Transcript `Assessing children`s learning`

Chris Merrick
[email protected]
Why is how we think about assessment
important?
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We are living in a world demanding higher standards and increasing
accountability.
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Indications are that what we assess and the way we assess it has a
huge impact on:
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what we teach,
how we teach it,
what children learn
how they learn it
most importantly, their attitudes to learning
Consider the impact of standardized testing in both the UK and America
Assessment needs to be consistent with
your values and be grounded in your
educational philosophy!
From 1993:
Assessment is “the ways in
which, in our everyday
practice, we observe
children’s learning, strive
to understand it, and then
put our understanding to
good use.”
Mary Jane Drummond
‘Assessing children’s learning’
To 2012:
‘We have to see assessment as moving from judgment to description, a
lot of our assessment procedures are reductive in the extreme,
Everything we know about teaching and learning tells us we achieve
best when our expectations are raised and we are encouraged and
supported. If we’re branded, if we’re stereotyped people tend to play
unwittingly to the stereo type. So we need forms of assessment that are
descriptive not judgmental and we need forms of assessment that are
empowering rather than disenfranchising. What that really means are
forms of assessment which focus on the complexities of learning rather
than trying to reduce them to a single number or grade.’
Sir Ken Robinson
Learning without Frontiers Conference, 2012
In EC to what extent are we
defined by ‘developmental
norms’?
Who are Norm and
Norma and should
everyone be just like
them?
Some considerations for practice
Purpose – who and what is it for?
Authentic contexts
Includes multiple perspectives,
neutrality and objectivity
are often impossible
Takes into account developmental
aspects and their limitations
Checklists, tick lists and
one off tests are of
limited value.
What is manageable,
meaningful and worthwhile
are value ridden
What do we want to create?
• A positive medium which celebrates successes and values what we
do and what the children do.
•A tool for children’s self assessment and a focus for conversations
about learning;
•A means of communicating to parents about the life their child lives
in the setting and a focus for their discussions;
•A way of explaining our work to the outside world.
•Information and evidence for practitioner’s
professional reflection
• on children’s learning
• on provision
• on the practitioner’s role, interactions
and interventions
How do we do that?
First find some models to
talk about – there’s a plenty
around!
Four significant influences:
• UK: Mary Jane Drummond’s “Assessing children’s learning”;
traditions of observation in nursery education;
•Italian: The concept of pedagogical documentation and practice
in Reggio Emilia, for instance in Project Zero/Reggio Children’s
“Making Learning Visible”.
• New Zealand; Margaret Carr’s “Assessment in Early Childhood
Settings”; “Learning Stories: Constructing Learner Identity in the
Early Years” Margaret Carr and Wendy Lee
• US: Helm, Beneke and Steinheimer, “Windows on Learning –
Documenting Young Children’s work”, Teachers College Press,
and the supporting teachers materials;
‘The only accurate – and therefore acceptable –
way of assessing young children’s learning is
through gathering evidence from observations
and information from parents, the child’s own
views and those of other professionals involved
with the child.’
From ‘Creating the Picture’
National Strategies, 2007
Triangulation
EYFS: Look, listen, note
‘Documentation is not limited to
making visible what already
exists: it also makes things exist
precisely because it makes them
visible and therefore possible.’
Carlina Rinaldi, 2006
‘In Dialogue with Reggio’
The didactic itinerary and the
learning path that takes place
in the school assume full
meaning for the subjects
involved ( teachers and
students) to the extent that
these processes can be
suitably recalled, reexamined, analyzed and
reconstructed. The
educational path becomes
concretely visible through in
depth documentation of data
related to the activities,
making use of verbal, graphic,
and documentary instruments
as well as the audiovisual
technologies most commonly
found in schools.
Carlina Rinaldi
in ‘Making Learning Visible’
New Zealand: Learning stories and the
focus on dispositions The four aspects of
assessment from Margaret
Carr’s book “Assessment in
Early Childhood Settings”.
Domains of learning
dispositions:
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Taking an interest;
Being involved;
Persisting with difficulty
and uncertainty;
Communicating with
others;
Taking responsibility
Describing
Documenting
Discussing
Deciding
The Learning story concept and format is very
closely aligned to the Te Whariki curriculum
framework in New Zealand but these can easily
be adapted.
Noticing, recognizing, responding
Empowerment, holistic development, relationships,
family and community
Some examples: copies of the collection of exemplars are available
on the NZ Te Whariki curriculum website.
US: Windows on Learning
Three windows:
•A window on child
development;
• A window on a learning
experience;
•A window for teacher self
reflection;
It includes:
•Practical ideas and formats
for us to adopt and adapt;
• Portfolio advice;
• Tips for display as well as
using technology.
Helm, Beneke and Steinheimer, 1998,
“Windows on Learning – Documenting
Young Children’s work”,
Similarities
•Valuing multiple perspectives
•Observation in context
•Assessment as a positive process focusing on
learning taking place;
•Reflection as an integral part of the process
•A more research based approach rather than
checking off pre-conceived criteria
Video clip to watch – building a spaceship
•Valuing multiple perspectives – who might have
a view about what they were learning?
•Assessment as a process – you’ve got the data,
what’s your analysis of the learning?
•Reflection as an integral part of the process –
what influenced the quality of learning
observed?
•A more research based approach rather than
checking off pre-conceived criteria – what
questions might it generate for you?
Recording
•Video
•Photos
•Transcripts
•Narratives
We’ll consider some examples that you might try.
What about group pieces?
The rationale stems from a social construction view of
learning, inquiry as going beyond the known through
dialogue and interaction with others;
An example for discussion of the related issues.
How do you manage observations,
what formats do you use, when do
you use them?
If we want active assessment, directly
affecting provision and future learning the
question has always got to be:
What do we think about what we’ve
experienced/seen and what are we
going to do as a result? Reflection and
next steps.
Now you’ve recorded your assessments what are
you going to do with them?
Think about:
• Who’s going to use them?
• Where are they going to be kept?
• How are they going to be used?
• What are they used for?
Children’s portfolios to show continuity,
progress
•There are endless varieties of individual formats
to go into children’s portfolios.
•There has to be an ongoing debate about:
Originals v scans/photographs of work;
 teacher/child initiated;
 hard copy v. e portfolio
These are essential agreements and coming to them is
never easy. Values and purpose has to be a major
consideration!
Opportunities for revisiting and reflection with
colleagues - professional dialogue
When, where, how?
Some of the issues:
Time:
•For own learning and skill
development
•For creating documentation.
Our perception
of the time spent is
related to our belief
in the worth of
the activity.
Pedagogical questions:
•Is it fit for purpose?
•Is it relevant to the children?
•Is it appropriate for their
Questioning how and what
we do is healthy,
developmental level?
constant re-evaluation is important
•Convincing parents and
because without it we remain
inside the box, confined to a limited
colleagues used to very different
view of children
formats.
and their capabilities.
Logistics:
•Staff turnover means constantly starting
again to define what you do and why!
“When we plant a rose seed in the earth, we notice that
it is small, but we do not criticize it as “rootless and
stemless.” We treat it as a seed, giving it the water and
nourishment required of a seed. When it first shoots up
out of the earth, we don’t condemn it as immature and
underdeveloped; nor do we criticize the buds for not
being open when they appear. We stand in wonder at
the process taking place and give the plant the care it
needs at each stage of its development. The rose is a
rose from the time it is a seed to the time it dies. Within
it, at all times, it contains its whole potential. It seems
to be constantly in the process of change; yet at each
state, at each moment, it is perfectly all right as it is.”
Tim Gallwey
‘The Inner Game of Tennis’