Making use of Assessment Information

Activities which are designed to be assessed should provide information about what further experience pupils need and what they need to practice, as well as what they can do already. Remember that feedback giving guidance on how each pupil can improve, plus time to do so, is of more value than grading or giving marks.
(cf. Black & Wiliam, Inside the Black Box, 1998).

Ofsted recommends the following methods:

• providing feedback on aspects of learning through marking, questioning of individuals and plenary sessions;
• listening and responding to pupils, encouraging and, where appropriate, praising them;
• recognising and handling misconceptions, building on pupils' responses and steering them towards clearer understanding, for example, by helping them to apply new learning to different situations;
• encouraging pupils to judge the success of their own work and setting targets for improvement;
• regularly sharing information about pupils' needs and achievements with parents/carers;
• taking full account of the targets set out in individual education plans for pupils with special educational needs.
  (c.f. the Ofsted Primary Handbook, 2003, p.73)

More formally, assessment information might also be used to:

• plan the next stage of a class's work, taking account of the mix of ability within the class, and of the need to challenge all pupils to make progress;
• report on pupils' attainment and progress, using a list of simplified level statements as a bank of comments to guide pupils' learning.

Following these methods should fulfil the requirements for an Ofsted judgement of 'very good' in use of assessment.

Assessment may be judged to be 'excellent' where pupils are enabled to play a very strong part in making and recognising improvement in their own work (see the Handbook for Inspecting Primary Schools, p.73 and the Handbook for Inspecting Secondary Schools, p.86).