Assessment for learning
Assessment for learning is the practice of using evidence of what students currently understand to decide what to teach next, and to help students see what they need to do to improve.
What is assessment for learning (AfL)?
Assessment for learning is the classroom practice of gathering evidence about what students currently understand and using it immediately - to adjust teaching, and to show students what they need to do next. It is closely related to formative assessment, with more emphasis on the student's own role in closing the gap.
Assessment for learning came out of research showing that frequent, low-stakes checks on understanding, acted upon quickly, improve outcomes more reliably than additional testing does. In practice it is a set of habits rather than an event: questioning that samples the whole class rather than the confident few, tasks designed to expose misconceptions, and feedback that describes the next step rather than the current position.
The student's part in it
What distinguishes assessment for learning from formative assessment more broadly is where the work happens. The evidence is not only for the teacher - students are meant to understand the standard they are aiming at, see where their work falls short of it, and know what to do about it. That is why exemplars, success criteria and structured redrafting appear so often in AfL practice: they hand part of the judgement to the student.
Why feedback timing dominates
Feedback that arrives after the class has moved on is commentary rather than instruction. This is the practical constraint on assessment for learning in most secondary departments - not a lack of willingness, but the time it takes to read a full set of work and identify the patterns in it while they are still actionable.
Key takeaways
- Assessment for learning uses evidence of current understanding to decide what to teach next.
- It gives students an active role - understanding the standard and what closing the gap requires.
- Exemplars, success criteria and redrafting are common because they hand judgement to students.
- Its effectiveness depends heavily on feedback arriving while it can still change something.
Frequently asked questions
Is assessment for learning the same as formative assessment?
They overlap almost entirely, and the terms are often used interchangeably. Where people distinguish them, formative assessment describes the purpose - evidence used to inform teaching - while assessment for learning describes the classroom practice, with more emphasis on students understanding and acting on the standard themselves.
What does assessment for learning look like day to day?
Cold-calling and mini-whiteboards to sample understanding across the whole class rather than the volunteers; tasks written to expose a specific misconception; sharing exemplars so students can see the standard; and feedback that names the next step rather than summarising the last one.
Related terms
Formative assessment
Formative assessment is assessment used during learning to find out what students can and cannot yet do, so that teaching can be adjusted in response.
Whole-class feedback
Whole-class feedback is the practice of reading a set of work, recording the patterns across it, and addressing those patterns with the class together instead of writing individual comments on every piece.
Question level analysis
Question level analysis is the practice of breaking assessment results down question by question, rather than looking only at totals, to see exactly where marks were gained and lost.
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