How to Establish an Assessment Practices

For each different group of students in each year: • What assessment evidence and what records are collected? • When are these collected? • What administrative routines are used to collect the assessment evidence? • What summaries of the results of assessment are prepared? • When are these prepared? • Is a statement bank used for feedback? • How is this edited? • What assessment evidence and what records must be retained and for how long? • What arrangements are made for the storage of the assessment evidence and the associated records? • Which teachers have what roles and responsibilities in collecting the evidence, summarizing it and ensuring the safe and secure storage of it? • What are the strengths and weaknesses of the existing arrangements for collecting the evidence? • How is the effectiveness of procedures for collecting the evidence monitored?

For each different group of pupils in each year: • How is student’s’ progress and attainment reported? • When is it reported? What are the statutory requirements? • Are these requirements met? • Which teachers have what roles and responsibilities in reporting progress and attainment? • What are the strengths and weaknesses of the existing arrangements for reporting progress and attainment? • How is the effectiveness of these arrangements monitored?

For each different group of pupils in each year: • What assessment evidence is moderated? • Are there exemplars of students’ graded work available that can be used to ensure standards are maintained from year to year? How is moderation of assessment organized? • What moderation is done for internal assessments? • What moderation is done for external assessments? • When is moderation done? • What record of the moderation process is retained and for how long? • Where are these records stored? • Are the moderation requirements for GCSE (UK only) and other external assessments met? • Which teachers have which roles and responsibilities in the moderation process? • What are the strengths and weaknesses of the existing arrangements for moderation? • How is the effectiveness of moderation procedures monitored?

Previously, I discussed in one of my earlier works about assessing ICT capability the best practices for teachers to do so. For coordinator of ICT, these practices must become standard amongst all teachers if there is to be consistency.

Ideally, it is formative assessment practices that cater to the needs of an effective and efficient assessment of ICT capability as it involves a more detailed and qualitative evaluation of students’ ability and progress. It

also provides more benefits for the day-to-day teaching and learning. Formative practices must occur continuously if there is to be improved standards of achievement through maximised learning and student progress. It is assessment for learning as opposed to assessment of learning and is “vital because of its role in individualising learning for individual students and groups” (Finger, Russell, Jaimeson-Proctor, & Russell, 2007, p. 222, as cited in Hilkemeijer, 2017, p.23).

Informal Observation

The best way to assess a student’s ICT capability is by observation but it has to be carried out in way that you will be able to use it for future planning. To achieve this you need to monitor the way a student responds to your explanations continuously. Determine the way they:

• Answer your questions; • Apply themselves to the task you have set;

Also monitor: • The changing moods and relationships between different students or groups of students and; • Whether you have pitched the level of demand appropriately. (Bennett, Hamill, & Pickford, 2007)

The information gathered through this type of observation will be useful to you to change your approaches to teaching in order to meet the needs of the students. It will also provide you with information as to the opportune moments to intervene with apposite instructions, explanations or simply just to increase the level of challenge provided by the activity. You will notice that some students will be very confident and can carry on the activity with little help. These are the students that you can assign additional roles to as ‘student helpers’.

It is important to find the time at the end of every ICT lesson to recall how the students responded to the ICT activity you assigned them. By making clear learning objectives you will be able to quickly decide who was able to complete the activity without support, with minimum support and those who needed considerable support. A coding system as discussed earlier would be an ideal way of doing this. As with most of your primary lessons, you may have a teaching assistant or an Adult helper with you. Ask for their help in the informal assessment especially if they had been supporting a particular groups of students. Log the progress of the students in your class as soon as possible after (or if you can, during the lesson) a lesson (Bennett, Hamill, & Pickford, 2007, as cited in Hilkemeijer, 2017).

Structured Observation

The only difference between structured and informal observation is the preparation. There are three main ways this can be carried out:

1. Observe the whole class to gain an overview of its progress; 2. Observe a different group closely each week to gather more detailed information on individual attainment; 3. Target your observation on particular skills. (Bennett, Hamill, & Pickford, 2007, p. 64)

Once again, using a coding system will be the best way to monitor and observe their progress in capabilities. Take for example a class learning how to record and edit video clips. Focusing on the routines (skills) and techniques you might code in the following way: