Starting again with KS3 assessment

Q2. What is assessment for?

In a previous post, we considered what may be motivating a school leader to take a fresh look at their KS3 assessment approach. We suggested that the motivation to change is likely to be driven by a dissatisfaction with what is currently happening. Perhaps assessment has become a burden, is moaned about behind closed doors, or just isn’t telling you anything you don’t already know.

To sharpen your critique, it is wise to agree upon what purpose KS3 assessment should serve. Agreeing this purpose will enable you to ascertain which aspects of your current approach are least effective and will help you make decisions about what a better approach may be.

Our contention, stated toward the end of the previous post and throughout 100% Assessment, is that assessment should ultimately promote learning. This is the North Star towards which we should navigate.

What happens when you view your current practices against this?

Unaligned practices

You may notice that some of your assessment practices simply do not promote learning. Indeed, they may have the opposite effect.

This is often the case when a stock taker mindset is dominant. The stock taker is fixated on counting things with the goal of checking there is ‘enough’. What happens next is someone else’s problem.

Assessment in schools can end up being a stock taking exercise whereby we glibly note that child A has learnt more than child B, satisfied that our rigorous assessment process has done its job. And then someone asks, ‘Are we doing something with all of this data?’

The defence may be to say that this assessment is meant to be summative, not formative. The problem is that, whether you intend it to be or not, all assessment is formative. The act of inference is never neutral.

For a start, being tested affects the behaviour of the subject. I am using the term ‘tested’ in the broadest sense, not to mean simply examinations, but any situation in which the intention is to see what we are capable of. For example, let’s imagine we test ourselves by going to the gym to lift weights. The gym conveniently labels its equipment so we can see exactly how much we are lifting. This provides us with the technology to test ourselves; how much can I lift? The expectation of inference - in other words, knowing that our capability will be measured and judged, even if only by ourselves - begins to steer behaviour.

Perhaps then we enter a weight-lifting competition at the gym. This may spur us on to lift heavier weights in the expectation that others will now make judgements about us; or it might fill us with doubt, causing us to wonder if we should take up another way of keeping fit instead. We go through with it and the leader board is posted up for all to see. The consequences of inference, the way this exposure affects our self-concept, self-esteem and future behaviour, now play out.

And the third mechanism for understanding how assessment affects the subject is the effect of the test itself. on learning Our participation in the test makes us stronger (known as the testing effect).

Upon closer inspection, we may find that where the goal is something other than learning, and where the impact on this higher purpose remains unexamined, learning can suffer. Our goals may be worthy, but the unintended consequences for learning are not worth the cost.

Imperfectly aligned practices

But even assessment practices which set out to improve learning can backfire.

Imagine a maths subject leader who wants a reliable method for assessing which set students should be in. Each term, she sets a standard test across all classes in years 7, 8 and 9. The test results are ranked and the classes reset according to the performance of students.

The subject leader has achieved her goal, which was to ensure students are set according to their performance. Her motivation in doing so is to ensure that students are in the most suitable class for their ability - that the content, pace and depth will be appropriate to those in each class. Therefore, she believes her actions will promote learning.

However, in adopting a standard test across a cohort whose prior attainment varies widely, these actions may have a detrimental impact on learning. In the lower sets, students may struggle to answer even a small number of questions on the paper, leaving them feeling stupid and despondent. In the higher sets, students may breeze through the test, breeding complacency and arrogance. Over time, performance in these tests may be more a consequence of the assessment methodology itself than of the aptitude of students.

By examining your current assessment practices through the learning lens, you will develop a critical astuteness which will place you in good stead for creating a better approach. Look at every situation in which students are tested (in the broadest sense). The majority of these instances will be outside of your formal, whole-school assessment system, in the daily practices of classroom teachers. Ask teachers what their goals are when they assess. Speak to students about their daily experience of assessment - what pushes them forwards and what holds them back. Take a fresh look at the formal processes: the degrees of formality and uniformity; how assessment is portrayed to students; what use is made of the data; who assessment judgments are shared with; what happens when students succeed or fail.

This process of reflection and critique is not something for the assessment lead to do alone. This is the time to begin building a shared sense of purpose and to cultivate the expertise in teachers and leaders to improve practice. Part of the task ahead is system design, and you will need input from a range of curriculum leaders. However, assessment is also an ecosystem which cannot be designed and built. To ensure assessment practice is cohesive and aligned on a common purpose, you will need to win the hearts and minds of all teachers.

What does a learning-aligned KS3 assessment approach look like? Perhaps we should start by asking that question to subject teachers. We may find that they give very different answers depending on what subject they teach. We will explore the possible reasons for this in a future post.

In the meantime, if you are set on starting again with KS3 assessment, building a shared understanding of what assessment is for is a good place to start.