“Feedback to any pupil should be about the particular qualities of his or her work, with advice on what he or she can do to improve, and should avoid comparisons with other pupils” – © P.Black & D.Wiliam “Inside the Black Box” 2001
Assessment for learning is all about using assessment and feedback to get the pupils involved in their own learning and improve it according to their own ability. Teachers and pupils alike, however, enjoy the use of grading and scores to know exactly where a person is in the scale of the whole class. As much as scoring has its benefits for recording and analysing results, it does not give each child specific feedback as to how they could improve. What is one good way of combating this?
As every pupil is different, they require different feedback as to how they can improve. Advocates of the “Assessment is for Learning” programme encourage the use of “comment-only marking” to tackle this issue. Instead of telling young Joe Bloggs that he has only got 5 out of 27 for his homework compared to the high scores of his friends, why not write something like,
“Well done for the effort you made in trying every question. To improve on this piece of work, try writing down more working so that it is easier for you to notice if you make an accidental mistake. Well done for your neat writing and clear layout.”
Doing this avoids the situation where every pupil compares their grades – leading to discouragement for those not doing as well as their friends. On the contrary, it means every pupil can be told something positive to boost their self esteem and they can be given specific advice on how to improve their work at their own level.
By grading less and giving more encouraging and motivating feedback, teachers can give their students a good chance of making real improvement in the most appropriate and beneficial way.
Assessment for learning is all about using assessment and feedback to get the pupils involved in their own learning and improve it according to their own ability. Teachers and pupils alike, however, enjoy the use of grading and scores to know exactly where a person is in the scale of the whole class. As much as scoring has its benefits for recording and analysing results, it does not give each child specific feedback as to how they could improve. What is one good way of combating this?
As every pupil is different, they require different feedback as to how they can improve. Advocates of the “Assessment is for Learning” programme encourage the use of “comment-only marking” to tackle this issue. Instead of telling young Joe Bloggs that he has only got 5 out of 27 for his homework compared to the high scores of his friends, why not write something like,
“Well done for the effort you made in trying every question. To improve on this piece of work, try writing down more working so that it is easier for you to notice if you make an accidental mistake. Well done for your neat writing and clear layout.”
Doing this avoids the situation where every pupil compares their grades – leading to discouragement for those not doing as well as their friends. On the contrary, it means every pupil can be told something positive to boost their self esteem and they can be given specific advice on how to improve their work at their own level.
By grading less and giving more encouraging and motivating feedback, teachers can give their students a good chance of making real improvement in the most appropriate and beneficial way.
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