1

CONTENTS
Introduction

Rationale and Overview

Why Introduce AfL to Your Classroom(s)?
Ties to the Revised Curriculum
Putting AfL Into Practice

2
3
6
6

Key Elements of AfL

Sharing Learning Intentions
Sharing Success Criteria
Formative Feedback
Effective Questioning
Helping Pupils to Reect on Their Learning

8
8
12
15
21
26

Appendix 1: Resources
Appendix 2: Further Reading

33
34

Acknowledgements
The Partnership Management Board would like to thank the many people who
contributed to the development and production of the contents of this pack.
They include colleagues from:
Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA)
Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS)
The Education and Library Boards
Regional Training Unit (RTU)
Classroom 2000 (C2K)
The Partnership Management Board would also like to thank all the schools who
so generously allowed us to take photographs. Their participation celebrates pupils
enjoying learning. Their involvement makes the materials real.

Assessment for Learning

Introduction
When we hear the term assessment, we often think of exams, tests, marks,
stress and pass or fail. It is easy to view it as an end product that is separate
from the learning and teaching process. This, however, is only one type of
assessment: assessment of learning (summative assessment). It takes place
after the learning and tells us what has been achieved.
Assessment for Learning (AfL), on the other hand, focuses on the learning
process (rather than the end product) and attempts not to prove learning, but
rather improve it. It is formative assessment. It is a way for us to take stock
during the learning process and can help inform us of how the learning is
progressing.
Summative assessment and AfL (formative assessment) are not opposing or
contradictory practices. That is, the use of AfL in the classroom does not mean
you will suddenly stop marking pupils work; summative assessment will
always have a place in educational practice. Instead, they are complementary
approaches, as the use of AfL can help pupils perform better on summative
assessment tasks and summative assessment can reect the impact of AfL.
While the Revised Curriculum does not require you to integrate AfL practices
into your classroom(s), we strongly recommend the use of AfL as best practice.
The introduction and regular use of AfL in the classroom can help you to full
other statutory components of the revised curriculum (like Thinking Skills and
Personal Capabilities, Learning for Life and Work (at Key Stage 3), and Personal
Development and Mutual Understanding (at Key Stages 1 and 2). In addition, AfL
offers signicant advantages for pupils.
This document will:
explain what AfL is;
introduce its elements; and
introduce some practical strategies to plan and promote AfL in your school/
classroom.
Assessment for Learning is the process of seeking and interpreting
evidence for use by learners and their teachers to decide where the
learners are in their learning, where they need to go next, and how best
to get them there.
Assessment for Learning: 10 Principles
The Assessment Reform Group, 2002

The content in this

section corresponds to
AfL CPD Unit 1

Rationale and Overview

Assessment for Learning is based on extensive research conducted by Paul
Black and Dylan Wiliam. In their 1998 study Inside the Black Box, they rened
the term formative assessment by emphasising that assessment is only
formative when:
it is an integral part of the learning and teaching process; and
assessment evidence is actually used to:
modify teaching to meet the needs of pupils; and
improve learning.
Unlike summative assessment, AfL is conducted during day-to-day classroom
practice and takes place during learning. It also gives pupils an active role in
the assessment process. Pupils work with the teacher to determine what is
being learned and to identify what the next steps should be. Both parties then
use the feedback (which includes information on how the pupils are learning,
their progress, the nature of their understanding and the difculties they are
having) to improve the learning.
This emphasis on the pupils role in the learning process is founded upon the
constructivist view of learning, which says: however neatly we may design,
package and deliver learning experiences, in the end learning is a process that
is instigated and managed by the learner. Its the learner who constructs the
learning.
No matter what artistry we employ as teachers, learning is still something that
learners have to do for themselves.
In Assessment for Learning:
there is a high emphasis on transferable learning;
assessment becomes a much more transparent process because it is based
on critical information that is shared with learners; and
learners are able to take responsibility for their own learning and,
eventually, for their own assessment, too.
It is not something extra or bolted on that you have to do. Rather, it neatly
integrates with your existing classroom practice.
AfL involves the following key actions:
sharing learning intentions;
sharing and negotiating success criteria;
giving feedback to pupils;
effective questioning; and
encouraging pupils to assess and evaluate their own and others work.

Assessment for Learning

Why Introduce AfL to Your Classroom(s)?

Adopting strategies that support Assessment for Learning can transform
learning and teaching and take away the stigma that haunts assessment.
In fact, research has shown that Assessment for Learning can have a
signicant effect on how well pupils achieve in terms of their attainment,
behaviour, motivation, engagement and their ability to work independently.

It Improves Performance
Black and Wiliams 1998 literature review examined 250 research articles from
160 journals published over a nine-year period. From this, they documented
signicant, and often substantial, quantiable learning gains due to AfL
practices. Their review of over 20 studies on classroom assessment showed
increases in primary and post-primary performance ranging from 15 to 30
percent compared to control groups. In post-primary, differential effects were
measured at approximately half a level at Key Stage 3, over half a grade at
GCSE, and two full grades at GCSE after two to three years. They concluded
that no other single improvement initiative improved performance levels to
the extent that formative assessment did. Subsequent research in UK schools
has substantiated these gures. For instance, research conducted in primary
schools through the Gillingham Partnerships Formative Assessment Project
2002 indicated improved standardised test scores in reading and numeracy as
well as improvements in writing levels.

Key
Stage 3 for Learning
Assessment

It Increases Learning Independence

The impact of AfL on learning independence is as important as its benets to
performance. AfL practices make clear what is being learned, why, and how
success will be measured. Pupils who understand their own goals and their
role in learning are more independent in managing their learning; they know
what to do, how they have to work and take more responsibility for their own
learning and assessment. Assessment for Learning helps cultivate these
valuable skills by giving pupils a role in determining these components of the
learning as well as experience in providing feedback and assessing themselves
and their peers. The learning is no longer something they receive; it becomes
something they pursue and have a hand in shaping. This benets learners
later in life as well as in the classroom.

It Improves Morale, Motivation and Risk-Taking

Knowing the goals and success indicators may help pupils to gain learning
independence, but they are not the only inuencing factors. Morale and
motivation are also pivotal components, and here, too, AfL plays an important
role.
Black and Wiliam found that many assessment approaches used in
classrooms compare pupils with one another particularly those that focus
on marks and grades. Evidence shows that pupils interpret the prime purpose
of these assessments to be competition rather than personal improvement.
As a result, feedback from these types of assessment actually reduces pupil
morale. It teaches them, particularly low-attaining pupils, that they lack ability,
leading them to believe they are unable to learn.

Assessment for Learning

These ndings correlate with those of Carol Dweck, Professor of Psychology

at Stanford University. For over 20 years Dweck has been researching
students motivations for learning. Her research concludes that conventional
assessment approaches produce students who purposely avoid risk and
difcult tasks.
Dweck found that practices that focus on rewards like gold stars, grades
or place-in-class ranking encourage learners to focus on and prize their
performance over their learning. In turn, pupils (especially high-achievers)
avoid risk-taking or extending themselves, which is part and parcel of new
learning, because risk means decreased likelihood of reward.
AfL practices, in contrast, emphasise the learning over the performance
(grading or ranking). In some cases, it omits grades altogether. In this
atmosphere, pupils are more free to experiment, take risks and extend
themselves; there isnt necessarily a performance reward to secure or a
prize to compete for with their classmates. This places a value on learning
for learnings sake and promotes a you can do ethos, because pupils
discover rst-hand that getting into difculties and making mistakes is all
part of effective learning. Every pupils condence is improved because the
expectation is that they can achieve.

It Enhances Relationships and Reection

AfL also helps foster a more positive classroom environment. It strengthens
teacher-pupil relationships by increasing two-way communication. These
high-quality interactions between you and your pupils can make them more
motivated to learn and more aware of their learning.
And nally, Assessment for Learning can also improve planning and delivery
of learning. This is because AfL practices lead you to analyse and make the
underpinning rationale for learning explicit to both yourself and pupils. It
creates an opportunity to quality assure and amend activities to ensure they
meet the learning needs.
But to realise these advantages, AfL must be embedded as part of normal
classroom practice.

Key
Stage 3 for Learning
Assessment

Ties to the Revised Curriculum

Although AfL stands on its own merits, it is also an extremely valuable tool
for implementing the revised curriculum. The aim of the Northern Ireland
curriculum is:
to empower young people to achieve their potential and to make informed and
responsible choices throughout their lives.
Assessment for Learning practices contribute strongly to this aim by:
giving pupils a framework that empowers them to take charge of their
learning;
emphasising that everyone has the potential to succeed; and
encouraging pupils to accept responsibility for their own development.
Whats more, AfL supports the revised curriculums statutory elements:
Thinking Skills and Personal Capabilities, Personal Development and Mutual
Understanding, and Learning for Life and Work.
Like AfL, these cornerstones of the curriculum seek to promote learning
as active, meaningful and collaborative. These areas also emphasise pupil
choices, challenging tasks, developing a shared language of learning and
reection on learning, all of which are fundamental aspects of AfL.
Assessment for Learning is directly linked to Thinking Skills and Personal
Capabilities, as both promote the concepts of:
setting open-ended challenges;
making thinking important;
making thinking and learning explicit;
effective questioning;
enabling collaborative learning;
promoting independent learning; and
making connections.
Adopting AfL practices in your classroom, therefore, allows you to full many
aspects of the revised curriculum through a single initiative.

Putting AfL Into Practice

Assessment for Learning is not a revolutionary concept. You probably already
use learner-centred approaches and a range of formative assessment
strategies in your classroom. However, AfL requires the application of specic
elements to produce the desired results. As stated earlier, these are:
learning intentions and success criteria so that pupils understand what
they are trying to learn, why and what is expected of them;

Assessment for Learning

feedback about the quality of their work and what they can do to make it
better;
questioning to create a classroom climate where pupils come up with
their own ideas, think aloud and explore their understanding; and
peer and self-assessment and self-evaluation to enable them to
recognise success in their own and others work and to focus on how they
are learning as well as what they are learning.
These elements have most value when they are seen as integrated and
mutually supportive of the process of learning rather than having discrete
effects. The diagram below illustrates how these elements can be an integral,
embedded part of the learning-teaching-assessment cycle.

Planning

Formative
Feedback

Questioning

Learning, Teaching
& Assessment Cycle

Questioning

Learning
Intentions

Questioning

Peer and
Self-Assessment
and Evaluation

Questioning

Improvement

Input

Success
Criteria

Learning
Activity

When integrating AfL into your classroom practice, we recommend that you
take one area at a time and allow for its development rather than rush into a
succession of rapid changes.
Also, do not underestimate the time, effort and planning required to effect real
improvements. It can be very easy to engage with the suggested strategies at a
supercial level. It is important for you to take time to understand the rationale
underpinning each element and to make sense of it in your own classroom
context.
Advice on the whole-school planning of AfL is available in the planning booklet
provided with your Curriculum Support and Implementation Box.
7

The content in this

section corresponds to
AfL CPD Unit 2

Key Elements of AfL

Sharing Learning Intentions
A learning intention is simply a description of what you want your pupils to
know, understand or be able to do by the end of a lesson. It tells pupils what
the focus for learning is going to be.
The concept of learning intentions is not new as a teacher you devise
learning intentions regularly. However, you may, instead, call them learning
objectives, learning goals or learning aims. In AfL, the word intention is
used purposely because it puts greater emphasis on the process of learning
rather than the end product.

Why Use Learning Intentions?

Firstly, discussing learning intentions helps focus you and the pupils on the
learning rather than the activity.
Informing pupils about what they are going to learn and why they should learn
it gives pupils the tools they need to take more responsibility for their own
learning and achieve learning independence. Practice shows that pupils who
regularly receive this information in the classroom are:
more focused for longer periods of time;
more motivated;
more involved in their learning; and
better able to take responsibility for their own learning.
This step also immediately and actively involves pupils with their own learning,
even before the activity or lesson has begun, and it offers opportunities for key
interactions between you and your pupils.

The rst active element of formative assessment in the classroom is

the sharing of learning intentions with children Without the learning
intention, children are merely victims of the teachers whim.
Shirley Clarke, 2002

Framing and Delivering Learning Intentions

Learning intentions need to be shared with pupils before they begin an activity
or lesson. For best effect, you should follow these ve steps when using
learning intentions to introduce a new activity:
Identify what pupils will be learning (We are learning to ).
Explain the reason for the learning (We are learning this because ).

Assessment for Learning

Share (and sometimes negotiate) the learning and the reason with pupils.
Present the information in language that they can understand.
Revisit the learning intention throughout the activity or lesson.
Its very easy for both you and your pupils to confuse what they are doing with
what they are learning. Remember, learning intentions are most effective
when they focus on the learning rather than the learning activity.
When writing learning intentions it is best to:
separate the task instructions from the learning intention; and
be clear about what you want pupils to learn.

Dening the Learning

To frame learning intentions, you need to dene the learning. We are
all familiar with learning being described in terms of what pupils know,
understand and are able to do. You can, therefore, express the learning in
terms of:
knowledge;
understanding; and
skills.
Knowledge is factual information, for instance the parts of a plant, key events
of World War One, etc. Understanding typically concerns concepts, reasons
or processes (the need for a healthy diet, the difference between convection,
conduction and radiation, etc.). Skills are prociencies, dexterities or abilities
acquired through training or experience (for example applying techniques,
drawing conclusions based on evidence, using a multiplication grid,
collaboration, etc.).

Key
Stage 3 for Learning
Assessment

What Makes a Good Learning Intention?

The most useful learning intentions are those that focus on generic,
transferable skills. This means that pupils can take these skills away with
them to use and apply in other contexts. It also encourages them to make
connections across the curriculum and recognise where they are using the
same or similar skills in unfamiliar contexts.
For example, some quality learning intentions are as follows:
We are learning to work effectively in groups.
We are learning to use evidence to support an opinion.
We are learning to carry out a fair test.
We are learning to interpret data.
Another advantage of generic learning intentions is that pupils of all abilities
are able to achieve them; the differentiation is in the way the pupils achieve
or demonstrate the intention, not by creating different learning intentions for
pupils of different abilities.

Putting Learning Intentions Into Practice

Here are some tips for using learning intentions effectively.

1. Start small.
You dont need to have a learning intention for every lesson. You could
start with one aspect of the curriculum, like narrative writing within
Literacy, and highlight its respective learning intentions. If you do want
to use learning intentions on an ongoing basis, you will probably only
need to create learning intentions two or three times per week, as that is
approximately how often new learning is introduced in classrooms.

2. Separate the learning from the task/activity.

This helps pupils (and you) to focus not on the activity, but on what they will
have learned by doing it.

3. Tell them why they are learning something.

This can motivate pupils and also help them to see connections in the
curriculum. When possible, give a real-life rationale for the learning.

4. Use appropriate language.

Remember to use the language of learning: better to say we are learning
to rather than we are doing.

10

Assessment for Learning

5. Display the learning intention.

This helps pupils to maintain focus while they are working you could
use an interactive whiteboard/ip chart/WALT board, etc. A display will
also help remind you to refer back to the learning intention throughout
the lesson, and the pupils can take a role in designing the display, if you
choose.

6. Discuss the learning intention with pupils.

This allows the pupils to internalise and explore what is required of them.
You can also use the learning intention as a focus for evaluation during
plenary sessions. Encourage your pupils to use the language of thinking
and learning when they reect on whether they have achieved a learning
intention.

11

The content in this

section corresponds to
AfL CPD Unit 2

Sharing Success Criteria

If learning intentions describe what pupils will learn during an activity or
lesson, then success criteria are the statements that help pupils recognise
if they have been successful in their learning. They summarise the main
teaching points (key ingredients) or processes (key steps), and they always
link directly to the learning intention. They essentially spell out the steps
required to achieve the learning intention, offering explicit guidance on how
to be successful. By referring to the success criteria, pupils know if they have
achieved the learning intention.
In AfL, success criteria:
are linked to the learning intention;
are specic to an activity;
are discussed and agreed with the pupils prior to beginning the learning
activity;
scaffold and focus pupils while they are engaged in the activity; and
are used as the basis for feedback and peer and self-assessment.

Why Use Success Criteria?

Sharing and agreeing success criteria is an important part of AfL for a number
of reasons. The most signicant benets are that success criteria can help to
cultivate independent learners, provide effective feedback and create condent
pupils who contribute to activities.
First of all, sharing success criteria encourages an independent approach
to learning. When pupils have success criteria at hand, they are more
informed about how they will be assessed. Consequently, they are better
able to assess their own work to identify success and areas for improvement.
This involves them in their own performance and learning. In time, pupils
who have experience of working to success criteria and contributing to the
development of success criteria are more apt to use these to assess their own
achievements, address their own concerns and identify areas for improvement
without relying upon others for guidance. This learning independence is a
quality and skill that benets pupils both in the classroom as well as in life
beyond the classroom.
success criteria summarise the key steps or ingredients the student
needs in order to full the learning intention the main things to do,
include or focus on.
Shirley Clarke

12

Assessment for Learning

Success criteria also allow you and the pupils to give accurate feedback they
keep you both focused on the criteria that the work will be assessed against.
Also, best practice suggests that you discuss and agree success criteria
with the pupils in advance of lessons and activities. This discussion aspect is
particularly important in the classroom because:
it helps foster a positive classroom environment;
it encourages pupils to be involved in the learning and upcoming activity
even before its begun;
it can help build pupil self-esteem by offering them opportunities to
contribute; and
its collaborative aspect is a useful tool to strengthen the teacher-pupil
relationship.

Creating Success Criteria

When creating the success criteria, it is important to focus on process and
characteristics rather than the nal effect. Take a look at the example provided
below:
Learning Intention: We are learning to write a narrative.
Activity: Write a ghost story.
I will be successful if:
people enjoy reading my
story; and
it frightens them.

I will be successful if I:
set the scene in the opening paragraph;
build up tension/suspense;
use spooky adjectives and powerful verbs;
and
end with a cliffhanger.

In this example, there are two sets of suggested success criteria. Which set is
more helpful to pupils?
The criteria on the left are not success criteria because they focus on reaction
rather than guidance on how to achieve the effect.
You can see that the success criteria listed on the right, however, provide
pupils with the key ingredients needed to show that they full the learning
intention. If they can do these things, then they have shown they understand
how to write a narrative.

13

Key
Stage 3 for Learning
Assessment

How to Share Success Criteria

As a teacher, generating quality success criteria will come to you quite easily.
However, pupils cant be expected to recognise success immediately or
understand how to use success criteria. The process takes time and needs to
be developed. However, you can help your pupils along by:
modelling the process for them;
putting the criteria into child-friendly language;
allowing time to discuss the criteria; and
letting the pupils work in groups to practise creating and using the criteria.
Modelling the process is particularly important for helping pupils understand
the value and purpose of success criteria. You may initially want to create
success criteria yourself and then simply discuss them with your pupils. Using
a sample work is another good way to help pupils recognise success. By taking
a piece of work (perhaps from another class), you and your pupils can use it
to draw out essential features, qualities and aspects that meet its success
criteria.
Success criteria should also be in child-friendly language to ensure they
understand exactly what is expected. However, success criteria neednt
always be in written form. You can use images (for example digital pictures or
different stages of an experiment/practical activity) to illustrate the process.
Planning time to discuss and negotiate success criteria with your pupils
will provide them with a clear understanding of what is required prior to
undertaking the activity. Allowing pupils to work in groups to prioritise
and agree success criteria will give them an opportunity to contribute and
gain experience with the process while beneting from a sense of safety in
numbers.

14

The content in this

section corresponds to
AfL CPD Unit 3

Assessment for Learning

Formative Feedback
Quality feedback is essential for effective learning and teaching. Feedback can
motivate pupils by building self-esteem and reinforcing the positive. However,
feedback can often be too little, too late, too vague and too impersonal.
It is likely that you currently offer your pupils an array of feedback throughout
the day. This may include phrases like Well done and Try harder. However,
statements like these, while supportive, are not examples of formative
feedback.
Formative feedback comments on the quality of a pupils work and offers advice
on how to improve. It contains three elements:
evidence on where the pupil is now (this is their success as it relates to the
agreed criteria);
a denition of the desired goal; and
practical strategies to close the gap.
Note that its this advice on how to improve that is critical, as to be truly
formative, the feedback must inform the next steps in the learning process.
Formative feedback points pupils towards ways to realise the improvement and
reach the goal.
To be truly formative, it must help plan the next steps in learning. Formative
feedback:
is timely;
relates to the focus of the learning (learning intention);
identies where success has occurred;
identies where and how improvement can take place;
allows time for improvement; and
is accessible to the pupil in terms of meaning/vocabulary.

Why Use Formative Feedback?

Teachers spend a lot of time and effort marking pupil work. This can be useful
as a summative measure for the teacher to prove the learning to nd out what
learning has taken place. However, in terms of AfL, the question we must ask is:
Does a mark help the pupil?
Research indicates that the answer is no; marking has little or no effect on
improving the learning. For example, telling pupils that they scored four out of
ten tells them that they are not achieving, but it says nothing about how to do
better.
In addition, over-emphasis on, and over-use of, grades and marks can create
a competitive culture in your classroom. Research indicates that this leads to
high achievers becoming complacent and low achievers becoming demotivated.

15

Key
Stage 3 for Learning
Assessment

For example, research by Carol Dweck found that feedback in the form of goldstars, grades, or place-in-class ranking focuses students on performance
rather than their learning. As a result, learners actively avoid risk and
extending themselves during new learning in order to ensure they secure the
reward.
Formative feedback counteracts these issues by:
focusing on improvement;
de-emphasising competition; and
improving motivation and learning ambition.
AfL practices strive to help pupils concentrate on how to improve their own
performance rather than compare themselves to others.

Types of Formative Feedback

There are two types of feedback that may be given to pupils: written and oral.
Written feedback tends to be given after a task or homework. Written feedback
is typically given in one of three forms:
a mark/grade (e.g. 4/10, B+);
a mark/grade and a comment; or
a comment only.
However, there is a very strong argument for making written feedback
comment-only. Research shows that pupils make most progress in their
learning when feedback is in the form of comments only, with no marks or
grades attached. Even when comments are included, pupils tend to ignore
them as their feelings of achievement or failure have already been reinforced
by the mark or grade. In fact, when receiving comments paired with marks, the
rst thing a pupil will look at is their mark; the next thing they will look at is
their neighbours mark. Often, pupils do not even read the comment.
The information below, which substantiates this, is from two Israeli studies
referred to by Black and Wiliam (1998). But this was also a key nding in the
Kings College research and is backed by ndings in a range of countries.
Groups of pupils given:

Improvement in Work

Interest in Subject

Marks/grades only

Nil

+ for high attainers

- for middle/low

Marks/grades +
comments

Nil

+ for high attainers

- for middle/low

Comments only

30%

+ for all groups

16

Assessment for Learning

Note that while its not necessary to apply comment-only marking to every
piece of work, its a strategy that should be built into assessment to improve
and benet the learning process. To introduce it, start small and consider
choosing one occasion a month for comment-only marking. Another option
is to spread the load by focusing the use of comment-only marking on one
group of pupils at any one time.
Oral feedback is usually given during a lesson. Oral feedback is sometimes
underestimated because it is less formal, but it is an effective way of
decreasing the workload and can be a very powerful and effective tool. This is
especially the case with younger pupils, as it:
is personal and specic to the pupil;
is immediate and so allows for quick remediation and improvement; and
reinforces the relationship between teacher and pupil and allows for the
pupil to respond and participate.
Also, to help ensure AfL and formative feedback is successfully embraced
and becomes rooted in your practice, its important that pupils and parents
are made aware of the different types of feedback that comments and oral
feedback can be just as important as marks.

Timing of Formative Feedback

As stated earlier, too often the feedback given is too little, too late, or too
vague. If we make sure our feedback includes the three key components
of formative feedback (a statement on where the pupil is now, a goal, and
strategies on how to close the gap), then we eliminate the risk of our feedback
being vague.

17

Key
Stage 3 for Learning
Assessment

But what about the timing? When should we be offering the feedback?
Ideally, formative feedback should take place during the learning. Feedback can
be given as pupils work on a task or assignment, but once theyve completed
their work, that doesnt mean the learning has to end there. Instead, you
can extend the learning process by offering feedback and allowing time for
improvements to be made (for example, give your feedback and let pupils go
away, try to follow the advice and improve the work).
This allows the pupils to take the feedback on board and immediately:
make efforts to close the gap; and
realise the improvement.
This is more effective and productive to the learning experience than end-oftask feedback measures (usually summative), which require pupils to remember
the feedback and apply your recommended strategies to a future task.

Learning from the Feedback

To ensure that pupils learn from the feedback you offer, not only must you allow
time for pupils to read your comments and allow time for improvements to be
made to the work but you must also:
state or write comments so that they are understood by your pupils.
Studies show that pupils often do not read the comments we write, particularly
when they are paired with marks. However, it might surprise you to know that
when they do read them, often pupils cannot understand the marks we give or
comments we write. How can pupils process and use the feedback if they dont
understand it in the rst place?
Below are some common feedback statements (in bold) as well as comments (in
italics) from pupils on how useful they nd these:
Develop these ideas further
Teachers expect you to know what they mean in comments. (Year 10)
It would be good if teachers wrote how you could improve your work more.
Good work
Good doesnt help much hes just saying that its not really very good.
Id like it if he just told the truth. (P4)
If I get a good , I dont often know what Ive done good. (Year 8)
You must try harder
I get try harder a lot, but it doesnt really help me do any better.

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Assessment for Learning

In these quotations, we can actually see that pupils are asking us to be specic
about what has been achieved and then give clear advice on how to improve.
These feedback statements here, and others like Well done and See to
your punctuation, are just too vague to be helpful to pupils. Using formative
feedback in your classroom, however, can remedy this by offering pupils the
guidance they need on how to improve their learning.

Feedback Strategies and Prompts for Improvement

When offering written feedback, there are a number of strategies you could
make use of. One that we recommend trying is a structured approach. This is
only one approach and can be used as often as manageable. It can also be used
alongside other types of assessment, but you should explain it to pupils before
you introduce it as a strategy.
First, nd two successes. By identifying two successes, you are showing pupils
where they are now - where they have achieved success in relation to the
learning.
Then identify an area of the work that they can immediately improve. This might
not be the worst aspect of their work. You should identify an achievable and
realistic goal.
Next, provide them with a prompt on how to improve. A prompt gives them a
practical strategy to close the gap. Then, nally, give the pupils time to improve.
With this approach, you neednt necessarily write huge amounts; you can use
symbols instead. Examples of structured feedback that you may already be
familiar with are Two Stars and a Wish or Tickled Pink and Green for Go.

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Assessment

To close the gap between where a pupil is and where you want them to be in
their learning, there are three types of prompts that promote improvement.
They also help you differentiate your support. These are:
reminder prompts;
scaffold prompts; and
example prompts.
Here is an example of each, taken from research by Shirley Clarke:

Reminder Prompt

Say more about how you feel about this person.

Can you describe how this person is a good friend.

Scaffold Prompt

Describe something that happened that showed they

are a good friend.
Choose one of these or one of your own:

Example Prompt

He is a good friend because he never says unkind

things about me; or
My friend is a friend because he never tells me
lies.

Reminders are the least supportive type of prompt - the most basic instruction
on how to improve the work/learning and the most suitable prompt for able
pupils. Scaffold prompts are for pupils who need more support than a simple
reminder. Example prompts are the most supportive type of prompt and are
extremely successful with all pupils, but especially with average or below
average pupils; they are the most explicit, instructional and illustrative
statements of how to improve.
You should select which to use based on your pupils needs.

20

The content in this

section corresponds to
AfL CPD Unit 4

Assessment for Learning

Effective Questioning
Questioning is an integral part of Assessment for Learning. Research
shows that teachers ask questions every 72 seconds, on average. However,
38 percent of these are actually answered by the teacher, not the pupils.
Effective questioning, therefore, is about asking questions in a way that elicits
maximum feedback, which can then be used to evaluate, plan and expand
learning.

Your Classrooms Learning Climate

The learning climate in your classroom can heavily inuence how successfully
questioning is used and how benecial it is to pupils learning. A positive
learning climate is one where:
risk-taking is encouraged;
there exists a community of enquiry; and
there is a commitment to learning for all pupils.
In order for pupils to take risks, they need to know that all contributions
are encouraged and valued and that making errors is part of the learning
experience. Is it okay to give a wrong answer? Is everybodys opinion valued in
your classroom by you by the other pupils?
One way to encourage risk-taking is to create agreed ground rules and to ag
these up on a regular basis (e.g. think time, valuing all contributions, standard
conventions of talking and listening, etc). Problem-solving activities can also
encourage pupils to hypothesise and think aloud. These also illustrate for
pupils the trial and error of the learning process and can help them become
more comfortable with making errors in order to reach conclusions.
Creating a community of enquiry/independent thinking and learning will also
help to foster a positive climate. Supportive relationships (teacher-pupil and
pupil-pupil) are extremely important. These can help to create an environment
where you are part of the learning community as well. You can foster
relationships in the class by setting up collaborative ways of working and using
exible groupings.
Finally, all of the adults in your classroom must demonstrate a commitment to
learning for all pupils. You can reinforce a shared belief that all of your pupils
have the capacity to learn by emphasising progression in learning rather than
performance. This can help to promote self-belief and personal satisfaction
on completion of tasks and encourage pupils to feel secure in coming up with
their own ideas, thinking out loud and explaining their reasoning.
Using some of these approaches to create the right climate can also promote
effective questioning. In turn, effective questioning can help to develop,
reinforce and perpetuate a positive classroom culture.

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Key
Stage 3 for Learning
Assessment

Purposes of Effective Questioning

In AfL, effective questioning serves two main purposes: to assist with
assessment and to improve understanding.
Questioning for assessment is teacher-led. It helps you obtain evidence about
where pupils are in their learning. This information about pupil knowledge,
understanding and skills can then inform planning and the selection of teaching
strategies to move pupils from where they are to where they need to go.
Questioning for understanding can be both teacher-led and pupil-led. When
teacher-led, it can help pupils make connections that arent immediately
apparent and can unobtrusively guide pupils to the facts, solutions, and
conclusions they need to discover. Pupil-led questioning is a key process in
learning and allows them to develop independence, work through problems,
and to reect on and evaluate their own understanding.

Strategies for Effective Questioning

To introduce effective questioning to your classroom, there are a few simple
strategies you can follow. These are:
asking better questions;
asking questions better;
dealing with answers productively; and
encouraging pupil questions.

Asking Better Questions

The rst thing you can do to ask better questions is to plan more carefully and
take more care when framing your questions. Ask yourself:
What do I want my pupils to learn?
How do I want them to learn it?
How will I nd out if they have learned it?
Your answers to these questions will help you to ensure that your questions to
pupils reinforce the focus for learning and draw out their understanding of the
learning.
Next, try asking fewer questions. Many of the questions teachers ask pupils are
not meant to be answered; they are really instructions (Would everyone line up,
please?), rhetorical questions (Do you think I didnt see that?), or answered by
the teacher. Therefore, try asking the questions that you really want pupils to
answer.
We also advise that you use more open questions. Different types of questions
serve different purposes. Some seek facts only and others encourage and
extend pupils understanding. Where recall is required and you want to know
what they know, closed questions are appropriate. However, when you want to

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Assessment for Learning

know what they understand, use more open-ended questions (e.g. Why do you
think?, Could you tell me more about? or even closed questions with
more than one possible answer, such as What colour is the sky?). These will
extend learning and aid reection.
You can also frame questions to encourage more thoughtful answers (e.g.
rather than asking What is 7+8? ask How many ways can we make 15?).
Alternatively, to encourage pupils to take risks, you could use have a go
questions (perhaps deliberately difcult or open-ended) where pupils do
not have to nd the right answer but are rewarded for exploring options and
sharing possible solutions.
Sequencing your questions is also useful. Single, stand-alone questions rarely
achieve the kind of outcomes aimed for, and a barrage of closed questions
can sometimes close down the learning. The best questions look ahead
and help you to move the lesson forward. By carefully planning the sequence
of questions, you can expand the learning, encourage pupils to the desired
outcome/answer and help them on their learning journey. For example, your
questions could move from narrow to broad (specic to general) or from broad
to narrow (general to specic).
Finally, prepare key questions. Preparing three or four key questions before
a lesson or activity can help you to introduce the lesson and its learning
intentions, structure the lesson, make links within the lesson and keep
everyone on task. These can be displayed on prompt cards or in the form of a
mind map.

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Key
Stage 3 for Learning
Assessment

Asking Questions Better

The second strategy is to ask questions better. This includes the way you ask
questions as well as how you allow pupils to respond.
One useful technique is to involve the whole class. If you want to promote
a risk-taking culture, you need to ensure that pupils in your classroom do
not feel threatened. By addressing the group rather than an individual, you
can increase pupil involvement, and it may also help you to observe pupil
participation and engagement. You can involve the whole class by simply
walking around the room while asking/directing questions.
Another suggestion is to Think, Pair, Share. Pupils are sometimes
intimidated by having to speak up in a whole-class situation. This approach
involves everyone and allows pupils to think about their answer, discuss it
with a partner and then share it with a group. This can take the focus off the
individual, improve self-esteem and give shy pupils a voice.
Providing pupils with think time will also improve your questioning process.
Research shows that teachers typically allow less than one second of wait
time between posing the question and asking for the answer (sometimes by
providing the answer themselves). By increasing that wait time to three or ve
seconds, you can make a signicant difference to your questions effectiveness.
Doing so:
gives pupils the vital time they need to order their thoughts;
produces more pupils who are ready to offer an answer;
results in fewer I dont knows;
produces more thoughtful, creative and extended answers; and
benets all children, no matter what their ability.
However, make sure pupils know and understand that there is time to think so
that they do not feel pressured to answer right away.
Finally, to help you ask questions better, consider a no hands up approach.
When you ask a question and one pupil in a class puts his or her hand up, often
everyone else in the class stops thinking or trying to work out the answer. By
asking for no hands up, you can encourage all pupils to stay engaged with the
question for longer.

Dealing With Answers Productively

Effective questioning concerns how well we deal with responses from pupils,
not just how well we pose questions. Part of your role as teacher is to listen
actively for the answers you seek but at the same time not overlook other
answers and responses that may reveal more about the pupils level of
understanding.

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Assessment for Learning

One tip for dealing productively with answers is to put wrong answers to use
by turning them into a springboard for improved understanding. The trick is to
point out the error in such a way that you dont actually say No, thats wrong
and at the same time steer the pupil towards a better response.
Using prompt statements is also recommended. These prompt pupils to
rethink and review what has already been discussed and/or give cues to guide
them and nudge them in the right direction. For example, ask them, Why
do you think that?, Could you explain? or What about?. Remember,
prompts do not always have to be verbal. A nod, smile or encouraging hand
gesture can also be used to prompt pupils answers.
Finally, always listen and respond positively to pupils who are genuinely
contributing to the discussion. This can encourage them to take risks and
volunteer answers rather than being silent because they are afraid to give the
wrong answer.

Generating Pupils Questions

As a teacher, you ask the majority of questions in the classroom (somewhere
in the region of 50 to 70 percent more than the pupils). Encouraging pupils to
ask questions is a key process in learning and:
promotes pupil involvement;
develops independence;
helps pupils to work through difculties (rather than automatically asking
for help);
develops the ability to explain things more easily; and
develops reection and evaluation of their own learning.
One way to encourage questions from your pupils is to create opportunities for
them to practise their skills. For example, by providing an appropriate object
or stimulus, you can stimulate their curiosity and encourage them to ask
questions. Alternatively, you can have your pupils create questions about part
of a text (or a topic) as a means of nding a way into it. Pupils who come up
with their own questions are much more likely to remember the answer.
Modelling how to think aloud and frame questions is also essential, so that
pupils know how to go about it. This allows pupils to develop the appropriate
vocabulary for questioning and to understand the difference between a good
and bad question. You can also provide prompts/frameworks for questioning
as a useful aid to pupils. KWL grids and questioning grids are good resources
for this.
Finally, plan time for pupil questions into your lessons. Your pupils will be
more inclined to ask questions if there is a supportive atmosphere in the
classroom.

25

The content in this

section corresponds to
AfL CPD Unit 5

Helping Pupils to Reect on Their

Learning
Pupil reection is an important element of AfL; it promotes independent
learning, communication and support in the classroom. You can develop pupil
reection in your classroom through the use of peer and self-assessment and
self-evaluation.
Assessment and evaluation are equally important for pupil development. Each
of these methods of pupil reection needs to be modelled, developed and
supported, and success criteria can be used to guide both, but its important to
recognise the differences between them; they are not synonymous.
Assessment describes activities that enable pupils to reect on what has
been learned and then to judge it against a set of criteria. It is an essential
component of Assessment for Learning, as it is the means by which pupils
take responsibility for their own learning.
Evaluation describes the process pupils use to gain an understanding of how
they are learning. Evaluation looks at pupils as learners and enables them to
discuss the process that they engaged in and also to understand more about
the way they learn best.
Independent learners are able to engage in self-reection and to
identify the next steps in their learning. Teachers should equip learners
with the desire and the capacity to take charge of their learning through
developing the skills of self-assessment.
Assessment Reform Group, 2002

Why Promote Pupil Reection?

Classroom constraints on time and resources mean it is becoming more
difcult for teachers to provide quality feedback to an entire class at any one
time. Many of you will have experienced the snaking queue of pupils at your
desk the feedback bottleneck. For this reason alone, it makes sense to
involve pupils in the assessment and evaluation of their own work. However,
more signicantly, peer and self-assessment and self-evaluation are also
important additional forms of assessment that are inuential in:
creating independent learners;
increasing pupil self-esteem;
developing pupils ability to recognise quality;
improving pupils understanding;
strengthening the pupil voice in the classroom; and
providing valuable feedback in language pupils understand.

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Assessment for Learning

When pupils are encouraged to assess their own work, they are given a more
active role in the learning process. They come to take responsibility for their
own learning and become more independent and self-reliant, meaning they
dont always need you (or a parent) to help them.
This independence enables them to be more focused and motivated in their
work. By working collaboratively, pupils can develop the habits and skills of
discussing their work and learning and thus become more condent. This
independence, motivation and condence inevitably improves their selfesteem and contributes to the creation of a positive learning culture.
When we give pupils the skills to look at their own work and others work
critically and constructively, they develop a nose for quality. They see their
own areas for development by recognising them in the work of others. For
example, a pupil who advises another, If you had written it neater, I would have
been able to read it easier, will reect on his own presentation of work.
Analysing their own and others work can help them to deepen their
understanding of the subject at hand, but it also provides them with skills they
can use throughout life in a host of different contexts. For this reason, pupil
reection supports the Revised Curriculums Personal Development and Mutual
Understanding objectives at Key Stages 1 and 2 and its Learning for Life and
Work objectives at Key Stage 3.
Pupil reection can also strengthen the pupil voice in your class. Feedback
from a group to a teacher can sometimes command more attention than that
of an individual pupil. It can help improve communication between you and
your pupils about their learning.

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Key
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Assessment

Finally, through their partner and group work, pupils are able to provide each
other with valuable feedback. Often, when this process is working well, the
feedback is more helpful than that given by the teacher, as it enables them to
learn from and support each other. Even young children can become extremely
good at working with a learning partner or buddy. The opportunity to discuss,
explain and challenge each other enables them to achieve more than they can
unaided. It also gives them a valuable opportunity to learn from each other.
Whats more, during peer assessment, the exchanges between pupils are in
their own language, which can enhance their understanding of the works
strengths and drawbacks.
I enjoy working with partners and not friends. (Friends) dont tell you the
truth. It needs to be someone who is honest with you and helps you improve.
Upper Primary Pupil

Preparing Pupils to Carry Out Assessment

Before pupils can conduct peer or self-assessment, they must understand
what is meant by assessment. You must also help them to understand the
difference between assessment and correction.
Peer and self-assessment are about more than correction. They are about:
getting pupils actively involved in the work;
providing them with information about what they need to learn and how they
will know if they have been successful; and
helping them to advise each other on how to improve, not just what they got
correct.
You can also prepare your pupils by:
sharing the lessons learning intentions and success criteria;
modelling the assessment and feedback processes; and
building the right climate.
For pupil reection to be effective, your pupils must rst know what it is they
are making judgements on. Making learning intentions and success criteria
clear will help your pupils to understand what counts as quality.
Until they become procient in assessing work against intentions and criteria,
you will need to model the process for them and give them time to practise
what youve demonstrated. This will provide them with the training they need
in order to judge others work and help them to build condence in assessing
their own work.
One way to develop assessment skills is to have your class, or groups within it,
discuss a piece of work (from a different year group or in a plenary session).

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Assessment for Learning

Together, highlight the works strengths, identify areas for improvement, and
suggest/agree ways in which the piece could be improved.
You can also model the assessment process as you deliver formative feedback
to pupils, especially when it becomes the basis for dialogue between you
and the pupil. This includes tying feedback to the success criteria, providing
prompts for improvement and allowing pupils time to revisit their work and
close the gap. Using effective questioning can also help pupils consider the
requirements of their piece of work and remind them to refer back regularly to
the learning intentions and success criteria.
Finally, its important that you build the right climate for pupil reection. This
includes cultivating an openness about learning. Pupils regularly need to
discuss their learning openly, share their understanding and see that mistakes
are a necessary part of improvement. In a classroom with an ethos of mutual
respect and one where both pupils and the teacher talk about learning, pupils
can openly give constructive feedback to one another. Formative feedback and
effective questioning can help you to create a classroom climate where this
openness is the norm.
Building the right climate also requires you to set expectations about group
work, so give pupils guidance on what behaviours you expect them to display
in group or partner situations. This could include listening to others and taking
turns, for example.

More on Modelling
When modelling how to assess or evaluate work, one useful method is the
highlighting method (sometimes referred to a Tickled Pink and Green for Go).
This method was also discussed in the section on Formative Feedback.
Here you and the class can look at a piece of work (perhaps from another class
or year group) and jointly identify two aspects of the work where the author
successfully met the success criteria. These are then highlighted in pink.
Everyone then agrees one aspect of the work that offers the most scope for
improvement (this wont always be the worst part of the work), and this is then
highlighted in green. Finally, the class comes up with a prompt suggesting
how the author could improve that part of their work. After completing an
assessment together as a class, and to reinforce the process, you could then
pair up pupils and ask them to replicate the process together on a second
piece of work.
Another useful method is the Two Stars and a Wish approach. This is a good,
structured way to help pupils gain condence in assessing their own work and
it works well for assessing both written exercises as well as work in practical
areas of the curriculum like Art and Design. A sample form is overleaf:

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Key
Stage 3 for Learning
Assessment

2 Stars and a Wish

What I think about

my work:

My teacher thinks ...

Your pupils could use this form to record their self-assessments, perhaps as
part of a Learning Diary, and to share these with you in conference. Like the
highlighting method, the two stars should refer to two aspects of the work
that successfully meet the success criteria, and the wish should refer to the
area needing improvement.
Its important that you encourage your pupils to use the language of learning
intentions and success criteria in their comments. Seeing your Two Stars and
a Wish comments beside their own will also reinforce for them how to do this.
Some other simple ideas include using trafc light icons, thumbs up or
a numerical scale to communicate their understanding. With the trafc
lights icons, pupils use colours to indicate whether they feel they have good
understanding (green), partial understanding (amber) or little understanding
(red) about the learning. With thumbs up, pupils put their thumbs up to
indicate if they feel happy or condent, thumbs down to indicate they are not
condent, or wavering/horizontal thumbs to indicate that they feel uncertain.
A numerical scale (for example 1-5) can also be used to indicate their degree
of understanding.

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Assessment for Learning

Self-evaluation
For pupils, reecting on how they have learned can be a more difcult skill to
develop than assessing what has been learned or produced. Oral responses
are easier and more motivating for pupils than written reections, which
can be more onerous. Therefore, you can encourage self-evaluation through
a short plenary session at the start, during or end of the learning. Selfevaluation can also be done individually, with learning partners, or through
collaborative group work.
You can use prompts to assist your pupils during the self-evaluation process.
When devising prompts, it is useful to think about the effective questioning
techniques we covered earlier.
Here are some sample prompts:
The most important thing I learned was
What I found difcult was
What I enjoyed most was
What I want to nd out more about is
What I need more help with is
What still puzzles me is
What surprised me was
What I have learned that is new is
What helped me when something got tricky was
What really made me think was
Right now I feel
I might have learned better if
What I would change about this activity to help another class learn is
These prompts, and others, will assist pupils with the self-evaluation process
and can be very useful in plenary sessions. Having to hand a long list of
prompts, like this, also helps you to vary the prompt or focus for reection and
offers your pupils choices. You can frame these as questions, relate them to a
specic learning intention or relate them to a broader piece of work.
Prompts can also be used in Learning Logs, and many teachers put selfevaluation prompts on display in the classroom to keep them accessible and in
the minds of their pupils. A sample Learning Log is available in the AfL Delivery
Materials for CPD Units booklet in your Curriculum Support and Implementation
Box.

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Key
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Assessment

Additional Strategies to Make Reection Work

To realise the benets, you must not only prepare the pupils for how to
assess and evaluate properly, and give them opportunities to put what theyve
observed into practice, but you should also do the following:
make it routine;
give learners the information they need;
keep it varied;
build it in;
focus on strengths;
make it lead somewhere; and
explain it to parents.
The use of peer and self-assessment and self-evaluation in the classroom
must be part of a well established routine. You can do this by making sure
pupils know that work will be checked by themselves or another pupil at a
specic time during the lesson, and then adhere consistently to this routine.
You must also give pupils the information they need so they can become
independent and self-reliant. This means using and referring to learning
intentions and success criteria regularly.
Keeping the reection strategies varied will help pupils to maintain their
interest and motivation. It may also encourage them to develop a variety of
their own approaches.
It is also important to remember that reection and collaborative working
does not just happen. You must build it into your teaching plan to ensure there
is time for it. Doing so will create opportunities for pupils to understand what
reection is about and to develop the habits and skills that will help them to
maximise the gains that are possible.
Focusing on our pupils strengths is essential to developing in them a can do
attitude, a belief that they can actually improve and knowledge that making an
effort can lead to success.
You must also make the peer and self-assessment and self-evaluation
processes lead somewhere. Help them to see the connections between the
learning that has taken place in the past with the learning that is happening
today and the learning planned for the future. Doing this will help you to
develop pupils who value their role in the learning process.
Finally, you must explain the process and its merits to parents. Parents can
assist you with getting your pupils to think more about what they are learning
and how they are learning it. For example, encourage parents ask their
children about what helps them to learn and what makes it hard for them to
learn. Parents can also talk about what helped them to learn at school and
what they found difcult.

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Assessment for Learning

Appendix 1: Resources
This guidance is part of a range of resources, outlined below, to support the
implementation of Assessment for Learning.
Name of Resource

Purpose

Planning for Implementation: The

Revised Northern Ireland Curriculum
DVD (with brieng sheets & Critical
Questions)

Whole-staff awareness raising and

discussion

AfL CPD units CD

Presentations and activities for

facilitators, senior management,
school curriculum teams and/or
teachers

Active Learning and Teaching

Methods

A collection of activities for use by

classroom teachers

Assessment for Learning in Action

(DVD)

A DVD showing clips of how AfL is

used in the classroom

Assessment for Learning Handbook

(available in the Autumn term,
2007)

Practical handbook based on the

experiences of teachers involved
in the Northern Ireland Action
Research Project

Additional resources on Assessment for Learning, produced by Learning

Unlimited, will be available on LNI and www.nicurriculum.org.uk.

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Assessment

Appendix 2: Further Reading

You may also nd the following publications and websites informative:
Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B. and Wiliam, D. Assessment for
Learning: Putting It into Practice (Open University Press: 2003)
ISBN: 0335212972
Black, P., Harrison, C., Lee, C., Marshall, B. and Wiliam, D. Working Inside the Black
Box: Assessment for Learning in the Classroom (nfer Nelson Publishing)
ISBN: 0708713793
Clarke, S. Enriching Feedback in the Primary Classroom (Hodder Murray: 2003)
ISBN: 0340872586
Clarke, S. Formative Assessment in Action: Weaving the Elements Together
(Hodder Arnold: 2005) ISBN: 0340907827
Clarke, S. Formative Assessment in the Secondary Classroom
(Hodder Murray: 2005) ISBN: 0340887664
Wiliam, D. and Black, P. Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through
Classroom Assessment: Vol. 1 (nfer Nelson Publishing: 2006) ISBN: 0708713815
Wragg, E.C. Assessment and Learning in the Secondary School
(Successful Teaching (Routledge Falmer: 2001) ISBN: 0415249589
Assessment Reform Group http://arg.educ.cam.ac.uk/
AAIA (Association of Assessment Inspectors and Advisers)
www.aaia.org.uk/
DfES: The Standards Site www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/personalisedlearning/ve/a
Dylan Wiliam (wide range of background reading) www.dylanwiliam.net
NCCA www.ncca.ie/index.asp?locID=351&docID=-1
QCA www.qca.org.uk/7659.html
Scotland: Assessment is for Learning www.ltscotland.org.uk/assess/
Teachers TV (AfL videos can be found under Whole-School Issues: Assessment)
www.teachers.tv/

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