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‘To teach is to assess’. Discuss your understanding of this statement with particular respect to
the challenges for assessment practice in science.

By Adetokunbo Sobowale

Student ID: 000952466

PGCE Secondary Science with Biology

Dr Ade Magaji

University of Greenwich

London

29.01.2017

Word Count: 2000 (+/-10%)

INTRODUCTION

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 In this study, it’s imperative to define what effective teaching and assessment entails, in order
to make suitable connections between both practices.

First and foremost, a good teacher must promote progress of their students. In order, to
achieve pupil progress, an effective teacher must: set high expectations that encourage students to
excel, exhibit good subject/curriculum knowledge, adapt to the strengths of all pupils, be able to
create an engaging environment conducive to learning and be able to measure any progress made.
Musgrove et al, (2012). Trying to establish a classroom without the aforementioned skills or
strategies may lead to pupil underperformance. Martin (2013), reinforces the above viewpoint by
emphasising that personality, instructional skills and knowledge (i.e. subject knowledge and
pedagogy) are necessary for effective teaching; teachers must set clear but high expectations for their
students, while developing an engaging and empathetic environment based on good subject
knowledge. Nilson (2013), sheds some light on this view in stating that skills such as good knowledge
and the ability to produce an engaging environment are necessary for effective teaching, however,
encouraging student self-regulation should be a superseding factor in good teaching practice. Nilson
(2013) further claims that developing activities and strategies that focus on improving student self-
regulation are likely to develop a sense of responsibility in the student for their own progress. A
combination of both authors’ points of view will be acknowledged as a standard of good teaching
practice in this study. In summary, an effective teacher:

 uses appropriate strategies to develop student self-regulation

 sets high different expectations for students
 exhibits good subject/curriculum knowledge
 creates an engaging environment conducive to learning
 promotes and measures progress appropriately

Rowntree (2015) interprets assessment as trying to acquire information (feedback) from

students about the nature and quality of their work, in order to reassess methods of teaching and
measure progress. To some extent, assessment can be interpreted as trying to know students better and
how best to teach them. Rowntree, (2015) elaborates further and claims that adequate assessment is
expected to be descriptive without being judgmental, i.e. grades are important but feedback should
also inform a teacher about a student’s strengths and weaknesses. Blaz (2013) substantiates the above
claim by stating that assessment needs to be descriptive and differentiated for all students, rather than
simply giving students a mark or grade; focusing on their improvements and areas where they need to
improve, will enhance the quality of information a teacher can use to measure progress. Parrett (2012)
counters this opinion by claiming that assessment plays an important part in familiarising a teacher
with a student’s performance but many external factors may contribute to a student’s work. Parrett
(2012) concludes that classroom assessment techniques may be limited/inaccurate as, students’

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confidence to apply new skills, attendance records, independent work and their existing
misconceptions, may invalidate any classroom assessments that measure progress made from a
teacher’s teaching methods.

From this paragraph, we can ascertain that effective assessment:

 needs to acquire information on the nature and quality of student work

 should be descriptive and not judgmental
 should take into account any external factors that may affect student performance in the classroom

This study will compare how closely effective assessment relates to effective teaching and ultimately
establish a conclusion to the statement ‘To teach is to assess’.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF ASSESSMENTS

Pupil assessment is typically categorised in two categories: formative and summative

assessment. It’s essential to inspect these two methods of assessment, in detail and their association to
‘Assessment for Learning’ activities will also be discussed in this section.

Formative assessment is generally defined as the activities that a teacher employs in which to
provide feedback to further allow the revision of learning in the classroom. For example, a short quiz,
a spelling test or a question to determine student understanding of a topic in that specific lesson.
Marzano (2006), concurs and defines formative assessment as all of the activities a teacher
implements that yields sound information on student learning in a relatively short space of time, that
can used to modify teaching. Keeley (2015), gives a divergent opinion on the focus of formative
assessment; claims most educators believe that formative assessment is mostly focused towards
acquiring feedback from students and later addressing any misconceptions. Keeley (2015),
emphasises that the most important part of formative assessment is the modification of a teacher’s
instructions to obtain the desired conceptual student thinking; without the modification or change of
instruction, it is simply a diagnostic tool and not formative assessment. Keeley (2015), later defines
diagnostic assessment as simply any activities that uncover students’ misconceptions or
errors/mistakes.

Summative assessments often reveal what teachers wish that they had discovered earlier; they
include a range of different assessment methods such as: end of topic/year examinations, essays,
research projects and presentations. Effective summative assessments measure how close a student is
to the overall target; therefore, they’re more focused on grading and mark evaluation, than in
formative assessment. Andrade et al (2010), supports this in claiming that effective summative
assessments measure the degree to which curricular objectives had been met; often covering skills or
concepts from several topics or units, and may require a lesson or more to complete. Andrade et al

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(2010) believe that end of year examinations and essays are often used as summative assessment tools
and are designed to gather cumulative information or feedback on student performance, so pupils may
be assigned a mark or grade. Hattie (2012), further develops this statement and indicates that a
combination of excellent formative and summative assessment is the best way to ensure excellent
summative assessment. The following quote concludes Hattie’s (2012) view on this topic, “It is
imperative that teachers have excellent summative evaluation in place in their classes, because that
can be among the most powerful evidence that there is likely to be excellent formative evaluation in
place. If a school has poor summative assessment in place, then it is unlikely that teachers will have
the ability, purpose, or wherewithal to be concerned with formative interpretations. ” (Hattie, 2012, Pg
144).

The phrase ‘Assessment for Learning’ has gained popularity in recent years. ‘Assessment for
Learning’ refers to the activities used in teaching which create feedback for teachers to decide where
the learners are in their learning, where they need to go and how best to get there. There is an obvious
correlation between ‘Assessment for Learning’ activities, and summative assessments and formative
assessments. To clarify their relationship, ‘Assessment for Learning’ activities can be formative
and /or summative in nature. For example, activities associated with summative assessment may
include: coursework, portfolios or essays, while activities associated with formative assessment
include: questioning in lessons, student self-assessments or peer assessments. Cambridge Community
(2016), substantiate the above claims. Cambridge Community (2016) believe that ‘Assessment for
Learning’ is an approach to teaching, which creates information for teachers to improve a learner’s
performance; students are involved in the learning process and they have knowledge of where they are
in the process and where they need to be. They also state that ‘Assessment for Learning’ tasks have a
close relationship to formative assessments due to practices such as questioning in lessons and
immediate/short time feedback, which helps to shape student learning; ‘Assessment for Learning’
activities also have a correlation to summative assessments, as summative assessments are tasks that
attempt to measure a learner’s attainment at the concluding point of a learning period.

AN EVALUATION OF ‘ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING’

In the research field of education, some believe that ‘Assessment for Learning’ tasks are one
of the most important factors that contribute to successful teaching. Cambridge Community (2016)
and Laveault (2016), advocate that effective ‘Assessment for Learning’ activities give learners a clear
vision of what desired work looks like, and how they can go about achieving that standard (i.e.
promotes student self-regulation, and sets high and visible expectations). Weissberg (2011), debates
the claim made by highlighting that these activities do not take into account the full extent and
subtlety of the everyday classroom environment, and/or culture, unless everything that is said by the
learners in classroom is evaluated and applied in the same lesson and from that point onwards. The

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teacher needs to be capable of on the spot assessment, evaluation and ‘re-teaching’ within a limited
period.

The aim of ‘Assessment for Learning’ activities is to make students less passive in the
classroom. Effective ‘Assessment for Learning’ allows students to assess and take responsibility, for
their own learning. Bartlett (2015), concurs with this view in saying that, pupils need to learn how to
learn and ‘Assessment for Learning’ activities helps this process. Pupils will struggle to learn without
the tools to assess where they are in their own learning journey. Many teachers misinterpret teaching
as an opportunity to dive into theory rather than a chance to use independent learning techniques to
develop student self-regulation, which ‘Assessment for Learning’ tasks help to facilitate. Bayley et al
(2012), provide an alternate perspective. While agreeing with the premise that ‘Assessment for
Learning’ practices help to develop student self-regulation; it is noted that self-regulation and
independent work can only be achieved in the right environment. Students cannot become
independent learners if they can’t see and/or access the resources needed to meet their objectives.
Even if the resources were accessible, the quality of work or self-regulation may heavily depend on
the quality of resources made available by an educational provider. Therefore, it’s reasonable to
deduce that the quality of resources available to student will influence the quality of independent work
produced.

Misconceptions on ‘Assessment for Learning’

There are many vital misconceptions regarding ‘Assessment for Learning’ activities, which
may hamper the implementation of efficient ‘Assessment for Learning’ practice, as a standard in UK
schools. Cambridge Community (2016), informs the reader that the general British population,
British students and many individuals in the educational sector hold some of these viewpoints too.
Some of these misconceptions include: assessment and testing is the same thing, using ‘Assessment
for Learning ‘activities means a teacher will find their class difficult to control, peer feedback means
that students will have off-topic discussions, examinations are the only type of assessments that
matter and that work should always be given a grade or mark.

Grant et al (2014), corroborate this belief and impart the following: teachers and students
must be made aware of misconceptions as they can hinder learning, misconceptions in learning
disrupt desired organisation and understanding of new knowledge, and the conceptual change in
learning requires an uncovering of a misconception but more importantly, using different techniques
to alter the learner’s thinking. Flateby (2011), builds on this opinion and shows that there are several
misconceptions regarding ‘Assessment for Learning’ practices. Flateby (2011) states that ‘Assessment
for Learning’: should be viewed as a process rather than an event, should deal with issues that the
general population care most about (e.g. misconceptions in stem cell treatment) and results should be

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made public to communicate the significance and benefits of student educational experiences to the
local community.

Hansen et al (2014), provide different opinions on the misconceptions of ‘Assessment for

Learning’ practice, explaining that people generally need to be aware that recognising, categorising
and confronting, errors and misconceptions is a part of every learning process. Being able to identify
misconceptions and errors allows people to explore and discuss their opinions and perspectives; it
encourages open dialogue, with a view to consolidating the understanding of the concept(s) in
question. ‘Assessment for Learning’ practice seeks to improve but it cannot develop without a shift in
peoples’ thinking. The misconceptions themselves are not the problem but the opinions on how to
deal with the misconceptions may hamper progression of ‘Assessment for Learning’ practice.

CONCLUSION

There are many facets to teaching. As discussed in the introduction an effective teacher: uses
appropriate strategies to develop student self-regulation, sets high different expectations for students,
exhibits good subject/curriculum knowledge, creates an engaging environment conducive to learning
and promotes and measures progress appropriately. The statement ‘To teach is to asses’ indicates that
all facets of teaching can be covered by effective assessment; is this the case? Thorough assessment
involves: acquiring information on the nature and quality of student work, descriptive and not
judgmental task developing and implementation, and taking into account any external factors that may
affect student performance in the classroom. At present, teaching is much more than assessment but
without assessment, learner progress would be hindered. Without assessment, there would be little
feedback between teacher and learners; effective teaching would be difficult. From the research
conducted, it can be evidenced that the phrase ‘to teach is to assess’ maybe more applicable in future,
as the quality of assessment practices improve, in particular, the student self-regulation of work as an
improved method of assessing student work rather than judgmental comparative grading. A more
suitable statement may be ‘To progress is to assess effectively’ at present, but if the misconceptions of
assessment and the misconceptions of misconceptions in learning process are successfully altered, ‘to
teach may be to assess’.

REFERENCES

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1. Martin, D. (2013). Building Teachers: A Constructivist Approach to Introducing Education.
Cengage Learning. Pg 11
2. Nilson, L. (2013). Creating Self-Regulated Learners. Stylus Publishing. Pg 57
3. Musgrove, F & Taylor, P. (2012). Society and he Teacher’s Role. Pg 21
4. Rowntree, D. (2015). Assessing Students: How Shall We Know Them? Routledge. Pg 6
5. Blaz, D. (2013). Differentiated Assessment for Middle and High School Classrooms.
Routledge. Pg 12
6. Parrett, W. & Budge, K. (2012). Turning High-Schools into High-Performance Schools.
ASCD. Pg 165
7. Marzano, R. (2006). Classroom Assessment & Grading That Work. ASCD. Pg 9
8. Keeley, P. (2015). Science Formative Assessment, Vol 1. Corwin Press. Pg 75
9. Andrade, H. & Cizek, G. (2010). Handbook of Formative Assessment. Routledge. Pg 115
10. Hattie, J. (2012). Visible Learning for Teachers. Routledge. Pg 144
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http://www.cambridge-community.org.uk/professional-development/gswafl/index.html
[Accessed on 1 Feb 2017]
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Implementation. Springer. Pg 147
13. Weissberg, R. (2011). Bad Students, Not Bad Schools. Transaction Publishers. Pg 60
14. Bartlett, J. (2015). Outstanding Assessment for Learning in the Classroom. Routledge. Pg 91
15. Bayley, R. & Featherstone, S. (2013). Independent Learning in the Foundation Stage. A&C
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16. Hansen, A., Drew, D., Dudgeon, J., Lawton, F. & Surtees, L. (2014). Children’s Error in
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17. Grant, K., Golden, S. & Nance, W. (2014). Literacy Assessment & Instructional Strategies.
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18. Flateby, T. (2011). Improving Writing and Thinking through Assessment. IAP. Pg 7-9