approach spoke to me. He suggested that by revisiting content that was introduced earlier it can help students create more dependable and credible connections with their assessment. The example he gave is a teacher starting each class with 3 questions; 1 question on current content, 1 question on content from the last topic and 1 question from an old topic. This is definitely something I can introduce more in IG PE. Students quite often do well in end of topic tests. However, some students struggle when completing end of unit tests as there is more for them to remember. Normally this is not a strategy I bring in until Term 3 but is definitely something I could look at starting this term.

I am also going to trial different methods of assessment with my IG students while distance learning. Can I create a knowledge review that is more meaningful from a Quizizz or by getting students to create a video applying their knowledge rather than a test?