The purpose of this activity is to explore assessment for students with additional learning needs and to prioritise strategies for ensuring assessment works for all students in your school.
In the activity, teachers and leaders consider key ideas in relation to making the learning of all students visible. They consider the shifts in practice this requires, they share questions about these shifts, and they work together to decide how they might achieve them in their school.
Resources required
Printed copies of the Making Learning Visible PDF from Implementing an Inclusive Curriculum (preferably the complete section, but at least pages 52–53 and 75)
Task 1: Connecting with the key messages
Task instructions:
- Read pages 52–53 of 'Making Learning Visible'.
- Working in small groups, complete one or more of the following activities:
- Each participant in the group identifies three key points from the reading and shares them with the group. The group then summarises their discussion for reporting back to the wider group.
- Complete a mind map to show what "assessment for learning" looks like in your school context.
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Discuss the following statement and its implications for practice in your classrooms and school:
“Inclusive schools confidently use assessment as an ongoing process for making the learning of all students visible.” (page 53)
Task 2: Where are we at currently? Where to next?
Task instructions:
- Asking questions:
- Work in pairs and select three rows of the ‘Moving From … Towards …’ table on page 75. Discuss each row using an example of practice from a classroom or school-wide setting.
- This discussion is likely to raise questions about how these practices will work in each setting. Choose two of these questions and capture them on sticky notes or a shared digital board such as Padlet.
- Take some time to read each pair’s questions (for example, over a short break), and identify the themes arising from them. Select two or three key questions for further discussion.
- Finding solutions:
- Join two pairs together to form a group of four. Take one of the key questions and brainstorm and record possible next steps and strategies to answer the question and achieve the desired shifts outlined in the table.
- Bring everyone back together and ask each group to share their solution with the whole group.