Assessment, Marking and Feedback Policy Committee with oversight for this policy Teaching and Learning Policy last reviewed by the Teaching and Learning Committee 17/01/2013 Policy last ratified and adopted by Full Governing Body 06/02/2013 Policy / Document due for review Spring 2016 Perivale Primary School Assessment, Marking & Feedback Policy Page 1
Assessment Marking and Feedback Policy Introduction At Perivale Primary School we want all children to make good or better progress and develop positive attitudes to their learning. Assessment for Learning is central to children recognising and achieving their potential. Assessment for Learning is concerned with both the learner and the teacher being aware of where learners are in their learning, where they need to go and how to get there. The following policy outlines the key issues that ensure the teachers and the children at Perivale Primary School achieve high standards and have ownership over the learning and teaching that takes place within the school. The intention is for Assessment for Learning (AfL) to occur in everyday lessons. AfL improves learning and raises standards. The way teachers mark and give feedback to pupils is central to the process. The key characteristics of Assessment for Learning 1. Explicit Learning Objectives 2. Success Criteria 3. Questioning 4. Feedback 5. Marking 6. Adjusting teaching to take account of results 1. Explicit Learning Objectives Effective learning takes place when learners understand what they are trying to achieve and why it is important the bigger picture. It is therefore important that pupils know the learning objective to the lesson as this gives a focus, enabling pupils to review their own progress and to see if they have achieved the objective. Teacher demonstration and modeling will closely relate to the learning objective as will the subsequent activities. Together these will support and guide children to achieve the lesson intention. The learning objectives will focus on learning not activities. The objective for the lesson must be clear and concise. It must start with the word To and this must be followed with an active verb (analyse, write, calculate). Examples of good learning objectives are:- To describe a setting To start a sentence with As to show that two things are happening simultaneously To multiply using expanded column method 2. Success Criteria Assessment, Marking & Feedback Policy Page 2
Developing success criteria to achieve the learning objective will help provide children with a framework against which they can focus their efforts, evaluate their progress and discuss issues. Success criteria can be generated by the teacher, but it has been recognised that where children together generate their own success criteria to meet a learning objective they gain more ownership over the learning with positive results. 3. Questioning We use questioning in a variety of ways. Our key purpose is to develop learning and extend thinking. Asking questions raises issues; from this the teacher builds up knowledge and information about the children s understanding and misconceptions. Time needs to be invested in framing key questions to use during the demonstration and modelling part of the lesson to ensure learning progresses. Key questions, including prompting, promoting and probing questions, are recorded in teacher s medium or short term planning. Wait or thinking time is essential to give all children the opportunity to think and respond. This enables more children to contribute to discussion and misconceptions can be dealt with more effectively. The use of talk partners where children can rehearse and scaffold their answers will lead to greater responses from the children and therefore provide much more information for the teacher about the extent to which children have understood the new learning. 4. Feedback The purpose of AfL is to provide feedback in such a way that learning will improve as a result. Teachers need to identify the next steps to learning as well as responding appropriately to the mistakes that they make. Teacher s feedback will provide pupils with the information they need to achieve the next step and make better progress. Feedback that comments on the work rather than the child are more constructive for both learning and motivation. The following are a number of ways feedback can be given:- Oral (most regular and interactive form of feedback) Focus on being constructive and informative to help pupils take the next steps in their learning Can be direct (targeted at pupils/individuals) or indirect (whole class can listen and reflect on what is said) Whole class or group marking of one piece of work can be useful as the teacher invites children s contributions so that the piece is marked through a process of discussion, analysis and modelling Opportunity to model the language pupils can use when responding or giving feedback to others Developmental feedback- recognises pupils efforts and achievements and offer specific details of ways forward. Emphasise the learner s progress and achievement rather than failure Assessment, Marking & Feedback Policy Page 3
Self and Peer assessment Children can mark their own work against success criteria and on occasions can be involved in peer marking. This is not meant to replace teacher marking and feedback but is important for encouraging children to become more independent and responsible for their own learning. Time needs to be built into the lesson for this to be possible and allow children to reflect in structured ways as follows: Underlining using a coloured pencil where you have met that criteria (Mark Hartley) Peers commenting where a success criteria has not been met or could have been developed further. Identify 1 thing your peer has done and one thing they need to do to develop further All children will be asked to assess their understanding through the use of the traffic light system 5. Marking Aims We aim to: Provide consistency and continuity in marking throughout the school so that children have a clear understanding of teacher expectations Use the marking system as a tool for formative on-going assessment Improve standards by encouraging children to give of their best and improve on their last piece of work Develop children s self-esteem through precise and valuing genuine achievement Create a dialogue which will aid progression Principles and Guidance Marking should always be in accordance with the shared lesson objective and success criteria and/or personal learning targets. Pupils must be given time to read and respond to comments (DIRT Time) and where a child is unable to do this other arrangements for communication must be made. Comments should be age and ability appropriate. Teachers should aim to promote self-assessment by linking marking and feedback into the wider process of self- initiated learning. Whenever possible marking should involve pupils directly, with younger pupils and/or SEN pupils it is essential that feedback is oral and immediate. This marking should be evidenced by a V written next to the learning objective. Assessment, Marking & Feedback Policy Page 4
All written comments should be neat, cursive and written in a green biro. Teachers should reflect expectations of the children s presentation through their own presentation. Spelling should be marked focusing on the first 100 high frequency words, and other related topic words. Incorrect spellings should be written below a piece of work (max of 3). The children should be given time to re-write the spellings correctly, and encouraged to check these specific spellings in later work. Marking will normally be done before the next session in that subject but may not be possible for longer pieces of work. Ensure children have an understanding of their current target and can identify evidence in their work. Work marked by someone other than the class teacher should be initialed next to the learning objective e.g. TA teaching assistant ST - supply teacher, children marking should put their initials. Work marked by the children should be in purple biro. In-depth marking must be completed a minimum of once a week (or more if appropriate) in maths and in English. Regular and frequent written feedback will be given where necessary and all Learning Objectives highlighted according to the traffic light system. Refer to appendix 1 for in depth marking key. Homework does not need to be marked in depth. The learning objective must be highlighted according to the level of understanding and the work can be marked with a tick or a. Next steps and areas for development (highlighted in blue) indicate an area where some improvement needs to be made. Information needs to be given as to how the child can progress see appendix 2. Challenges should be indicated using the challenge stamp. Time should be given to pupils to correct, redraft, edit, add and respond to feedback (DIRT). In lessons following quality marking, children should be given a minimum of 10 minutes to be able to do this. Maths and other closed tasks should be marked with a tick or a. put next to incorrect answers. 6. Adjusting teaching to take account of results:- Pupil feedback and marking will be used to inform future planning. Annotations on plans will be used to record assessments. Monitoring Assessment, Marking & Feedback Policy Page 5
To be undertaken by Senior Leadership Team, Phase Leaders, Middle Leaders, and Subject Leaders as part of their work scrutiny. Appendices Appendix 1 KS1 Marking Key Appendix 2 KS2 Marking Key Appendix 3 A bank of useful close the gap comments Appendix 3a Maths comments Assessment, Marking & Feedback Policy Page 6