Assessment of Cross Curricular Skills
Anne Marshall
CCEA Key Stage 3 Programme Manager18 June 2009
‘Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better.’Samuel Johnson
Email: [email protected]
PROGRAMME
Overview of Rationale Outline of Training Programme Decisions on Comparability Managing the Media Towards Policy
DE Circular 2007/11
“The revised curriculum… has literacy and numeracy at its core. The curriculum provides for a broad and balanced education and focuses on developing skills as well as teaching content through the wide spectrum of the curricular areas”
Circular Number 2007/11
LITERACY/NUMERACY
The Education (NI) Order 2006
Article 8: Skills
‘The curriculum for a grant-aided school must ensure, wholly or mainly
through the teaching of the minimum content of areas of learning and
religious education, the acquisition and development by pupils of- (1) the cross-curricular skills
(a) communication (b) using mathematics (c) using information and communications technology.
(2) any other skills specified under Article 8(1)(b).’
Assessment Support Programme – message from Stage 1
Legislative Requirements: Assessment
The Education (NI) Order 2006
Article 9: Assessment
(1) The curriculum for every grant-aided school shall require each pupil in each key stage at the school to be assessed in each school year in accordance with such stage.
assessment arrangements as are specified in relation to that pupil and that key stage under paragraph (2).
(2) The Department may by order specify, in relation to –(a) an area of learning;
(b) a cross-curricular skill; and(c) any other skill specified under Article 8(1)(b),
such assessment arrangements as it considers appropriate for pupils in each key
DE Circular 2008/22
Levels of Progression 12.“Currently the Levels of Progression are in draft
format and the Department will analyse advice, expected later in the autumn term, about how they relate to existing levels. Clearly principals and teachers need time to familiarise themselves with the Levels of Progression once they are finalised. Part of the advice expected from CCEA therefore is whether the intended timescale to introduce the Levels of Progression from the 9/10 school year is realistic and achievable in that context.”
Circular Number 2008/22CURRICULUM, ASSESSMENT AND
REPORTING ARRANGEMENTS 2008/9
http://www.deni.gov.uk/microsoft_word_-_department_of_education_circular_2008_22-2.pdf
Developments: Statutory Arrangements
Statutory Rules now in place: Curriculum minimum content Skills and Capabilities General assessment arrangements Transition reporting arrangements On www.opsi.gov.uk (2007: 43-46) or link from
www.nicurriculum.org.uk
Revised schedule for implementation Annual Report statutory for all years from 2009-10 Assessment of cross-curricular skills using levels of progression
– not statutory until at least 2011 Phased Arrangement starting with Communication and Using
Maths…. ICT to follow one year later
Changing Emphasisin the Statutory Requirements
From To
Detailed programmes of study and attainment targets
End of Key Stage assessment in English (Irish), Mathematics and Science:
- teacher assessment - use of assessment units (optional) - external tests
Levels of Attainment in English, Mathematics and Science
Annual Report
Minimum content (i.e. statements of requirement), including learning outcomes
Teacher assessment by end of each year (Years 8, 9, 10) in:- area of learning- cross-curricular skills- other skills (Thinking Skills and Personal
Capabilities)
Choice of assessment types integrated into teaching and learning
Data transferred to DE at end of KS
Levels of Progression in Communication, Using Mathematics and Using ICT
Annual Report
KS3
Legislative Requirements (Education Order, 2006)
‘each pupil in each key stage… to be assessed in each school year…’ in each cross-curricular skill, with reference to the levels of progression.
Proposal
Assessment evidence for each of the cross-curricular skills should be drawn from at least two areas of learning across the key stage. In Using ICT, evidence should be drawn from at least two areas of learning each year.
Stage 1 Training
Understand and audit the requirements for the CCS
Select departments for formal assessment
Map assessment
opportunities in Yr 8/9/10
Identify and develop
assessment opportunities
Carry out assessment activities as part of L&T
Whole school level
SMT/Curriculum team in
consultation with departments
Departmental level
Making a summative judgement for a pupil
Stage 2 Training
Use evidence to make
judgements
Discuss and agree
standards in school
Departmental / Interdepartmental level
Assessment Support Programme
Assessment
Reporting
Acquisition
Development
Promoting
Demonstrating
Applying
Transferring
The Cross-Curricular Skills
Acquisition
May be focussed in certain discrete subjects or may be across the curriculum
Coherent programme of learning for the pupil What do pupils need to know and when Where is the most natural place How will they recognise it again
Co-ordinated/mapped Method of communicating this
Development
Responsibility of everybody Learning Outcomes Build on existing good practice Aiming to infuse and integrate skills into
everyday business of the classroom Recognition of where these skills can enable
and enrich learning Encourage transferability, application and
connections
Assessment
Probably fewer contributors Link between development of skills and their
assessment It should:
sit comfortably within planned units of work; be relevant to the subject; facilitate Continuing Professional Development
(CPD).
The Northern Ireland Curriculum
Cross Curricular Skills are embedded and infused throughout the Northern Ireland Curriculum
They are bedrock skills through which young people access knowledge. Shift in emphasis away from perceiving these as ‘subjects’ taught discretely (within English, Mathematics and ICT) towards skills that are developed across the curriculum and are therefore the responsibility of all teachers.
Communication
Using Mathematics
Using ICT
Specified in terms of Levels (1-7 in draft form)
Levels of Progression
The Levels of Progression: are for Communication, Using Mathematics and Using
ICT. will be used to make holistic summative judgements
about pupil progress each year; form the basis for reporting on the skills; also provide a continuum of development and
progression directly linked to the requirements; are competence based - ‘Pupils can’ ; are mapped to National Qualifications Framework
(Functional/Key/Essential Skills); are currently in draft format, until detailed legislation is
in place.
Commonly asked questions
How are LoP different from LoA? What is the link between UM , Numeracy and Maths and
English and Communication and Literacy? When should Maths assess UM? When should English assess Communication? How many pieces? What is the coverage? Can Tasks be designed to cover more than 1 Cross
curricular skill? What methods of departmental partnerships are most
effective? What is the view of the proposal ie 2 AoL per key stage? How to reach consensus in making a judgement? How can we trust other schools? What about the feeder schools?
Developments: Tasks
Debate around Tasks – should these be generic no subject home specified
Associated rubric – specific criteria eg what would a Level 4 website contain?
Different Approach across the key stages Compromise – 3 exemplar tasks
What are they for?
The assessment tasks are intended to: provide opportunities for pupils to demonstrate,
apply and transfer their competence in the cross-curricular skills;
help teachers to make judgements about the level at which a pupil is working;
be integrated into planned work, so that tasks are carried out within meaningful contexts within the learning and teaching that provide a reason for pupils to apply their skills.
What they aren’t…
Time-limited tests. External bolt-ons completed in isolation of
ongoing learning and teaching. An end in themselves. Tasks which deliver the prior learning as well as
the opportunity to demonstrate learning. Step-by step instructions (we need to assess
what we really want to assess).
The tasks provided will be:
Generic - so that they can be contextualised; Holistic - in that pupils may have to draw on
different aspects of a skill; Standardised - in that assessment criteria are
based on the level descriptions and remain the same regardless of context.
Range of Evidence Methods of Assessment
Oral…Written….ICT/digital; Practical/experiential; Expressive/performance; Process…Review…Product; teacher observation of groups and individuals –
both planned and incidental; teacher interaction with groups and individuals; observation/evidence of peer and self
assessment.
CommunicationCommunication
Levels of Progression:Format
www.nicurriculum.org.uk
Progression in
Requirements: colour-
coded
Level Standar
d:Pupils can…
Context Statements Requirements
Communication
Three strands Talking and Listening Reading Writing
Two Questions What am I looking for? What does the standard look like?
Communication: Writing
What am I looking for?
Language and register matched to audience, purpose and form
What does the standard look like?
Communication: Reading
What am I looking for? ability to decode / read common sight vocabulary (Levels 1 – 3) picking up the literal (Levels 2- 3) picking up on the implicit (Levels 4 &5) analysing / evaluating / synthesising (Levels 6 & 7)
What does the standard look like? difficulty of text importance of question-setting
Communication: Talking and Listening
What am I looking for? Contribution Interaction (including listening) Use of language
What does the standard look like?
Using MathematicsUsing Mathematics
Using Mathematics
Focus on the ‘how’ as well as the ‘what’. Can pupils ‘do the maths’? Can pupils ‘use the maths’?
Pupils demonstrate both their knowledge of the coverage/range and their ability to use and apply this as appropriate.
Role of the Maths teacher
Levelling a piece of work
Identify the requirements assessed by this sample Identify the coverage/range assessed by this
sample Observe how the requirements and coverage/range
progresses through the levels Identify which level descriptors best match this
evidence and annotate on the sample Look for evidence of the requirements and
Coverage/range in the sample Ensure the context statement is also reflected in the
sample Assign a level to the sample
Identify the requirements and the coverage/range that are covered in the activity
Demonstrate how the requirements and coverage/range progress through the levels
Identify the range of levels appropriate to the activity
Highlight the context statements that will impact on the level of the piece
Assessment Grids
Activity 2: Levelling Work
Activity 3: Nature of Evidence
What do we need to know about pupil work in order to decide/agree the level it has achieved?
Assessment evidence can be in a range of forms, including: Written (pupil work, both process and product) Annotation of pupil work Observational (of practical and oral activities) Planning documentation (e.g. activity outline, pre-agreed
assessment grid, learning outcomes/success criteria for pupils)
Assessing teacher will have access to a broader range of evidence that ultimately inform judgements.
Activity 4:Creating Enabling Tasks
How can we ensure that assessment activities:
• are accessible to pupils?• allow pupils to demonstrate
achievement at a range of levels?
• encourage pupils to use their mathematics at an appropriate level?
Making Summative Judgements
‘Best fit’, holistic Communication/Using Mathematics level
Based on the pupil’s performance as a whole
Evidence likely to be drawn from a range of activities and tasks
Pupils demonstrate both their knowledge of the coverage/range and their ability to use and apply this as appropriate.
The Challenges for CCEA
Professional development – Subject purists
Dumbing Down vs falling standards - managing the media message
Link with Primary – lack of trust
Dependency Culture
Creating Enabling Tasks embedded in the learning and teaching – resisting a bank of tasks
Comparability
Clear messages
The Challenges for Schools
Competing priorities – Post primary Education/Selection
Legislation Outcomes – vacuum of uncertainty
Target Setting
Mismatch – lack of alignment
Genuine discomfort ie the teacher who has literacy/numeracy fears
Cascading Training
Perceived Progression/Regression
Accountability
Equity of Workload
What’s Under Development?
Support Planned for Schools Departmental support for planning meetings –
requests processed through CCEA to provide additional guidance on task development and task
design guidance on making a judgement
Exemplification Database of standards. fully populated resource ongoing examples of pupils’ work plus commentaries to
illustrate performance at a level Support through Online Forum in Moodle Flow chart of the planning process ie what
departments need to do Preparation for moderation – clustering.
Guidance and Support Materials
NICurriculum: KS3: Assessment & Reportinghttp://www.nicurriculum.org.uk/key_stage_3/assessment_and_reporting/
index.asp
Training materialsNorthern Ireland Curriculum: KS3: Regional Pilotshttp://www.nicurriculum.org.uk/key_stage_3/regional_pilots/index.asp
Case Studies on Planning for Assessment 6 Case Studies of ReportingExemplification DatabaseTask Writing ToolOnline ModerationOnline Moodle Support – Standards Discussion Forum
Ni Curriculum Web Site
www.nicurriculum.org.uk
Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better.’
Samuel Johnson
Closing Thought