Our approach to assessment has several important objectives, the most important of which is that assessment must be fit for purpose, in all contexts and domains.
We do this by ensuring:
Aims and objectives
Our approach to assessment has several important objectives, the most important of which is that assessment must be fit for purpose, in all contexts and domains. We do this by ensuring:
- A close link between assessment, curriculum and teaching. Assessment is primarily about how well pupils are learning the intended curriculum. The outcomes of assessment will always influence decisions about teaching and the design of the curriculum.
- Assessments are valid, reliable and used to help pupils to learn better. Assessments are designed to provide insight into pupils’ learning – it is never ‘data-led’. However, assessment will be robust enough to provide valid and reliable information across different teachers and subjects.
- Reporting and target setting are meaningful and valid. A valid assessment will always measure what it purports to measure – it will not be used to generalise or distort.
- Assessment methods should be efficient and not increase staff workload. The outcomes from most formative assessments are not recorded formally. There are no more than three formal summative assessment points per year. Approaches to marking are designed to ensure impact on learning and reduce the burden on staff.
Core principles
- The primary purpose of assessment is to provide valid and reliable information about whether pupils are successfully learning the intended curriculum. Assessment will provide information about whether pupils can remember, in long-term memory, what they have learned. A further purpose of assessment is to provide information about the effectiveness of curriculum and pedagogy and how these can be improved.
- Progress is defined as the extent to which a pupil or pupils have learned or are successfully learning the intended curriculum. The curriculum is the progression model. It sets out what we want pupils to learn, and therefore their ‘progress’. If pupils are successfully learning the curriculum they must be making progress. Progress cannot be measured or ‘proved’. Attempting to do so often sets up perverse incentives or practices such as teaching to the test.
- Assessment will often exploit the benefits of assessment on learning and memory. The approach to assessment should always seek to make use of the ‘testing effect’. Research has shown that regular assessment, if used in appropriate ways, strengthens long-term memory and recall.
Please read the document below to find out more information about our approach to assessment and bespoke strategies used at Nechells:
