Involvement in assessment

At the start of the school year, Karen will benchmark her learners, using data from the National Curriculum Tests as well as the maths department's assessments of the subject's different strands. She will scope the curriculum for the first term, ensuring the success criteria for progress are clear to learners.

She will agree with the classroom assistant (LTA) the number and scope of assessments for each learner. She also encourages peer assessment, using a simple checklist that details the criteria for a successful piece of work, logbooks for learners to record their actions and achievements, and dialogue books for each learner to communicate their learning to her.

At the start of the year, Karen ensures there are appropriate resources for each learner, including those with special educational needs (SEN), or the gifted and talented. She sets her own expectations as well as the learners' and makes them explicit. These are reinforced every lesson on the board or via the data-projector.

The start of each lesson is characterised by the learning objectives for the lesson, which are explained to the learners, appearing on the board. They will form the basis of the assessment criteria. The teacher, the LTA and the pupils, as well as their peers, will have a role in this.

Karen ensures the criteria are applied consistently with the LTA, as well as by the class themselves, by scrutinising the assessments to make the process transparent. Each learner assesses his/her understanding initially through a traffic light system, dependent on their judgment of understanding. Karen will concentrate on the red group, the LTA on the amber group, and a sample of the green group's understanding is assessed by self and peer assessment. Those who show deep understanding may get more challenging work or be asked to support a peer who is struggling.

From the assessments she has made, observation and dialogue with learners and open-ended questions, Karen will collate all of the data, which will act as a new benchmark. She is now in a position to validate the assessments and plan her teaching strategies accordingly.

For each learner, she and the LTA identify the next goals and the learners plan how to reach them. These are recorded in the logbook and the learners will assess their achievements and their peers' against the new criteria. Karen offers feedback to learners, who set goals for themselves and their peers based on this.

Karen will now be in a position to report to the learners' parents as well as the school managers, or the Senco, on the range and the quality of the data.

Karen needs to organise her time. With the LTA she plans, executes and records the assessment activities to ensure each learner does the same. She uses feedback from learners and from the LTA to evaluate the effectiveness of her work with this class and to plan any improvements. She uses the resources at her disposal to help the learners plan their own activities to meet their individual goals.

Karen may need to plan some of these activities with the SEN co-ordinator or other members of staff. Using this methodology, learners are encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning and to help their peers to manage theirs.

Communications in the classroom or written instructions promote achievement and encourage the learners to communicate with their peers with the aim of achieving effective actions. Any changes to the teaching and learning style are explained and made explicit. By embracing and acting on these changes, learners show they have embraced the changes in classroom practice.

Development and support opportunities