The Importance of Assessment for Learning

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This assignment seeks to provide a critical evaluation of the effective use of assessment for learning, in order to successfully target this I am going to critically analyse the following; the difference between formative and summative assessment, the key elements of assessment for learning, development through practical strategies, and the role of the teacher when planning to support formative assessment. By the end of the assignment I will draw upon a conclusion of the importance of assessment for learning.

The Latin root of the word assessment comes in two parts ‘beside’ and ‘sitting down’, putting these meanings together shows in order to assess, the class teacher needs to be sitting down beside a pupil. This could suggests; dialogue, working together, help towards progress and mutual commitment. It does not suggest judgment, criticism or comparison to other pupils. This approach is supported by Wood (1987) as he argues that an approach to formative assessment should identify the level of a task that a child is ready to undertake on the basis of what they can already do, as long as the child receives help from an adult, suggesting that assessment is a teacher and pupil interaction process. This notation is also supported by Forman and Cazden (1985) as they suggest that the teacher-pupil interaction implicit the idea of scaffolding the pupil's learning.

Assessment involves gathering information and making judgments about learning. As a teacher I will need to be able to do this both formally and informally. By doing this I will sometimes have to participate in assessing children to make formal judgments about their progress and achievement; for example National Tests. In every lesson, I will continually be assessing the p...

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...archive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20040722013944/http://dfes.gov.uk/primarydocument/pdfs/DfES-Primary-Ed.pdf [accessed 26/11/2013]
Forman, E. and Cazden. C. (1985) Exploring Vygotskian perspectives in education: the cognitive value of peer interaction in J. Wertsch (ed.) Culture, Communication and Cognition: Vygotskian Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Kerry, T. (1980) Effective Questioning, Teacher Education Project. Nottingham: University of Nottingham School of Education

Weeden, P., Winter, J. and Broadfoot, P. (2002) Assessment: What’s in it for Schools? London:Routledge

William, P. (2008) Independent Review of Mathematics Teaching in Early Years Setting and Primary Schools. Nottingham: DCSF

Wood, R. (1987) Measurement and Assessment in Education and Psychology. London: Falmer Press
Wragg, E.C. and Brown, G. (1993) Explaining. London:Routledge

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