Since the introduction of the creative curriculum at my current school and previous school (last yr) I have been banging my head against a wall when it comes to assessment.
I have a number of questions:
- If OFSTED came in tomorrow and asked teachers to tell them what level a particular child was working at, could they do so accurately, with evidence to support their judgement?
- How do we assess to a sub-level now that skills are integrated into the curriculum?
- Is their any worth in assessing ICT to a formal level?
- How can I implement a new approach to assessment without overburdening staff?
- Where do I start?
Answers: Probably not; don't know; yes; proving it is worthwhile and I don't know.
Here is my plan, that I am about to trial with my Y5 class.
To create a baseline assessment of key skills, children will complete level 4 assessment tasks on 2simple 2assess. I will obviously cross reference these results with my teacher observations and informal assessments.
Using these I intend to group the children into 4 similar ability groups, that will be assessed in an 'APP Style' hopefully minus the stress.
To help me do this I have devised an assessment document/ passport consisting of child friendly 'I can ...' statements, which I will share if successful/ useful (it will no doubt need tweaking/ improving). The document splits ICT into the following areas:
- Graphics
- Text
- Multimedia
- Databases
- Websites
- Communication (including blogging)
- Control and Modelling
The following sources were extremely useful:
One child from each group will be monitored throughout the year, with each target/ objective being evidenced 3 times before achievement.
The struggle is sub levelling.
I hope I have explained my plan clearly. As I am at an experimental phase, any feedback/ suggestions/ collaboration will be greatly appreciated.
I'll keep you posted on how I get on!