M119: Assessment and Evaluation in Mathematics

LEARNING MATERIAL 1.0

ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING (AFL)
Descriptions:
! Assessment for Learning is any assessment for which the first priority in its
design is to serve the purpose of promoting pupils’ learning.
! It thus differs from assessment designed to primarily serve the purposes of
accountability, or of ranking or of certifying competence.
! An assessment activity can help learning if it provides information to be used as
feedback, by teachers, and by their students in assessing themselves, to modify
the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged.
! Becomes ‘formative assessment’ when the evidence is actually used to adapt the
teaching work to meet learning needs.
! Assessment for Learning (AfL) can encompass tests and quizzes in class, but
also home-work, questions, activities and presentations – in fact, anything that
will reveal to teachers, and preferably to the pupils themselves, how well the
pupils are learning.
! Observation of the pupils working will be an important assessment tool, as will
carefully designed questions and tasks that reveal the extent of the pupils’
understanding.

Formative Assessment
! Formative assessment is a more precise term, indicating that the assessment is
to be used to ‘form’ or add to a person’s current understanding.
! The teacher and the pupil use assessment to indicate where there are learning
needs and then the teacher’s expertise is drawn on to provide ways for the pupil
to go about advancing his or her learning.

Summative Assessment
! Assessment used to ‘sum up’ an episode of learning, or to rank or certify a
person’s attainment.

Insights About Assessment for Learning

! A requirement of Assessment for Learning is an acknowledgment that the
pupils are the ones that have to do the learning; the teacher cannot learn for
them.

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M119: Assessment and Evaluation in Mathematics

! Pupils who know what they are learning and what is needed for a successful
outcome will be more involved in the whole process and can begin to be able to
take appropriate responsibility.
! In Assessment for Learning, the pupils themselves often make decisions, guided
by their teacher, about how the learning process will proceed.
! Assessment for Learning has been shown to have a significant effect on pupil
results , not only because it demands that pupils take responsibility for their
own learning, but also because it supports them in taking on this
responsibility.
! It requires teachers to use their professionalism to synchronize more closely the
learning tasks offered with the learning needs of the pupils.
! It requires that pupils and teachers work together to facilitate the best learning
outcome possible.
! Assessment for Learning not only increases attainment, but it also educates
pupils to be good learners, a skill they will need throughout their lives.

What are involved in AfL?

! a dialogue between at least two people – a learner and the person who
is guiding his or her learning;
! a clarification of where the learner currently is in the learning process
and where they want to be, often called ‘the gap’;
! the person guiding the learning knowing how the learner might go about closing
that gap;
! communicating that knowledge to the learner, so that learners can act to close
the gap themselves.

Four Areas of AfL

1. Learning Intentions and Success Criteria (LISC)
2. Feedback
3. Questioning
4. Peer and Self-assessment

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