Page 30 - Learning for All – A Guide to Effective Assessment and Instruction for All Students, Kindergarten to Grade 12, 2013

28 • Learning for All
This document focuses on assessment for learning as the tool that enables teachers to systematically develop the knowledge of their students that they need to provide personalized, precise instruction and assessment. It incorporates strategies to engage students and support assessment as learning as an integral part of the process.
The Benefits of Assessment for Learning
Studies have shown that the use of assessment for learning contributes significantly to improving student achievement, and that improvement is greatest among lower-achieving students (Black & Wiliam, 1998).
Assessment for learning is the process of gathering evidence about a student’s learning from a variety of sources, using a variety of approaches, or “assessment tools”, and interpreting that evidence to enable both the teacher and the learner to determine:
• where the learner is in his or her learning;
• where the learner needs to go; and
• how best to get there.
Teachers can adjust instructional strategies, resources, and environments effectively to
help all students learn only if they have accurate and reliable information about what their students know and are able to do at any given time, and about how they learn best. Ongoing assessment
for learning provides that critical information; it provides the foundation for differentiated instruction.
Components of Assessment for Learning
Assessment for learning includes diagnostic assessment and formative assessment:
• Diagnostic assessment can include both classroom (educational) assessments and, where appropriate, professional assessments (i.e., speech and language, medical, and psychological assessments providing information and/or diagnosis of specific conditions that affect learning). Diagnostic assessments are conducted before instruction begins and provide teachers with information about students’ readiness to learn, and about their interests and attitudes. This information establishes the starting point for new learning, and helps teachers and students set appropriate learning goals. It enables teachers to plan instruc- tion and assessments that are differentiated and personalized to meet students’ learning strengths, needs, interests, and learning preferences.
Diagnostic assessment helps identify what the student brings to his or her learning, in general or with respect to a specific subject. Information can be gathered from various sources – from the student, the student’s previous teachers, and the student’s parents, as well as from formal sources, such as the Ontario Student Record. The information gathered provides a baseline that informs further assessment, the results of which can be used in developing a student profile and/or a class profile.
Research confirms that assessment for learning is one of the most powerful tools for improving learning and raising standards, because it is rooted in helping students learn more.