Assessment for learning:why, what, and how?

Dylan Wiliam

Overview of presentationWhy raising achievement is important

Why investing in teachers is the answer

Why formative assessment should be the focus

Why teacher learning communities should be the mechanism

How we can put this into practice

Why, what & how?

Raising achievement mattersFor individuals Increased lifetime salary Improved healthLonger life

For societyLower criminal justice costsLower health-care costs Increased economic growth

Why?

Where’s the solution?StructureSmaller high schools Larger high schoolsK-8 schoolsAlignmentCurriculum reform Textbook replacementGovernanceCharter schoolsVouchersTechnologyComputers Interactive white-boards

Why?

School effectivenessThree generations of school effectiveness researchRaw results approaches

Different schools get different results Conclusion: Schools make a difference

Demographic-based approaches Demographic factors account for most of the variation Conclusion: Schools don’t make a difference

Value-added approaches School-level differences in value-added are relatively small Classroom-level differences in value-added are large Conclusion: An effective school is a school full of effective classrooms

Why?

It’s the classroomVariability at the classroom level is up to 4 times that at school level

It’s not class size

It’s not the between-class grouping strategy

It’s not the within-class grouping strategy

It’s the teacher

Why?

Teacher qualityA labour force issue with 2 solutionsReplace existing teachers with better ones?

No evidence that more pay brings in better teachers No evidence that there are better teachers out there deterred by

burdensome certification requirements Improve the effectiveness of existing teachers

The “love the one you’re with” strategy It can be done We know how to do it, but at scale? Quickly? Sustainably?

Why?

Cost/effect comparisonsIntervention Extra months

of learning per year

Cost/yr

Class-size reduction (by 30%)

4 £20k

Increase teacher content knowledge from weak to strong

2 ?

Formative assessment/Assessment for learning

8 £2k

Why?

The research evidenceSeveral major reviews of the researchNatriello (1987)Crooks (1988)Kluger & DeNisi (1996)Black & Wiliam (1998)Nyquist (2003)

All find consistent, substantial effects

Why?

Assessment for learning is any assessment for which the first priority in its design and practice is to serve the purpose of promoting pupils’ learning. It thus differs from assessment designed primarily to serve the purposes of accountability, or of ranking, or of certifying competence. An assessment activity can help learning if it provides information to be used as feedback, by teachers, and by their pupils, in assessing themselves and each other, to modify the teaching and learning activities in which they are engaged.

Such assessment becomes ‘formative assessment’ when the evidence is actually used to adapt the teaching work to meet learning needs.

Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall & Wiliam, 2002

Formative assessment

Types of formative assessmentLong-cycleSpan: across units, terms Length: four weeks to one year Impact: Student monitoring; curriculum alignmentMedium-cycleSpan: within and between teaching units Length: one to four weeks Impact: Improved, student-involved, assessment; teacher cognition about learningShort-cycleSpan: within and between lessons Length:

day-by-day: 24 to 48 hours minute-by-minute: 5 seconds to 2 hours

Impact: classroom practice; student engagement What?

Unpacking formative assessmentKey processesEstablishing where the learners are in their learningEstablishing where they are goingWorking out how to get there

ParticipantsTeachersPeersLearners

What?

Aspects of formative assessmentWhere the learner is

going

Where the learner is

How to get there

TeacherClarify and

share learning intentions

Engineering effective

discussions, tasks and activities that elicit evidence of learning

Providing feedback that moves learners

forward

PeerUnderstand and share learning intentions

Activating students as learningresources for one another

LearnerUnderstand learning intentions

Activating students as ownersof their own learning

Five “key strategies”…Clarifying, understanding, and sharing learning intentionscurriculum philosophy

Engineering effective classroom discussions, tasks and activities that elicit evidence of learningclassroom discourse, interactive whole-class teaching

Providing feedback that moves learners forward feedback

Activating students as learning resources for one another collaborative learning, reciprocal teaching, peer-assessment

Activating students as owners of their own learningmetacognition, motivation, interest, attribution, self-assessment

(Wiliam & Thompson, 2007)

…and one big ideaUse evidence about learning to adapt teaching and learning to meet student needs

What?

Keeping Learning on Track (KLT)A pilot guides a plane or boat toward its destination by taking constant readings and making careful adjustments in response to wind, currents, weather, etc.

A KLT teacher does the same:Plans a carefully chosen route ahead of time (in essence building the track)Takes readings along the way Changes course as conditions dictate

What?

Putting it into practice

Why research hasn’t changed teachingThe nature of expertise in teachingAristotle’s main intellectual virtues

Episteme: knowledge of universal truths Techne: ability to make things Phronesis: practical wisdom

What works is not the right question Everything works somewhere Nothing works everywhere What’s interesting is “under what conditions” does this work?

Teaching is mainly a matter of phronesis, not episteme

How?

Knowledge ‘transfer’

aaa

Dialogue

Learning by doing

Socializationsympathised knowledge Externalizationconceptual knowledge

Internalizationoperational knowledge Combinationsystemic knowledge

Tacit knowledge Explicit knowledgeto

from

Tacit knowledge

Explicit knowledge

Sharing experience Networking

After Nonaka & Tageuchi, 1995

How?

Implementing FA/AfL requires changing teacher habitsTeachers “know” most of this already

So the problem is not a lack of knowledge

It’s a lack of understanding what it means to do FA/AfL

That’s why telling teachers what to do doesn’t work

Experience alone is not enough—if it were, then the most experienced teachers would be the best teachers—we know that’s not true (Hanushek, 2005; Day, 2006)

People need to reflect on their experiences in systematic ways that build their accessible knowledge base, learn from mistakes, etc. (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 1999) How?

A model for teacher learningContent, then process

Content (what we want teachers to change)Evidence Ideas (strategies and techniques)

Process (how to go about change)ChoiceFlexibilitySmall stepsAccountabilitySupport How?

Strategies and techniquesDistinction between strategies and techniquesStrategies define the territory of AfL (no brainers)Teachers are responsible for choice of techniques

Allows for customization/ caters for local context Creates ownership Shares responsibility

Key requirements of techniquesembodiment of deep cognitive/affective principles relevance feasibilityacceptability

How?

Examples of techniquesLearning intentions“sharing exemplars”

Eliciting evidence“mini white-boards”

Providing feedback“find it and fix it”

Students as owners of their learning“coloured cups”

Students as learning resources“pre-flight checklist”

How?

Design and interventionOur design process

Teachers’ implementation process

cognitive/affectiveinsights

synergy/comprehensiveness

set ofcomponents

set ofcomponents

synergy/comprehensiveness

cognitive/affectiveinsights

Teacher learning takes timeTo put new knowledge to work, to make it meaningful and accessible when you need it, requires practice.A teacher doesn’t come at this as a blank slate. Not only do teachers have their current habits and ways of teaching—

they’ve lived inside the old culture of classrooms all their lives: every teacher started out as a student!

New knowledge doesn’t just have to get learned and practiced, it has to go up against long-established, familiar, comfortable ways of doing things that may not be as effective, but fit within everyone’s expectations of how a classroom should work.

It takes time and practice to undo old habits and become graceful at new ones. Thus… Professional development must be sustained over time

How?

That’s what teacher learning communities (TLCs) are for:

TLCs contradict teacher isolationTLCs reprofessionalize teaching by valuing teacher expertiseTLCs deprivatize teaching so that teachers’ strengths and struggles

become knownTLCs offer a steady source of support for struggling teachersThey grow expertise by providing a regular space, time, and structure

for that kind of systematic reflecting on practiceThey facilitate sharing of untapped expertise residing in individual

teachersThey build the collective knowledge base in a school

How?

King’s-Medway-Oxfordshire Formative Assessment Project“Polyexperiment” design24 teachers, each developing their practice in individual waysEach teacher chose which class to explore these ideas withEach teacher chose how to measure successDifferent outcome variables, so no possibility of standardized controlsSynthesis by standardized effect sizeImpact on student achievement0.3 standard deviations (i.e., about 8 months extra learning per year)Other small-scale replications (Hayes, 2003; Clymer 2007) find similar

effects

How?

Taking it to scale

Designing for scale“In-principle” scalability

A single model for the whole schoolBut which honours subject-specificities

Understanding what it means to scale (Coburn, 2003)DepthSustainabilitySpreadShift in reform ownership

Consideration of the diversity of contexts of application

Clarity about components, and the theory of action

How?

• Introductory Assessment for Learning and TLC Leader Workshops

• On-going support from ETS consultants, peers, and an online community and materials

• On-going monthly meetings that support and hold teachers accountable to make changes in their classroom

Improved student learning

4

2

1

3

Teachers provide structure and create opportunities for students to take ownership of their own learning.

Teachers provide students with feedback that identif ies what they need to do to improve

5

Teachers identify and share learning intentions and criteria for success with their students.

Students support each other and take responsibility for their own learning within shared frameworks

7

6

Teachers use evidence of learning to adapt instruction to meet student’ immediate learning needs

13

Teachers provide structure and create opportunities to activate students as instructional resources for one another.

14

16

Students are more engaged with the lesson, content, and activities

15

Teacher Outcomes Student Outcomes

Teachers elicit evidence of student understanding.

Students act on feedback to improve assignments

8

12

9

10

11

KLT COMPONENTS

Logic model for KLT

(Leahy, Leusner & Lyon, 2005)

How to set up a TLCPlan that the TLC will run for two years

Identify 8 to 10 interested colleaguesShould have similar assignments (e.g. early years, math/sci)

Secure institutional support for:Monthly meetings (2 hrs each, inside or outside school time)Time between meetings (2 hrs per month in school time)

Collaborative planning Peer observation

Any necessary waivers from school policies

How?

A ‘signature pedagogy’ for teacher learning?Every monthly TLC meeting should follows the same structure and sequence of activities

Activity 1: Introduction & Housekeeping (5 minutes)

Activity 2: How’s It Going (50 minutes)

Activity 3: New Learning about AfL (50 minutes)

Activity 4: Personal Action Planning (10 minutes)

Activity 5: Summary of Learning (5 minutes)

How?

The TLC leader’s roleTo ensure the TLC meets regularlyTo ensure all needed materials are at meetingsTo ensure that each meeting is focused on AfL To create and maintain a productive and non-judgmental tone during meetings To ensure that every participant shares with regard to their implementation of AfL To encourage teachers to provide their colleagues with constructive and thoughtful feedbackTo encourage teachers to think about and discuss the implementation of new AfL learning and skillsTo ensure that every teacher has an action plan to guide their next stepsBut not to be the AfL “expert”

How?

Peer observationRun to the agenda of the observed, not the observer

Observed teacher specifies focus of observation

Observe teacher specifies what counts as evidencee.g., teacher wants to increase wait-timeprovides observer with a stop-watch to log wait-times

How?

“Tight but loose”

Tight about Teacher choice Strategies “How’s it going?” & action planningSize of TLC

Loose about Timing and location of meetings TechniquesNew learning about AfLMake-up of TLC

… combines an obsessive adherence to central design principles (the “tight” part) with accommodations to the needs, resources, constraints, and particularities that occur in any school or district (the “loose” part), but only where these do not conflict with the theory of action of the intervention.

How?

Some reforms are too loose (e.g., the ‘Effective schools’ movement)

Others are too tight (e.g., Montessori Schools)

The “tight but loose” formulation

ImplementationsSuccessful pilots in:Cleveland Municipal School District, OHAustin Independent School District, TXChico Unified School District, CAMathematics and Science Partnership of Greater Philadelphia, PA/NJSt. Mary’s County Public Schools, MDState-wide pilot in 10 schools in Vermont

Impact on student achievement similar to KMOFAP

SummaryRaising achievement is important

Raising achievement requires improving teacher quality

Improving teacher quality requires teacher professional development

To be effective, teacher professional development must addressWhat teachers do in the classroomHow teachers change what they do in the classroom

AfL/FA + TLCsA point of (uniquely?) high leverageA “Trojan Horse” into wider issues of pedagogy, psychology, and curriculum

Why, what & how?