PREMISE: Gathering feedback from students, to inform lesson delivery and planning, can be challenging for teachers due to large classes of diverse learners. The default strategy of traditional linear teaching is to identify knowledge gaps and progress lapses through periodic, summative assessment. An alternative and supportive method of gaining information from students is through formative assessment. The crucial distinction is that ‘formative assessments are for learning, while summative assessments are of learning’. I sought to study the effectiveness of assessment methods applied during rather than after the teaching and learning process. According to Dr Cheryl A Jones, ‘when learners know and understand [the] principles [of assessment for learning], the quality of learning will improve.’ Jones proposes that assessment for learning (AFL) strategies ‘promote ownership of the learning aims and a sense of shared responsibility between the teacher and learner to achieve those aims’. The premise: Monitoring progress during learning encourages a culture of reflection, creates responsible and resilient learners, and produces visible results.

CHALLENGE: As part of the English curriculum, we teach 10-mark analytical response method in KS3, to familiarise the students with this common Language exam task, and the PEA tool is crucial to this process. The PEA tool for analysis combines several skills of which basic structuring is only one:

An effective PEA point needs to meet several criteria: It needs to: 1) present a crisp summary point (blue in my method), summarising an effect or an idea, not listing technical devices; 2) incorporate embedded quotations into sentences fluidly and descriptively, contextualising the evidence as it illustrates the point (green); and 3) employ English subject terminology to explain the effects of language, form and structure in technical detail (red). These skills are often taught simultaneously and after the fact, by looking at model paragraphs in feedback lessons for summative assessments, the marking of which finds teachers repeating marginal comments: ‘Make your point sentence more meaningful’, ‘Embed quotations into your sentences’, and ‘Use subject terminology’. Ideally students would be taught the tool incrementally and sequentially using a broken down, staged approach. Students would be prompted to write practice PEA points more frequently, and to assess their own work in the process, reflecting on how they might improve their method.

APPLIED AFL: For this study, different formative strategies were applied to Y7 and Y9 groups respectively. In preparation for a summative assessment, Y7 students engaged in practice work for a 10-mark analysis question on a passage from the novel 'Millions' by Frank Cottrell Boyce. They were given an itemised, colour-coded breakdown of success criteria on a PowerPoint slide, with numerical values applied to the PEA features, adding up to 10. In response to the question, ‘How does the author portray Damian as upset in this passage?’, they were instructed to practice by using the breakdown and assessing their own PEA using the values. Following the task, I asked them to rate their confidence on a scale of 1-5. I prompted students registering confidence levels of 3 or less to pose questions that might improve their confidence, and I responded to these individually. As I discovered that students had similar concerns, this informed my teaching: I wrote a model 10-mark model response – colour coded and reinforcing the success criteria - and shared this with the class as a mini plenary, requesting a ‘thumbs up’ if it was helpful. I monitored the confidence levels of individual students through these various stages.

Y9 students engaged in the same 10-mark task with an adjusted sequential learning process: Using a worksheet as preparation for the English Language GCSE – ‘Looking at how writers achieve effects’ – students were asked to write an analytical response to a 10-mark question on passage from the novel ‘Resistance’ by Owen Shears: ‘How does the writer create the impression that this day is out of the ordinary? Progressing from an ‘evidence and effect’ table, with sample evidence and model sentences given - the students drafted a response to the question. I marked the first draft quickly, giving very brief comments and ‘R’ (reading) targets from a set of Level Descriptors – I recorded their interim level and targets in my tracker. The students were instructed in a subsequent lesson to improve their paragraphs using my individual feedback and targets, in an effort to gain 10 marks. They were not given a numerical marking breakdown at this stage, but were given success criteria to meet each of the 5 KS3 ‘R’ level descriptors, which students have filed with their progress trackers. For the final drafts, I created a numerical breakdown out of 10 to make marking quick and simple. Returning these, I gave the students a generic mark scheme and a PDF copy of the passage with indicative content inserted, to model annotations and analytical comments for the students. I finally asked the students to review all the given guidance and resources, and to submit a short but meaningful reflection on how they would improve their 10-mark response method for the GCSE.

FINDINGS: To evaluate the effectiveness of these various formative assessment methods and strategies, I observed the confidence levels and summative assessments for 5 Y7 students of different attainment levels and abilities; and the first and final drafts, application of individual feedback and general success criteria, and final reflections on learning submitted by 5 Y9 students of different attainment levels and abilities.

Observations Y7: Predictably, higher ability students (Keshia) can learn effectively by following instructions and observing models; their confidence in their own learning can be trusted, as they tend to be honest and/or cautious (Betty). Also predictably, lower ability students are not always able to gauge their confidence or assess their own learning reliably, as the disparity between Sadie’s confidence level and end result demonstrates. In the case of Emma, she had clearly not accessed the practice work or model response, as her questions came after the model was posted, and were answered by the given success criteria. Yet, the plenary approach to this process yielded that knowledge of Emma’s learning gap, which is in itself useful for planning, as the gap could be addressed in subsequent lessons. Charlene clearly benefitted from the plenary and modelling, demonstrating the potential effectiveness of those methods for a focused student of lower attainment. Her score was on par with that of Emma, who did not access the given resources.

Observations Y9: Students of all abilities who engage well with direct, independent feedback also tend to apply general feedback. This is useful knowledge, as it means teacher focus both in the classroom and in marking assessments can be applied differentially and more productively to students who struggle to apply feedback. The most exciting observation to emerge from this study is that when students are prompted to reflect on feedback as an exercise, they tend to do so usefully and meaningfully, giving them direct ownership of that learning. In the case of Adila, it can also be noted that lower-ability students may struggle to reflect on their own learning, highlighting a skill that may yet be taught.

EVALUATION: A debate surrounds the effectiveness of formative assessment. Gavin T L Brown (University of Auckland) ‘questions the legitimacy of treating assessment for learning (AfL) as assessment’ on the basis of its potential inaccuracy, and claims it ‘cannot provide sufficient evidence on which to base anything more than teaching interactions.’ Yet the interactive and responsive methods applied in this study demonstrate the usefulness and benefit of varied formative assessment to the learning process, proven by results. The knowledge gained of students’ abilities and tendencies with each formative assessment informs teaching strategies and subsequent assessments, increasing the effectiveness of lessons and assessments by enhancing and deepening the learning process. According to the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, ‘[q]uantitative and qualitative research on formative assessment has shown that it is perhaps one of the most important interventions for promoting high-performance ever studied.’ This study found that formative assessment is more meaningful assessment that increases the enjoyment and the effectiveness of teaching and learning.

FINAL TEACHING RECOMMENDATIONS: Early short assessments followed by regular and varied formative assessment is a productive teaching strategy. The results of this study further serve to recommend the increased use of quantitative breakdowns of qualitative tasks, for ease of marking and tracking. Where numbers are quick and easy to gather and record, they produce observable and valuable trends in gained knowledge and progress made by students.