William Penn
Weald Locality Agreed Aims and Principles for Assessment
Assessment is at the Heart of Teaching and Learning
- Assessment provides evidence to guide and inform teaching and learning
- Assessment provides the opportunity for pupils to demonstrate and review their progress.
- Peer and self-assessment are essential skills
Assessment Outcomes Provide Meaningful and Understandable Information for:
- Pupils in developing their learning
- Parents in supporting children with their learning
- Teachers in planning teaching and learning
- School leaders and governors in planning and allocating resources
- Government and agents of government
Assessment is Fair and Honest
- Assessment is inclusive of all abilities
- Assessment is free from bias towards factors that are not relevant to what the assessment intends to address
- Assessment outcomes are conveyed in an open, honest and transparent way to assist pupils with their learning
- Judgments are made against national assessment guidelines
- There are regular standardisation opportunities for all teachers
- Assessment judgments are moderated by experienced professionals to ensure their accuracy
- There are regular opportunities for layered moderation within schools and across key stages
- There are regular opportunities for locality group moderation for robust teacher assessment
- There are regular opportunities for external moderation of teacher assessments
- There are regular opportunities for teachers to engage in professional discussions about the whole child, in pupil progress meetings
Assessment is Ambitious
- Assessment places achievement in context against nationally standardised criteria and expected standards
- Assessment embodies, through objective criteria, a pathway of progress and development for every child
- Assessment objectives set high expectations for learners
Assessment is Appropriate
- The purpose of any assessment process should be clearly stated
- Conclusions regarding pupil achievement are valid when the assessment method is appropriate (to age, to the task and to the desired feedback information)
- Assessment should draw on a wide range of evidence to provide a complete picture of student achievement
- Pupil conferencing and dialogue with children should be a valued source of assessment information
- Observation should be a valued source of assessment information
- Assessment should demand no more procedures or records than are practically required to allow pupils, their parents and teachers to plan future learning
- A balance of assessment evidence should be used to make formative and summative judgments
- Teachers’ in depth knowledge of pupils should allow them to make professional ‘best fit’ judgments
Assessment is Consistent
- The results are readily understandable by all stakeholders.
- A school’s results are capable of comparison with other schools, both locally and nationally
- There are manageable and diagnostic IT recording and tracking programs which allow the analysis of assessment outcomes
Assessment feedback should inspire greater effort and a belief that, through hard work and practice, more can be achieved.