Assessment (Part 2): why do it?
3 audiences for and purposes of assessment
Assessment, especially at Key Stage 3, is really hard.
As a subject specialist, you face pressures from a number of places, which might influence the quality and impact of your assessments.
It might be from students, teachers, leaders and even parents and carers.
And oftentimes, their assessment related incentives can be at odds with each other.
So how do you forge a path forward that’s best for your students, in your subject?
One way to start is to consider what and who your assessments are for.
To help you see how other schools schools do that, Middle Leader and NCETM Researcher - Jessica Dobrowolski - has found 21 schools with excellent academic outcomes, to uncover what and who they said their assessments are for.
In this post we cover
why considering purpose and audience is crucial
purposes for teachers
purposes for students/carers
purposes for schools
But before we get into it… a date for your diary…
Inadequate to outstanding - how to train SLT to be experts in line management of a curriculum review process
In 2019 Harris Ockendon was graded ‘Inadequate’.
Fast forward to 2024, it is ‘Outstanding’ in all areas.
One area (among many) they have been working on is how to train SLT to be experts in line management of a curriculum.
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Or an SLT that specialises in English to have effective conversations with a Head of Art?
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Why considering purpose and audience is crucial
Before doing anything around assessment it’s vital to consider the purpose of assessment.
Put differently, you need to think about what it is for.
But before that, you need to think about who it is for. I.e who needs the information?
If you can get purpose right, everything else flows.
So, ask yourself…
who are your assessments for? and…
what are you assessments for?
Take a minute to write them down, before reading what Jessica discovered when researching what high performing schools say.
Do they resonate with you? Do they make you think twice about your own assessments? What’s missing?
Here’s what Jessica found, in her own words…
3 audiences and the purpose of assessment for each
I wanted to focus on the descriptors used in introductory sections and that explained why and how assessment was used. Upon careful analysis it became clear that this section of policies were written to support three main objectives:
c1. Supporting teachers
9 schools referenced using assessment to support teachers planning
9 schools referenced ensuring effective feedback so that any feedback was meaningful for students and manageable for teachers
3 schools referenced recognising the effect assessment can have on teacher workload and trying to mitigate this
1 school wrote a rationale for each of their specific subjects
1 school stated that assessment was used for target setting
1 school referenced teachers using assessment to plan and support interventions
1 school stated they wanted teachers to use assessment to plan next steps
c2. Supporting students/carers
11 schools cited ensuring student progress as they moved through the school and curriculum
8 schools cited encouraging students to aim higher, correct mistakes, or take ownership of their learning
7 schools cited reporting and monitoring as a stated purpose of assessment. This included reporting to parents/carers regarding a student's progress
4 schools cited ensuring a clear set of criteria for students to have to understand who they are being assessed and how to do better
3 schools cited the purpose of assessment in aiding retention of knowledge
2 schools stated they wanted to ensure assessment was purposeful
1 school stated the aims of its policy was to explain grading criteria
c3. Supporting schools
4 schools cited the role of the curriculum in guiding assessment
3 schools cited using assessment for information gathering purposes about their students
2 schools stated they wanted to use the policy to explain expectations for everyone involved
1 school stated they used assessment as an evaluation of their curriculum offer
1 school stated they use assessment as a measure of accountability
Do these resonate? Do they not? What do they make you think about in relation to assessments in your subject?
If you’re curious who these schools are, what research the lean on and who they translate it into assessment practice and cycles…
Paying members of the Curriculum Thinkers Community can…
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access a bank of 45+ assessment resources: policies, calendars, parent reports, etc
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To help you find schools like yours, we’ve created a sortable and filterable directory* of assessment policies, calendars, parents reports and more.
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