Nut Briefing on the Assessment for Learning Strategy and Assessing Pupils Progress Initiative

NUT BRIEFING ON THE ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING STRATEGY AND ASSESSING PUPILS’ PROGRESS INITIATIVE

SEPTEMBER 2008

INTRODUCTION

This Briefing provides information and guidance for members on the Assessment for Learning (AfL) Strategy and Assessing Pupils’ Progress (APP) initiative.

THE ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING STRATEGY

What is the Assessment for Leaning Strategy?

The AfL Strategy is a joint project between the DCSF, the National Strategies, QCA and the Chartered Institute of Assessors. It is based on the well-known work of the Assessment Reform Group, in particular, the work of Professors Dylan Wiliam and Paul Black but is not the same as this model of assessment as it focuses especially on pupil attainment and progress against the National Curriculum attainment targets.

The AfL Strategy aims to ensure that pupils know how they are doing and what they need to do to improve; that teachers are able to make “well-founded judgements” about pupils’ attainment and know how to use these to aid progression; and that schools have “structured and systematic” assessment and progress tracking systems in place.

The AfL Strategy is focused currently on English and mathematics at Key Stages 2 and 3, although the DCSF says that AfL practices are transferrable to all other phases and subject areas. Indeed, it is intended that AfL is not seen as “an isolated activity. It feeds into the school’s cumulative understanding of pupils’ achievements.”

The AfL Strategy is designed to link in with the “Making Good Progress” pilot which is currently taking place and with the Assessing Pupils’ Progress initiative (see below).

The AfL Strategy guidance document is available to download from Teachernet http://publications.teachernet.gov.uk/default.aspx?PageFunction=productdetails&PageMode=publications&ProductId=DCSF-00341-2008&

Is there any funding available to support the introduction of the Strategy?

The Government will provide £150million over three years to support the AfL Strategy, via the Standards Fund. This money is intended to help schools establish AfL or extend AfL practice already in place. This funding will be allocated according to the number of pupils on roll, plus an additional £1,000 for all schools (£1,250 for PRUs and secondary special schools). In addition, there will be support available to all schools from local authority National Strategy consultants.

The AfL Strategy guidance document says that AfL funding can also be used to support the establishment of the Assessing Pupil Progress (APP) initiative (see below).

Do schools have to use the Assessment for Learning Strategy?

The AfL Strategy guidance document places great emphasis on the importance of all schools adopting it and suggests that “direct support” will be offered to schools which have not done so in 2009 – 10 onwards.

The AfL Strategy is however non-statutory, therefore schools are free to choose whether to use it or not. The AfL guidance document says “senior leaders in schools will need to ensure that their approach to assessment for learning is part of a manageable and school-wide system of assessment”. The NUT advises that this would be best achieved in consultation with teachers and that schools should determine how useful the AfL Strategy would be in their particular context, which elements to introduce and how to integrate it with the school’s assessment polices, including any existing assessment for learning techniques used by the school.

What are the workload implications of the Assessment for Learning Strategy?

Some teachers have expressed concerns about the day-to-day use of AfL, in particular, giving pupils immediate feedback on their work and the use of comments rather than grades when marking pupil work. Whilst supporting the Assessment Reform Group’s concept of AfL, the NUT believes that AfL practices must be manageable for teachers, must not create excessive workload and should not be unduly focused on the achievement of Government targets for pupil performance.

It is important that school assessment policies address the issue of manageability before AfL is introduced, including the deployment of additional staff in the classroom to facilitate feedback to pupils; limits to the amount of in-depth marking required of teachers; and the use of strategies such as peer or self-assessment or “light touch” marking.

The School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) 2008 requires teachers to assess, record and report on the development, progress and attainment of pupils and also to provide or contribute to oral and written assessments and reports relating to individual pupils or groups of pupils (paragraphs 75.1.3 and 75.3). No particular format or method of assessment, recording or reporting is specified by the STPCD, however. Teachers are free therefore to use their professional judgement to decide the most appropriate form(s) of assessment to be used with their pupils.

NUT members who are concerned by the level of workload generated by the introduction of the AfL Strategy or who feel pressurised to use particular forms of assessment against their professional judgement should contact their NUT Regional Office for advice.

ASSESSING PUPILS’ PROGRESS

What is APP?

Assessing Pupils’ Progress (APP) is an initiative designed by QCA and the National Strategies to support teachers’ assessment and the tracking of pupils’ progress. APP is based on Assessment Focuses (AFs) which are linked to the National Curriculum assessment levels. These cover the areas for assessment and are used as the framework for National Curriculum tests. The AFs are also linked to the National Strategies Frameworks’ learning objectives.

APP materials are currently available for reading, writing and mathematics in Key Stages 2 and 3. APP materials for Key Stage 1 are due to be launched in January 2009. Work is already underway on the development of APP materials for Key Stages 2 and 3 speaking and listening, ICT and science, which are expected to be introduced in 2010. APP materials relevant to the foundation subjects are also planned for the future.

The APP materials comprise “Assessment Guidelines”, which are proformas for teachers to complete when assessing pupils’ work in relation to National Curriculum levels and “Standards Files” which are collections of examples of pupils’ work at various National Curriculum levels of attainment.

More information about APP, including downloadable APP materials, is available at http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primaryframework/assessment/app (Key Stage 2) and http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/secondary/keystage3/respub/englishpubs/ass_eng/ (Key Stage 3)

What does APP involve?

The APP Handbooks say that teachers should make “periodic”, usually termly, assessments of a sample group of pupils and relate their progress to National Curriculum attainment levels.

For each Assessment Focus (AF) there are two or three level-related criteria. Teachers match these criteria to what they observe about a pupil’s work and then check their judgement against the criteria for the levels above and below.

The APP Handbook sets out five general areas of activity teachers should undertake when using APP.

1.  Collect evidence – pupil work, teacher plans, notes etc – and the APP assessment guidance materials.

2.  Identify the level borderline for the relevant Attainment Target.

3.  Look at the pupil work for each Assessment Focus and highlight the criteria applicable.

4.  Decide which level is the “best fit” and tick the appropriate box for each Assessment Focus on the Assessment Guidelines proforma.

5.  Make an overall level judgement.

In addition, the APP Handbook sets out a number of specific activities connected with making overall teacher assessment judgements for reading, writing and mathematics.

Do all teachers in the school use APP?

The APP Handbook says that a minimum of two teachers, from the same or adjacent year groups, should be involved, as well as a senior school leader and an APP lead teacher for each subject. The NUT believes that the involvement of class teachers should be on a voluntary basis only. The NUT advises that the identification of senior school leaders and APP lead teachers should include consideration of their existing roles and responsibilities within school and that appropriate material recognition of the additional responsibilities arising from APP should be made by the school.

Are there set times for using APP?

The APP Handbook says “your school policy will determine when you should make APP judgements”. It recommends that the work reviewed using APP should cover more than one unit and at least one term’s progress. It is therefore for the head teacher, in consultation with staff, to decide the timing of any APP assessments.

Do I have to use APP?

The use of APP by schools is not a statutory requirement, therefore schools are free to decide which, if any, elements to use. The APP Handbook says that the initiative is “adaptable to local contexts”, therefore there is no single approach or “right way” to use it.

The APP Handbook also suggests that school senior leadership teams should decide which subjects, year groups and teachers should use APP. The NUT recommends that this decision should be made by head teachers, following discussion with their staff, based on their professional judgement about how useful the programme, or elements of it, would be to the school and what impact the introduction of APP would have on existing assessment practices and on staff.

The NUT believes that teachers should be trusted to use their professional knowledge to make judgements about pupils’ levels of progress and do not need to use the APP materials in order to assess their pupils’ attainment accurately.

What are the implications of in-school standardisation?

Teachers using APP will be expected to attend in-school standardisation and moderation meetings to ensure consistency across the school. The NUT advises that time should be made available during the school day for these activities, which are an essential part of APP, to take place.

Teachers cannot be required to use their Planning, Preparation and Assessment (PPA) time for standardisation and moderation, or indeed, for any activities related to APP. Section Four, Paragraph 85 of the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document 2008 says:

“it is for the teacher to determine the particular PPA priorities for each block of guaranteed PPA, although that does not preclude them from choosing to use some of the time to support collaborative activities.”

Any NUT member who feels pressurised to use their PPA time for any activities relating to APP should contact their NUT Regional Office for advice.

Do I have to change my planning if I use APP?

The APP materials do not suggest a particular format for teachers’ lesson plans but the APP Handbook does say that teachers may need to adjust their medium and long term planning in light of APP judgements.

The NUT has received anecdotal evidence that some teachers have been put under pressure to use standard lesson planning proforma or to include Assessment Focuses in their plans.

The NUT believes that planning is the professional responsibility of all individual teachers and will support any members under pressure to use particular planning formats. The National Union of Teachers’ ballot protecting members from bureaucratic burdens applies to excessive planning expectations of teachers. The NUT’ document “Planning: Advice and Protection for NUT Members” is available to download from the NUT website www.teachers.org.uk.

Does APP involve lots of extra work for teachers?

Potentially yes, if all of the APP materials are used. At Key Stage 2, for example, there are 38 different Assessment Focuses which teachers would need to assess against and provide evidence for, using the Assessment Guidelines proformas, which the NUT believes to be an unnecessarily bureaucratic approach to assessment.

Although the APP Handbook says that the materials should be used with only a sample of pupils, anecdotal evidence suggests that APP is being used with all pupils in some schools. In the NUT’s view, this would create an unacceptable level of workload for teachers. NUT members would be protected under the NUT Workload Ballot from any excessive workload.

The APP Handbook contains a table which summarises potential changes in assessment practice following the adoption of APP. This suggests that, if APP is introduced in a school, other activities associated with assessment should be discontinued, for example, the use of commercial tests, internal tests and optional National Curriculum tests or the levelling of individual pieces of pupil work. Any initial discussions about the introduction of APP should include consideration of what work would be removed from teachers as a result of APP. If it is proposed that APP is introduced in addition to existing assessment activities, NUT members should consult their NUT school representative in the first instance, or contact their NUT Regional Office for advice.

It is also important to note that the level of teacher annotations of pupils’ work contained in the Standards File is “far more than a classroom teacher would be expected to record” and is for exemplification purposes only, according to the APP Handbook. Similarly, some of the collections of pupils’ work in the Standards File are more extensive than would normally be necessary. The NUT advises members that they should use their professional judgement to determine how much is sufficient to support their level judgements and to gather and annotate only that which they consider to be essential to make secure assessment judgements.

NUT members are reminded that, under the terms of the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document, they are not required to undertake administrative tasks. Activities such as copying pupils’ work prior to levelling or for training purposes or inputting assessment data should therefore be delegated to appropriate support staff.

All new initiatives are likely to generate additional workload and APP would be no exception. The APP Handbook suggests, for example, that teachers work though examples of the assessment guidelines proformas for pupils in their class, using the Standards Files as guidance, prior to completing them for the first time. In order for teachers to understand fully what APP requires, the NUT believes additional time should be provided during the school day for teachers to familiarise themselves with the APP materials.

The NUT Regional Office should be informed immediately if members believe that they are subject to excessive demands relating to any aspect of the Assessment for Learning Strategy or the Assessing Pupils’ Progress initiative.

ASSESS PUPILS' PROGRESS INITIATIVE BRIEFING_KDR 2 28 April 2009

Created: 26 September 2008/KDR