Barry Smith - Learning about Learning

inspirED is a collection of news and stories to inspire anyone interested in innovative approaches to teaching and learning.  There are some great articles, links and ideas.  Well worth a look.

I was looking back at some of the old posts I had written and came across one I wrote not long after I had started blogging entitled Lies, damned lies, and statistics.  I was discussing the use of MidYis testing in our school and as I now am much more focused upon understanding the uses of assessment, it was interesting to read my thoughts and try an gauge my thinking process at that point.   

The main point that I have begun to explore further is that of the uses made of such testing at an individual level.  Standardised tests have (varying degrees of) predictive validity when used at a cohort level, ie when making predictions about achievement for year groups, but at the individual level there is too great a degree of variability to predict anything about a particular student’s future achievement. 

That, it seems to me, is the crux of the matter and is where schools who use tests such as MidYis and CAT face their greatest challenge.  How can we make best use of such instruments of assessment? How can we come to a fuller understanding of their limitations, as well as their uses, when using them to inform our practice and judgements about youngsters?  

Teacher and students expectations and beliefs about themselves as learners, as research has shown, are a significant factor in the achievement of youngsters, so using the information in an approriate way is absolutely vital.  What ways can schools use these summative assessments in a formative way to inform planning and practice? Are the assessments themselves key, or is it the use to which we put them? 

Generating assessment information using web 2.0 tools.  This will be old hat to some readers but it is interesting that the ideas are appearing on SQA website amongst others.  If you already use web 2.0 technologoies in working with young people it gives some ideas about using these tools as part of ongoing assessment.  Worth a look.  There is also a full paper, published in April of this year which also makes interesting reading.

I am interested in how the ‘bottom up’ process espoused in the CfE documents is becoming a reality.  I wonder what changes individuals have made to their own practice.  One aspect that CfE focuses on is the change in emphasis from content to methodologies based upon formative assessment to improve outcomes for young people.

Do you think the changes that are happening are at the methodology level, ie people’s thinking about learning and teaching(beyond the inevitable early adopters group), or at a more superficial level(by the wider teaching community) in terms of the way things are organised and the content that is ‘delivered’?

It is an interesting question, because I think that we are, potentially, at a point of such monumental change in Scottish Education that we might end up with a big shuffle in the way things are organised, but not impact upon the deeper levels of thinking about learning. 

This may also be compounded if the NQ consultation returns a framework for qualifications that basically reflects what we already have without any move towards a recognition of teacher judgement that is being promoted in BtC3 as a necessary condition of CfE. 

Any thoughts?