A Plan of Action for Implementing Balanced Assessment into Calgary Schools

EDUC 555
January 25th, 2016

Jamie, Julie, Jill, & Chelsea

A Plan of Action for Implementing Balanced Assessment into Calgary Schools

As reflective practitioners in the teaching profession, we have an obligation to keep up
with best practice pedagogical strategies for ensuring successful learning for our students.
Although many current Calgary classrooms currently utilize various methods of
effective assessment, we argue the need for a greater balance in assessment practices to enhance
the learning of Calgary students. In discussing the importance of a balance between assessment
for learning, assessment of learning, and assessment as learning, we have presented a creative
solution for striking this balance for both current and future teachers. Before putting our plan into
action, it will be essential to re-consider the purpose and function of each type of assessment:
Assessment for Learning (AfL):
The purpose of assessment for learning is for teachers to understand where students are in
their learning process, and to determine the teacher's the next steps for planning and teaching.
The function is for students to be able to regulate their own learning and for teachers to adjust
their teaching in order to keep students engaged and on track. These formative assessments begin
from the onset, and remain ongoing throughout the entire learning process. Examples: Hand
signals, visual journals, anecdotal notes, conferencing, oral questioning, observations, etc.
Assessment of Learning (AoL):
The purpose of assessment of learning is to assess students' understandings of curricular
outcomes at the end of a learning experience. It's function is to gain a summative perspective on
students knowledge and understandings, and if they have met the expectations of the Alberta
curriculum. It also provides teachers with evidence and concrete feedback (grades or
percentages) for parents and students. AoL is often compared against a standard, either provincial
or school-level. Examples: Final projects, written exams, oral presentations, etc.
Assessment as Learning (AaL):
The purpose of assessment as learning is to allow students the opportunity to selfmonitor, reflect upon their learning and understandings, and to improve upon their work. The
function is for students to develop and enhance their metacognition skills for evaluating their
own progress, and using feedback from themselves or others to improve. This method of
assessment is also ongoing, and should be continually be implemented throughout the learning
process. Examples: student-created rubrics, peer feedback, self-reflection
Why do we need Balanced Assessment?
Having a balance of the different types of assessment allows for students to be assessed in
ways that best represent their learning. Summative assessment can often misrepresent students'
understandings and efforts because not all types of learners thrive under these conditions.
Furthermore, other student learners do not benefit from only receiving feedback and not getting
the opportunity to express their understandings in a more traditional method, such as a test or
quiz. By employing multiple strategies for assessment in the classroom, a diverse group of
students can feel as though they are being assessed in a way that does justice to their own
personal understandings of the subject matter. Even if they did not do well on their test, for
example, a page they did in their visual journal that represents the same subject matter may

demonstrate that they do, in fact, have a very deep and comprehensive understanding of the
topic, but they were not able to express it when they wrote the test for a grade.
It is also important to have balanced assessment in your classroom since it allows
students to make discoveries about what types of projects or tests they succeed at, and which
ones they could work on in the future. If students are only ever given the option of writing
formal unit tests in their class, and they suffer from test anxiety, they will not receive very high
grades, even though it may be that they do, in fact, understand the material very well. Therefore,
as a result of only using the assessment of learning methods, teachers will not necessarily
understand exactly what their students' understandings of the different subject areas are, and
what gaps are in their learning. Furthermore, students who do not succeed in summative
assessment forms may begin to feel frustrated with themselves and lose a lot of their selfconfidence. This may lead to them feeling discouraged about school and their learning, putting in
less effort on their assignments and tests as a result, and ultimately being discouraged from
pursuing an academic career in the future. However, if they are given the chance to express their
learning in multiple ways, where it will not only be an assessment of their learning, but also for
their learning, they will be encouraged by the feedback that they receive, develop a far more
positive and healthy response to the school environment, and have their teacher clearly
understand what each student's strengths are and where the gaps in their learning are.
Putting Balanced Assessment into Practice
After undergoing an investigation of the importance of implementing a balance of
assessment for learning and assessment of learning into practice, we have devised a plan for
Calgary teachers. First, it will be essential for teachers to ensure that when they are creating their
short term and long term plans for their classroom, that they will constantly be planning with
assessment in mind. Formative assessments (assessment for learning) should always be ongoing
from the start. Formative assessments may take various forms, and they are essential for
informing the teacher's next steps. With each formative assessment informing subsequent
practice, the teacher will eventually guide their students towards achieving a significant learning
outcome, which was pre-planned to align with the Alberta Program of Studies. The teacher
should then employ a piece of summative assessment (assessment of learning), for that overall
understanding of student learning throughout that learning experience. Embedded within this
process should be a natural integration of student self-assessments and peer assessments
(assessment as learning), providing students the meta-cognitive benefits of the learning
experience.
For a Calgary teacher ready to put this plan into action, they may want to begin with a
diagnostic assessment to gain an overall understanding of what the students know from the onset.
As the teacher moves forward to facilitate learning experiences aligning with their planned
curricular outcomes, various forms of formative assessment will need to be implemented along
the way. For instance, checking in with student learning in the form of hand signals (looking for
a conclusive thumbs up/down), white board responses, or exit slips is an excellent way to see if
your students are understanding the learning outcomes as they are being taught. Tasking students
to join you in creating a web or concept map may be another way to gather student knowledge
and ideas, while also facilitating new learning discoveries in the process. The teacher will also

want to plan to assess student work in progress, perhaps in the form of written work, or visual
journaling. Predominately, the teacher must continually be observing their students, watching for
new learning discoveries, while looking for gaps of student knowledge to be later addressed.
Documenting these assessment notes will be important for reporting periods at a later date,
which may take the form of anecdotal notes, checklists, sticky notes, or other forms. Along with
continual observations, a significant part of the assessment for learning process will consist of
asking the students questions through conferencing and other oral conversations. If technology
is available, video recordings can also be an effective way to observe, record, and reflect upon
data. The teacher must remember that each piece of data collected should be used to inform their
subsequent teaching steps, which will in turn enhance the learning experience.
After monitoring, documenting, and enhancing the learning experience every step of the
way (through assessment for learning), the teacher will need to gain an overall conclusive
understanding of what their students know, which can be obtained through forms of summative
assessment (assessment of learning). Summative pieces allow for students to use all of their prior
and newfound knowledge and represent it in a final piece. Teachers should provide creative
options for a final assessment piece such as creating a video, acting out a scene, or creating a
storybook. As discussed prior, tests or exams are not always the most effective way to gain a
personalized understanding of what the student knows; therefore, we recommend using a variety
of forms of summative assessments over the course of the school year. Other ideas for
summative assessments may include oral discussions, portfolio work, or visual journaling. Not
only will the teacher gain a final piece of assessment of student work, but the work that students
produce will be meaningful and enhanced due to the ongoing formative assessments that were
conducted along the way. The gathered summative data will be useful for report card writing, as
well as for data to be shared at the school and provincial levels.