Glossary
Chapter 2 Scanning the Literature on Assessment
2.4 Traditional Summative Assessment Practices and Criticisms Levelled Against These: Making a case for a shift in thinking with regard to assessment
2.5.1 Assessment for Learning as a Form of Formative Assessment
The notion of „assessment for learning‟ (AFL) has been gaining increased momentum, especially in the United Kingdom, United States of America, New Zealand and Australia.
This has also been extended to South Africa (Crooks, 2001; Torrance & Pryor, 1998; Black
& William, 2003; Stiggins, 2005).
The Assessment Reform Group defines AFL as:
“The process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners and their teachers to decide where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go next and how best to get there” (Assessment Reform Group, 2002).
The basic principles underlying AFL are critical to understanding the context within which AFL finds its practical application in the classroom. The following discussion serves to highlight the key principles of AFL.
2.5.1.1 Principles of AFL
The use of formative assessment in the learning process is central within the pedagogical approach of AFL (Leitch et al., 2006). In fact, proponents of AFL view assessment as a learning process. In this respect, Earl (2003) advocates AFL where assessment is used as a learning tool rather than a grading tool. For these reasons assessment is viewed as an activity that should be integrated as an integral daily part of teaching and learning (Kellough &
Kellough, 2002; Chappius, 2005). Further, following from the thinking that the success of any system of assessment can be judged by the modelling and monitoring of critical abilities through valued performance in real life, the concept of using authentic assessments as an assessment strategy has received widespread popularity (Clarke, 1996).
Authentic assessments involve solving problems that reflect real-life situations by drawing on a variety of disciplines to generate solutions and new knowledge (Kraak, 2002). The intention is to promote sustained learning with the ultimate goal of preparing students for life in the real world though application of meaningful assessing theory as applied in practice (Kellough
& Kellough, 1999; Ross et al, 1998). Within the context of AFL, authentic assessments are viewed as developmental. These assessments encourage the kind of self-reflection and perceptual shift that gives rise higher orders of awareness (Davydov, 1995; Taylor &
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Marienau, 1997). Moreover, proponents of AFL advocate the use of various different assessment methods to provide learners, teachers and parents with an ongoing spate of evidence of the learner‟s progress, with regard to achieving the competencies that underpin the curriculum (Black et. al., 2003). This approach is in line with the thinking that by using a variety of assessment methods, teachers will provide a more complete picture of students‟
progress and areas of need (Natural Renewable Energy Laboratory, 2000). It is envisaged that by employing such a multi-mode strategy approach to assessment, the learning experience becomes more meaningful and enriching for learners (Sax, 1997; Linn & Gronlund, 2000).
Further, the relationships that permeate the classroom context are critical to contextualising assessment, the most significant one being the relationship between teacher and learner (Black et al., 2003; Grech, 2005). To this end, Chappuis (2005) highlights the human element in the process of AFL where teachers and learners come together to generate accurate
information about student learning and then using it effectively to promote even greater learning. An important tenet of AFL is that learners along with teachers share responsibility for learning.
Learners are made aware from the beginning about achievement expectations in an attempt to understand the uphill journey that they will be undertaking as they approach expected
standards of performance (Chappius, 2005; Gronlund, 2000).The intention is to enable learners to work towards acquiring competence in a particular area of knowledge or skill synonymous with contract grading, where teachers make the objectives of the learning experience known to learners from the outset (Linn & Gronlund, 2000; Sax, 1997). In addition, the teacher also provides qualitative criteria to explain how these objectives can be accomplished (Chappius, 2005). Students are then involved in selecting the activities and/
objectives that will help them achieve competence in these learning activities (Linn &
Gronlund, 2000). In this way a contract is entered into where learners share responsibility for their own learning (Chappius, 2005; Gronlund, 2000). Closely associated with this joint responsibility of learning between the teacher and the student is the notion of „mastery learning‟, which emphasises differentiated and individualised instructional practices as strategies to increase student achievement through the use of feedback, corrective procedures and classroom assessment to inform instruction (Zimmerman & Dibenedetto, 2008). This approach allows for „practice‟ so that learners can achieve the required outcomes.
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Consequently, formative assessment requires that learners become involved in the learning process through self-assessment so that they can understand the main purposes of their learning, enabling them to grasp what they need to achieve (Kletcher, 2000). By setting a foundation for learners to self-assess and set goals, AFL attempts to enable learners to believe that the target is within reach (Kletcher, 2000). The intention is to help close the gap
between the level at which they are functioning and the level to which they wish to function at. By providing learners with descriptive and meaningful feedback that serves to confirm or disconfirm against a specific standard or goal, the nature of learning that has taken place facilitates learners to be guided on how to move forward in their learning (Black & William, 1998; Stiggins, 2005; Popham, 2006). In this way feedback serves to elevate the standard of the learner‟s work (Stiggins, 2005). The descriptive and non-evaluative nature of this feedback highlights the fact that no personal value judgement is made (Black & William, 1998).
Furthermore, Popham (2006) believes that the results of formative assessment are critical to forming ongoing instruction and learning
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suggesting that merely employing formative assessment practices in the classroom is inadequate. Rather, the information obtained from assessment must be effectively used by teachers for early intervention so that decisions regarding the measures that need to be taken to positively influence student learning can be taken (Stiggins, 2005; Chappius, 2005). Such intervention is beneficial in that instructional adjustments and interventions can be made should problems and areas of concern arise.These adjustments help to ensure students improve their performance, thereby facilitating the learning process. Formative assessment is particularly effective for students who have not done well in school, thus narrowing the gap between low and high achievers while raising overall achievement (NCFOT, 1999).
The above discussion suggests that application of the principles of AFL, detailed above, is beneficial to enhancing the achievement gains of both learners and teachers. Furthermore, research suggests that an effective means of incorporating the principles of assessment in teaching is through curriculum reform (Klenowsi, 1996; McKellar, 2002). Stiggins (2005) believes that such reform would imply a shift in focus from assessment to establish the status of learning to assessment to promote greater learning. However, few teachers are equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to face the complexities associated with classroom assessment, in light of the fact that they have not been given the opportunity to learn how to
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do so despite acknowledgment that developing assessment knowledge and skills is an integral part of becoming an effective teacher (Volante & Cherubini, 2007). In addition, McCallum et al. (1995) and Pryor and Torrance (1997) suggest that teachers have a limited theoretical understanding of how assessment could and should be integrated into the learning process.
In an attempt to address the issues associated with curriculum reform, Ramsuran (2006) asserts that workshops and in-service training affords teachers the opportunity to engage with official policy discourse that are contained in policy documents, and in this way enable teachers to realise the expectations of the stipulated policy in practice. Furthermore, making the previously implicit standards for assessment explicit through the provision of assessment criteria for each assessment task from the outset would assist in enabling meaningful
curriculum reform (McKellar, 2002).
In addition, an understanding of the interrelationship between the three critical areas of assessment, curriculum and pedagogy is imperative in the employment of formative assessment and necessitates changes in curriculum and pedagogy (Klenowsi, 1996).
McKellar (2002) concurs, adding that through curriculum reform meeting the assessment needs of diverse learners is built into the curriculum itself. This has enormous implications for the located study as it implies that teachers need to be involved in a continuous process of learning with regard to understanding and correlating the three areas of assessment,
curriculum and pedagogy. The located study sets out to explore these interrelations in so far as it relates to teacher learning. However, developing and strengthening the skills and acquiring the knowledge necessary to develop one‟s expertise in these three crucial areas is not always easy to achieve. In fact, Rakometsi, (2000) views assessment as the area causing schools and teachers the most problems. Consequently, while attempts have been made to challenge the way assessment is conducted traditionally, the success of these have been negligible, as the following discussion indicates.
2.6 Challenges Associated with Implementing Formative Means of Assessment as a Tool to Facilitating AFL
The discussion below highlights the challenges relating to applying the principles of AFL within the context of the classroom. The presentation of three critical areas, namely teacher conceptions of assessment, issues associated with professional development programmes pertaining to assessment, and the apparent mismatch between the theory and practice of
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assessment, are detailed. The intention is to provide the reader with an informed
understanding of the issues and challenges that permeate the domain of assessment and the implications of these for educational research and teaching practice.