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Assessment Policy

Policy for Assessment, Recording and Reporting to Parents

Assessment

The policy document is a statement of the aims, principles and strategies for Assessment, Recording and Reporting at Magor School, where all staff are involved in its development and implementation.

The Policy has been updated in the light of the demands of the Curriculum 2000. This policy will be revised in the academic year commencing 2004 as identified in the SDP.

What is Assessment?

Government initiatives and guidelines on assessment are increasingly emphasising the way in which assessment can actually improve learning and not just measure it. This is assessment for learning which is different from assessment of learning.

Assessment is central to the teaching and learning process. The national agenda has reasserted the role of assessment in improving children's learning experiences and helping schools satisfy the demands of accountability. In essence assessment is about communication - communication of the extent and quality of learning experienced by children in the school. It is a process which provides information on individual pupil experience, expertise and achievement, identifying what the pupil knows, understands and can do, and providing information to guide future learning in response to the child's needs.

"...It should be an integral part of the educational process, continually providing both 'feedback' and 'feedforward'."

(Task Group of Assessment and Testing 1998)

For Assessment to be formative, the feedback information needs to be used

(Black and William 1998)

For formative assessment to be productive pupils needs to be trained in self assessment so that they understand the main purpose of their learning and thereby group what they need to do to achieve.
(Black and William 1998)

The school, therefore, views assessment as being a process that both promotes learning and is integral to effective learning.

It is embedded in a view of teaching and learning of which it is an essential part.
It involves sharing learning goals with pupils.
It aims to help pupils to know and to recognise the standards they are aiming for.
It involves pupils in self-assessment.
It provides feedback which leads to pupils recognising the/or next steps and how to take them.
It is underpinned by confidence that every pupil can improve.
It involves both teachers and pupils reviewing and reflecting on assessment data.
It focuses on process as well as outcome.
Aims

The school aims in assessment can be selected from these:

To ensure that all assessment strategies are sensitive to the needs of all pupil s with regard race, gender, ability, creed, and home language.
That it will be an integral part of teaching and learning, drawing on everyday activities so that each child 's progress is at the optimum rate.
To provide a broad picture of a child's academic, social and personal achievement
To enable pupils and teachers to identify individual strengths and weaknesses.
To enable pupils to be responsible for their own learning through developing self- assessment strategies.
To identify strengths and weaknesses in the delivery of Curriculum 2000 throughout the early years and key stages providing information for the improvement of curricular planning.
To share success criteria in a consistent basis with pupils.
To confirm judgments on pupil performance.
To act as a motivator to success.
To comply with statutory requirements of the National Curriculum 2000 and desirable outcome, and their assessment procedures.
To diagnose individual children's needs.
To set both whole school, class, group and individual targets.
To raise own teaching and to inform future planning.
To ensure that record keeping is not burdensome and support the concept of assessment for learning.
To ensure that IEPs are regularly updated where appropriate and support the pupil in their individual learning.
To provide information, to report progress and achievements to pupils, parent's colleagues, governors, next key stage, outside agencies, LEA and Welsh Office.
To provide evidence of the schools progress against LEA and National Performance data, and to use such data to set whole school targets for improves performance.

Uses of Assessment

For any assessment practice to be successful, it must provide information which teachers can use in determining how the future learning of a pupil could be advanced. With this in mind, assessment may be used for the following purposes.

F: Formative

This is on going during the course of every day teaching. It provides pupils with clear targets and feedback about their achievements and likewise provides information to teachers on curriculum delivery. For assessment to be truly formative the feedback needs to be used.
E: Evaluation

As an indicator of where additional resources and/or in order to improve quality of practice.

D: Diagnostic

The teacher is able to identify the child's specific learning needs so as to initiate appropriate support, such as differentiated activity and specific individual targets for the pupil.

C: Communication

To inform parents of a child 's level of understanding and skill as judged against standards as defined by the desirable learning outcomes and level descriptors with in the Curriculum 2000. Communication will be by necessity involved with both formal procedures and will enhance collaborative activity.

A: Accountability

To pupils, parents, governors, LEA and wider audience.

T: Target Setting / Pupil Self Assessment.

Both teachers and pupils set small achievable targets to improve both teaching and learning. For effective target setting to occur pupils should be encouraged to be constructively critical of their and other pupils work. Pupil or peer self-assessment is seen as an integral part of the assessment process.

S: Summative / Focused

It provides aver all evidence of attainment against identified criteria, i.e., what a pupil knows, understands and is able to do at a particular point in time.

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