Summative Assessment Measures: Use of Portfolios

A – Applied with confidence B – Needed some help C – Needed considerable help D – Attempted but unsuccessful E – Not attempted X – Not observed

Always ensure that you include the final category so that you will know for the next lesson who to prioritise for the next observation. It won’t be possible to complete the observation sheet during the lesson so be patient and ensure that in the end all students have been adequately assessed. In my experience, it is best to provide the students with ample time to complete the task or activity. This is where effective planning comes into its own. By taking into account the fact that during the lesson there will be students who will need considerable support and time for classroom management, you will need to allow yourself enough time to adequately assess their progress and doing this ensure that they finish what they started.

Recording the Evidence

It is vital that even if you are an experienced teacher in the field of ICT that you record your structured and informal observations. It will help you track the students’ progress of a longer period of time. This will be covered more in the next module Using Assessment Effectively.

When using informal assessment methods, Newton and Newton (1998, p. 164) as cited in Wintle and Harrison (1999, p. 90) suggest the following:

• Observing children as they work • Talking to them about their work • Looking at their workbooks and folders • Looking at classroom displays • Looking at school records • Talking with teachers about children’s progress and achievements • Looking at their portfolios of achievements • Looking at performance profiles as reflected by test results • Involving children in some self-evaluation • Using questionnaires to teachers and/ or pupils

It is your role as the ICT coordinator to assist your colleagues with the integration of formative assessment into teaching and learning. A good example of doing this is to convert the level descriptions into expectations for the years 2, 4 and 6. By listing the expectations for every two years in terms that the teaching staff would be able to recognise and use, in addition to indicating the level of progression expected, formative methods can be deployed in the classroom successfully.

When it comes to assessment across the school summative assessment measures works best in the form of portfolios. Portfolios work because they achieve consistency and accuracy in teacher assessment. According to Wintle and Harrison (1999), they serve two purposes:

• It provides evidence of standards of assessment within the school; • It attempts to achieve consistency of assessment throughout the school and between schools.