This document discusses the purposes of assessment in primary schools. Formative assessment is used to guide instruction and involves gathering information to understand students' progress, while summative assessment evaluates learning at a point in time. The key difference is that formative assessment informs next steps in teaching, while summative assessment provides summaries of achievement. Effective assessment uses information to adapt teaching, provides feedback to help students improve, and engages students in self-assessment.

3. Assessment serves different functions in education and so we discuss
its purpose in helping learning in the context of other purposes.

4. In Primary schools assessment, evaluation, testing
involve gathering information about children’s ideas and skills and
making judgements for various purposes.
• to find out where children are in the development of desired ideas, skills, and
attitudes (assessment for learning, or formative assessment).
• to find out what children have achieved at a certain point to report to parents
(assessment of learning or summative assessment).

5. What’s the difference between them?
It is not so much the way they are
carried out but in the use that is made of the
information that they provide.
They both involve information gathered
by teachers, but it is only formative assessment
when the information is used to decide the
appropriate next steps for individual children and
to adapt teaching accordingly.

6. Summative Assessment
• provides a summary of what has been achieved at a certain time.
• can provide information about individual children or about a whole class.
•relates to progression in learning against public criteria.
• it enables results from different children to be combined for various
purposes because they are based on the same criteria.
•it should be based on evidence relating to the full range of learning goals.

7. Why Formative Assessment?
• By finding what ideas the children bring to try to understand a new
experience, the teacher is in a position to ensure that these are taken into
account, so that new ideas or modification of existing ones, make sense to the
children.
• By noticing how they make their observations, express their predictions, and
plan their investigations, the teacher can see where the children are in the
development of these skills, and he or she is in a position to decide if they need
help to do these things more sicentifically.
• Having a clear view of progression in learning and making sure that relevant
information about where children are in this progression is picked up during the
regular course of interactions with children.

8. Classroom practice enriches if:
• assessment is used by teachers to adapt teaching.
• teachers give feedback to children in terms of how to improve their work, not in terms
of judgmental comments, grades, or marks.
•Children are actively engaged in learning.
• children are engaged in self-assessment and in helping to decide the next steps in
learning.
•Teachers regard all children as being capable of learning.

10. Using Assessment to adapt teaching
Gathering and interpreting
information Planning investigations
•Questioning Do the children:
•Asking children to draw their ideas 1. start with a useful general approach even if
•Concept maps details are lacking or need further thought?
•Discussing words 2. identify the variable that has to be changed
•Listening to children-only and the things that should be kept the
discussions same for a fair test?
•Observing what children do as well 3. identify what to look for what or measure
as looking at what they produce. to obtain a result in an investigation?
4. succeed in planning a fair test using a given
framework of questions?
5. compare their actual procedures after the
event with what was planned?
6. Spontaneouslystructure their plans so that
independent, dependent, and controlled
variables are identified and steps taken to
ensure that the results obtained are as
accurate as they can reasonably be?

11. Observing
Do the children:
1. succeed in identifying obvious differences and similarities between objects and materials?
2. make use of several senses in exploring objects or materials?
3. Identify differences of detail between objects or materials?
4. identify points of similarity between objects where differences are more obvious than similarities
5. use their senses appropriately and extend the range of sight using a hand lens or microscope as
necessary?
6. distinguish form many observations those that are relevant to the problem in hand?
Communicating
Do the children:
1. Talk freely about their activities and the ideas they have, with or without making a written record?
2. Listen to other’s ideas and look at their results?
3. Use drawings, writing, models, paintings to present their ideas and findings?
4. Use tables, graphs, and charts when these are suggested to record and organize results?
5. Regularly and spontaneously use information books to check or supplement their investigations?
6. Choose a form for recording or presenting results that is both considered and justified in relation tp the type
of information and the audience?

12. Respect for evidence
Do the children:
1. attempt to justify conclusions in terms of evidence even if the interpretation is
influenced by preconceived ideas?
2. realize when the evidence doesn’t fit a conclusion based on expectations, although
they may challenge the evidence rather than the conclusion?
3. check parts of the evidence that don’t fit an overall pattern or conclusions?
4. accept only interpretations or conclusions for which there is supporting evidence?
5. show a desire to collect further evidence to check conclusions before accepting
them?
6. recognize that no conclusion is so firm that it can’t be challenged by further
evidence?

13. Feedback form Teacher to Children
How?
mark Tells how well the child has done.
Gives a judgment that encourages
children to labe lthemselves.
Judgmental comments
Provides a grade or a mark that
children use often to compare
themselves with each other or with
Non-judgmental comments what they want to achieve.
Focuses on the
task, not the person
Provides comments on
what to do next and
Encourages children to think ideas about how to do it.
about the work, not about
their feelings or ability.

14. Children assessing their own work
• give children some way
of judging where they are
in relation to this goal.
•share with children
the goal of learning in
an activity so that • help them think
they know where about their learning
they are going Teachers need to:
• ensure children
have the skills and
confidence to take
the next steps.