Ok so it wasn't short was it. The summary is below:
• find out your school's expectations for using APP
• find out who the APP lead is (they should have received some LA training)
• decide on your focus children (some advice from the previous teacher might help with this)
• familiarise yourself with the Assessment Foci – what strands flow through the AF from L1 to L5 (and beyond if necessary)
• use a Training File (link here) to rehearse using the AFs
• share your judgments of the training file with a colleague. Try to work out what the differences are between your judgments and the training files.
• Begin to collect evidence for your focus children (but don't make a Standards file. Short notes about context that evidence has been gathered in might make the moderation process easier)
• At the assessment point (determined by the school) use your evidence to make a level judgment, and moderate with colleagues.
• Use your professional judgement to make an assessment for the children in your class.
• Use your judgments and criteria to support deciding on next steps for the learning of individuals, groups and the class as a whole (looking for trends and patterns in barriers to awarding particular levels / AFs).
Take it steady. Learning how to use APP materials is not a quick fix. If you invest time into using them efficiently and effectively the rewards will be big – both for you and the learners in your charge.
Friday 27 August 2010
The Mysteries of APP
In response to a request for help by @oliverquinlan on twitter I shall try to write a short explanation of the APP process. Did I use short explanation and APP in the same sentence??? I'm going to write this as a beginners guide - so if you're really good, please read on and correct me by adding comments!
Ok. Here we go.
APP is part of a set of assessment tools that can be used by teachers. It is worth noting that they are not statutory. A school doesn't have to use them. However, if your school is using them as part of their assessment strategy and policy then as an individual teacher you should use the materials. The three stages of assessment are:
1. Formative assessment - ongoing day by day assessment, which is most commonly referred to as Assessment for Learning (AfL).
2. Periodic assessment - this is an assessment carried out at regular intervals during the school year. It acts as a judgment on progress, but can also be used to diagnose next steps in learning. In the last few years the National Strategies and QCA (now QCDA) have developed the Assessing Pupil Progress suit of materials.
3. Transitional assessment - this is an assessment made at a transition point. The most notable transition points are at the end of Key Stages, but a transition could as easily be between two year groups when a new teacher is taking responsibility for the learning of the class. At the end of Key Stage 2 the transitional assessment is supported by National Tests (SATs). Best practice in transitional assessment is moving towards robust and moderated teacher assessment, although at the end of each year many schools use Optional Tests (supplied by QCDA - however there will be no more optional tests written as QCDA move nearer to closure).
APP - what, when and how?
There are many urban myths that have already developed about APP. It is really important at this point to point out the following:
• It is not statutory (I think I already said that). Schools choose to use it. Since the election of May 2010, the new DfE are at pains to emphasise this point. There is no active discouragement for using the materials though).
• Where a school does choose to use APP, there are no set rules about how often it should be done, how many children should be assessed, or how the process should be managed.
• It is not recommended that a school or teacher should build up a portfolio of work similar to the Standards Files for every child in their class (quickest way to a nervous breakdown).
• The Assessing Pupil Progress materials should support Teacher Assessment, and professional judgment.
Ok, that said what should you do? Please note, this is my advice, and because of the points above it may not fit exactly with how your school is using the materials. Again, I am assuming that you are new to APP in writing this.
First of all, find out if your school has an APP leader. If so, check the advice below with them, and ask for their support in finding your way around the materials. Also, find out if your school is focussing on using one subject (reading, writing, speaking and listening, maths or science) or if they are more advanced in their use. If the materials and methodology are new to you, find out if you are expected to use all subjects or if you should start with just one.
I would then recommend getting to now the assessment foci in intimate detail. Each set of materials is broken down into assessment foci - link to assessment materials here (e.g. writing is broken down into 8 assessment foci (AFs) AF 1 is "write imaginative, interesting and thoughtful texts", AF 5 is "vary sentences for clarity, purpose and effect"). Each AF then has assessment criteria written for each level from Level 1 to Level 8. Within an AF you should be able to identify 'strands' going through the levels.
One activity that supports the development of this familiarity is to attack the AF with a set of different coloured highlighter pens. Find 'strands' and highlight them in different colours. Don't worry if you don't find a criteria statement in each level. When they were written, there may not have been a progression step in the missing level.
It is worth noting at this point that there are no guidelines about the strands that you would use, and it is of little consequence if your strands were slightly different from a colleague's. The purpose of finding the strands is to familiarise yourself with the assessment focus. The more familiar you are, the more quickly and accurately you will be able to make your judgments of pupil's work.
The next thing I would recommend doing is to use the Standards Files to rehearse your skills in using the assessment criteria. The Standards Files are a collection of work from a single pupil that have been used to make a standardised judgement. They give a Level based on a commentary by the teacher and evidence of work. Having been involved personally with the development of Standards Files I can assure you that the moderation process was rigorous and intensive!
Within the Standards Files section there are Training Files. These contain pupil work, teacher commentary on the context of the work but no judgements. Use the work and the Assessment grids to identify which AF and level criteria are evidenced by each piece of work. By using all the pieces of evidence, you will have highlighted or marked off a range of criteria in each of the AFs. At this point you are ready to make a judgment on the levelness of the work.
The Level is arrived at by making a best fit judgment. This is quite a visual judgment. You will arrive at a level, and then refine as low, secure, high (often reported as c, b or a mini-levels for pupil tracking purposes). A low (c) would be given if criteria have been met in most or all of the AFs, but less than half of the criteria overall. A secure (b) is when the majority of criteria in each AF have been evidenced. A high (a) would be awarded where almost all criteria have been met in all AFs, but not enough have been met in the next level up to justify the awarding of a low level at the higher level.
It sounds an inexact science, but as you begin to make assessments it does become clearer, and as you become more practiced, making the sub level judgment is much easier.
Having made a judgment against the evidence provided in the Training File, pull up the standardised assessment. Don't worry if your judgment doesn't match the level awarded in the training file on your first attempt. This is a good point to rehearse the process of moderation. Find a colleague, and talk through the differences between your judgment and that made in the training file. This discussion deepens understanding of the strands, and what type of evidence might allow you to assess against specific criteria. The level awarded in the training file is robust and has been very rigorously moderated at a national level!!
Next – start gathering your evidence for making your judgment. Remember the evidence can come from a variety of sources:
1. written work in books
2. observations of pupil conversations
3. videos of pupils working
4. notes made in peer reviews
5. things you have observed and store in your preferred method (mine is in my head as I hate writing things down!)
6. etc. etc.
Remember that you should not make a judgment based on one piece of work. APP judgments should be made against a range of evidence compiled between the two assessment windows (e.g. May and October).
You do not have to build a big portfolio of evidence for every pupil. As I said earlier, that is a quick way to insanity. However, one of the great strengths of APP is the moderation process. Your school is likely to have a moderation process in place at a set interval, and it is useful to have some evidence for a small number of focus pupils.
It is at this point that the mythology about 6 pupils comes in. You will have responsibility for ensuring that all pupils in your class make progress, and it is reasonable to expect that you can make a level judgment for all pupils. However, these judgments are based on your professional expertise, which will have been moderated by the evidence presented for your focus pupils.
Wow. That's clear as mud isn't it!!!
Let me summarise:
• find out your school's expectations for using APP
• find out who the APP lead is (they should have received some LA training)
• decide on your focus children (some advice from the previous teacher might help with this)
• familiarise yourself with the Assessment Foci – what strands flow through the AF from L1 to L5 (and beyond if necessary)
• use a Training File (link here) to rehearse using the AFs
• share your judgments of the training file with a colleague. Try to work out what the differences are between your judgments and the training files.
• Begin to collect evidence for your focus children (but don't make a Standards file. Short notes about context that evidence has been gathered in might make the moderation process easier)
• At the assessment point (determined by the school) use your evidence to make a level judgment, and moderate with colleagues.
• Use your professional judgement to make an assessment for the children in your class.
• Use your judgments and criteria to support deciding on next steps for the learning of individuals, groups and the class as a whole (looking for trends and patterns in barriers to awarding particular levels / AFs).
Take it steady. Learning how to use APP materials is not a quick fix. If you invest time into using them efficiently and effectively the rewards will be big – both for you and the learners in your charge.
Good luck.
Ok. Here we go.
APP is part of a set of assessment tools that can be used by teachers. It is worth noting that they are not statutory. A school doesn't have to use them. However, if your school is using them as part of their assessment strategy and policy then as an individual teacher you should use the materials. The three stages of assessment are:
1. Formative assessment - ongoing day by day assessment, which is most commonly referred to as Assessment for Learning (AfL).
2. Periodic assessment - this is an assessment carried out at regular intervals during the school year. It acts as a judgment on progress, but can also be used to diagnose next steps in learning. In the last few years the National Strategies and QCA (now QCDA) have developed the Assessing Pupil Progress suit of materials.
3. Transitional assessment - this is an assessment made at a transition point. The most notable transition points are at the end of Key Stages, but a transition could as easily be between two year groups when a new teacher is taking responsibility for the learning of the class. At the end of Key Stage 2 the transitional assessment is supported by National Tests (SATs). Best practice in transitional assessment is moving towards robust and moderated teacher assessment, although at the end of each year many schools use Optional Tests (supplied by QCDA - however there will be no more optional tests written as QCDA move nearer to closure).
APP - what, when and how?
There are many urban myths that have already developed about APP. It is really important at this point to point out the following:
• It is not statutory (I think I already said that). Schools choose to use it. Since the election of May 2010, the new DfE are at pains to emphasise this point. There is no active discouragement for using the materials though).
• Where a school does choose to use APP, there are no set rules about how often it should be done, how many children should be assessed, or how the process should be managed.
• It is not recommended that a school or teacher should build up a portfolio of work similar to the Standards Files for every child in their class (quickest way to a nervous breakdown).
• The Assessing Pupil Progress materials should support Teacher Assessment, and professional judgment.
Ok, that said what should you do? Please note, this is my advice, and because of the points above it may not fit exactly with how your school is using the materials. Again, I am assuming that you are new to APP in writing this.
First of all, find out if your school has an APP leader. If so, check the advice below with them, and ask for their support in finding your way around the materials. Also, find out if your school is focussing on using one subject (reading, writing, speaking and listening, maths or science) or if they are more advanced in their use. If the materials and methodology are new to you, find out if you are expected to use all subjects or if you should start with just one.
I would then recommend getting to now the assessment foci in intimate detail. Each set of materials is broken down into assessment foci - link to assessment materials here (e.g. writing is broken down into 8 assessment foci (AFs) AF 1 is "write imaginative, interesting and thoughtful texts", AF 5 is "vary sentences for clarity, purpose and effect"). Each AF then has assessment criteria written for each level from Level 1 to Level 8. Within an AF you should be able to identify 'strands' going through the levels.
One activity that supports the development of this familiarity is to attack the AF with a set of different coloured highlighter pens. Find 'strands' and highlight them in different colours. Don't worry if you don't find a criteria statement in each level. When they were written, there may not have been a progression step in the missing level.
It is worth noting at this point that there are no guidelines about the strands that you would use, and it is of little consequence if your strands were slightly different from a colleague's. The purpose of finding the strands is to familiarise yourself with the assessment focus. The more familiar you are, the more quickly and accurately you will be able to make your judgments of pupil's work.
The next thing I would recommend doing is to use the Standards Files to rehearse your skills in using the assessment criteria. The Standards Files are a collection of work from a single pupil that have been used to make a standardised judgement. They give a Level based on a commentary by the teacher and evidence of work. Having been involved personally with the development of Standards Files I can assure you that the moderation process was rigorous and intensive!
Within the Standards Files section there are Training Files. These contain pupil work, teacher commentary on the context of the work but no judgements. Use the work and the Assessment grids to identify which AF and level criteria are evidenced by each piece of work. By using all the pieces of evidence, you will have highlighted or marked off a range of criteria in each of the AFs. At this point you are ready to make a judgment on the levelness of the work.
The Level is arrived at by making a best fit judgment. This is quite a visual judgment. You will arrive at a level, and then refine as low, secure, high (often reported as c, b or a mini-levels for pupil tracking purposes). A low (c) would be given if criteria have been met in most or all of the AFs, but less than half of the criteria overall. A secure (b) is when the majority of criteria in each AF have been evidenced. A high (a) would be awarded where almost all criteria have been met in all AFs, but not enough have been met in the next level up to justify the awarding of a low level at the higher level.
It sounds an inexact science, but as you begin to make assessments it does become clearer, and as you become more practiced, making the sub level judgment is much easier.
Having made a judgment against the evidence provided in the Training File, pull up the standardised assessment. Don't worry if your judgment doesn't match the level awarded in the training file on your first attempt. This is a good point to rehearse the process of moderation. Find a colleague, and talk through the differences between your judgment and that made in the training file. This discussion deepens understanding of the strands, and what type of evidence might allow you to assess against specific criteria. The level awarded in the training file is robust and has been very rigorously moderated at a national level!!
Next – start gathering your evidence for making your judgment. Remember the evidence can come from a variety of sources:
1. written work in books
2. observations of pupil conversations
3. videos of pupils working
4. notes made in peer reviews
5. things you have observed and store in your preferred method (mine is in my head as I hate writing things down!)
6. etc. etc.
Remember that you should not make a judgment based on one piece of work. APP judgments should be made against a range of evidence compiled between the two assessment windows (e.g. May and October).
You do not have to build a big portfolio of evidence for every pupil. As I said earlier, that is a quick way to insanity. However, one of the great strengths of APP is the moderation process. Your school is likely to have a moderation process in place at a set interval, and it is useful to have some evidence for a small number of focus pupils.
It is at this point that the mythology about 6 pupils comes in. You will have responsibility for ensuring that all pupils in your class make progress, and it is reasonable to expect that you can make a level judgment for all pupils. However, these judgments are based on your professional expertise, which will have been moderated by the evidence presented for your focus pupils.
Wow. That's clear as mud isn't it!!!
Let me summarise:
• find out your school's expectations for using APP
• find out who the APP lead is (they should have received some LA training)
• decide on your focus children (some advice from the previous teacher might help with this)
• familiarise yourself with the Assessment Foci – what strands flow through the AF from L1 to L5 (and beyond if necessary)
• use a Training File (link here) to rehearse using the AFs
• share your judgments of the training file with a colleague. Try to work out what the differences are between your judgments and the training files.
• Begin to collect evidence for your focus children (but don't make a Standards file. Short notes about context that evidence has been gathered in might make the moderation process easier)
• At the assessment point (determined by the school) use your evidence to make a level judgment, and moderate with colleagues.
• Use your professional judgement to make an assessment for the children in your class.
• Use your judgments and criteria to support deciding on next steps for the learning of individuals, groups and the class as a whole (looking for trends and patterns in barriers to awarding particular levels / AFs).
Take it steady. Learning how to use APP materials is not a quick fix. If you invest time into using them efficiently and effectively the rewards will be big – both for you and the learners in your charge.
Good luck.
Thursday 26 August 2010
The Curriculum
In the "What is the curriculum?" blog the author raises four hypotheses about what the curriculum is. I have an entirely personal perspective on this, which has been developed through thirteen years in the teaching profession. I have been very lucky to work for some inspirational headteachers who continued to have faith in a creative curriculum during a period of increased prescription that followed the introduction of the National Curriculum in 1989. I don't blame the NC for the prescription that has shackled teachers and schools in the last 20 years. My two criminals guilty of this crime are an invasive inspection system and the publishing of league tables based on a seemingly flawed assessment system - but that is something for another post which I will write soon enough.
Back to the curriculum. As an advanced skills teacher I worked with loads of schools that were teaching a creative curriculum. I often reflected on the curriculum in each of the schools that I worked in, including those that I was teaching in and was often disappointed to discover that in the majority of cases what was being described as creative was actually a set of false links being made between a series of medium term subject plans that were written by someone external to the school and were delivered with very little adaptation for the learners.
Where "off the shelf" plans are used without any adaptation they lose their sparkle. This is because the teacher using the plan has no connection with the progression that the author intended. There must be an intellectual engagement with the materials to ensure that it matches the needs of the learners. This seems rather obvious, but I know through experience that this doesn't always happen. My other issue with "off the shelf" stuff is that we don't all find the same things inspiring, and I believe passionately that in order to inspire we need to feel inspired. One of the key skills that a talented teacher brings to the classroom is the ability to take something that is inspiring and develop real and relevant learning from the material that fits in with an builds on a defined curriculum.
As my career has progressed I have developed my understanding of curriculum. In answering the hypotheses in the blog referenced above I feel that the most successful schools believe in a curriculum that encompasses every planned interaction with the children, from the minute they enter the grounds to the minute they leave (and actually beyond the school as well).
A bit of a ramble, but these are some themes that I want to develop further through this blog. Your thoughts and comments are very welcome.
Back to the curriculum. As an advanced skills teacher I worked with loads of schools that were teaching a creative curriculum. I often reflected on the curriculum in each of the schools that I worked in, including those that I was teaching in and was often disappointed to discover that in the majority of cases what was being described as creative was actually a set of false links being made between a series of medium term subject plans that were written by someone external to the school and were delivered with very little adaptation for the learners.
Where "off the shelf" plans are used without any adaptation they lose their sparkle. This is because the teacher using the plan has no connection with the progression that the author intended. There must be an intellectual engagement with the materials to ensure that it matches the needs of the learners. This seems rather obvious, but I know through experience that this doesn't always happen. My other issue with "off the shelf" stuff is that we don't all find the same things inspiring, and I believe passionately that in order to inspire we need to feel inspired. One of the key skills that a talented teacher brings to the classroom is the ability to take something that is inspiring and develop real and relevant learning from the material that fits in with an builds on a defined curriculum.
As my career has progressed I have developed my understanding of curriculum. In answering the hypotheses in the blog referenced above I feel that the most successful schools believe in a curriculum that encompasses every planned interaction with the children, from the minute they enter the grounds to the minute they leave (and actually beyond the school as well).
A bit of a ramble, but these are some themes that I want to develop further through this blog. Your thoughts and comments are very welcome.
Monday 23 August 2010
About Me
I have a passionate interest in curriculum design. Currently, I am working as a Primary Curriculum Adviser, and have recently worked as a Primary Headteacher. My intention is to use this Blog to share my thinking and research - mainly related to curriculum matters. However, I am also an avid Canary and also follow the Tigers. Sport is never too far from my thoughts.
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