Assessment for Learning

10. Case Studies

Case Studies 183 10 Case Studies Objectives By the end of this chapter, you should be able to: • understand how the assessment policy of individual schools may impact on the implementation of assessment for learning; • appreciate how the concepts of AfL of individual teachers can influence their assessment practices; • recognize through the case studies provided the ways that AfL can shape and be reflected in the instructional and assessment practices of classroom teachers; • relate the concepts of assessment for learning to your own teaching. In most educational contexts, assessment guidelines are stated and defined in the national curriculum or system for schools to refer to. In Hong Kong, the learning function of assessment has been brought to much wider attention than it has been in the past, especially in recent years. The message of assessment for learning has been conveyed very explicitly to schools in the basic curriculum guidelines as well as in many education occasions such as workshops and seminars offered by the government. However, because of different circumstances, the good intentions may not be easily transferred to classroom actions. This chapter shows that individual schools may have their own interpretation of the government assessment guidelines. Similarly, individual teachers may have variations in understanding assessment for learning and therefore implement the concept in their own way. The deep thinking and tutorial exercises in the three sections in this chapter will provide the first platform for deliberation and for putting the assessment for learning concepts into practice. This chapter uses three schools and their three teachers as the focus of discussion. The information of the following case has been derived from an examination of the assessment practices in three secondary schools in Hong Kong. The information presented is based on the findings of a study conducted by the author of this book. It is worth noting that the information is fact-based with no added interpretation.The sources 184 Assessment for Learning of information include school documents, teacher interviews, teacher reflections, student interviews and student portfolios. The three schools represent three different levels of academic performance. School A is high, School B medium, and School C low. The chapter is divided into two parts. The first part presents the assessment practices of the three project schools and the three teachers from these schools. In the second part, a learning and assessment plan is presented in which various important assessment for learning concepts are showcased. The second part also presents how the three teachers used the learning and assessment plan for their teaching.At the end of part one and the two sections of part two, some deep thinking exercises about assessment for learning are provided. The review questions at the end of this chapter aim to take the understanding to an even deeper level. Part 1: Three Project Schools School A was a prestigious school. On the whole, the students were keen workers and outperformed their counterparts in many other schools in Hong Kong. In the 2006 school self-assessment report, School A stated that it saw assessment as a tool both to evaluate student performances and to reinforce learning. The assessment used included class work, home assignments, oral presentations, portfolio and project production, short quizzes, formal tests and examinations. The school used summative assessment and increasingly used formative assessment. One formative assessment example the school gave was a secondary assessment task, social studies project. There were some learning tasks related to the project which students were required to submit. The tasks would be assessed by the teachers throughout the project time. In addition, the students were required to orally present the end product (the project itself), which would be given marks. The marks assigned to the oral presentation plus those given to the final product would be counted towards students’ overall performance of the subject. In addition, to assist students with diverse learning needs, the school organized an English language bridging course and an English language enhancement course for those who recently joined the school and were seen to need further support in English language. For this academic year, from the data gathered, the school saw the need to give the new intake extra support in Chinese language and maths. Consequently, more teaching time was allocated for these two subjects in the Secondary 1 curriculum. There were, however, no descriptions of how the assessment was organized to match the diverse learning needs of the students. School A always maintained high academic performance and was a top band school. School...