Inside the Black Box 1998 Black and Wiliam PDF

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Black, P. and Wiliam, D. (2010). Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards through Classroom Assessment. Phi Delta Kappan, 92(1), pp.81-90. “There is a body of firm evidence that formative assessment is an essential component of classroom work and that its development can raise standards of achievement.” (p.12) Hertiage (2010): Black and Wiliam’s research determined that effective FA occurs  “when teachers make adjustments to teaching and learning in response to assessment information;  When students receive feedback about their learning, with advice on what they can do to improve; and  When students are involved in the process through peer and self-assessment.” P.1 “Firm evidence shows that formative assessment is an essential component of classroom work and that its development can raise standards of achievement, Mr. Black and Mr. Wiliam point out. Indeed, they know of no other way of raising standards for which such a strong prima facie case can be made.” Governments around the world have made a conscious effort to raise the standards of learning seen in schools. “Learning is driven by what teachers and pupils do in classrooms.” Classroom are often treated “as a black box” - Black and Wilian point is that how do we know what they output is going to be if we don’t test the from within the box – (my interpretation) similarly in teaching, what is the point of working towards a goal and not check that the progression is there until the very end? P.2 It is unfair to leave the entire task of raising the standards in schools up to teachers when there are so many inputs influencing schools and their pupils - eg “pupils, teachers, other resources, management rules and requirements, parental anxieties, standards, tests with high stakes, and so on” (p.1) Formative assessment is “at the heart of effective teaching.” The Argument Both teaching and learning must be interactive, and teachers need to know their pupils’ needs – often vary from child to child “Teachers can find out what they need to know in a variety of ways, including observation and discussion in the classroom and the reading of pupilsʹ written work.”

Assessment becomes “formative assessment when the evidence is actually used to adapt the teaching to meet student needs.” Their study address three questions: Is there evidence that improving formative assessment raises standards? Is there evidence that there is room for improvement? Is there evidence about how to improve formative assessment? They concluded YES to all over the above. Formative assessment is no “magic bullet” for education rather using it to raise the standards will take time, professional development and good practice P.3 Does Improving Formative Assessment Raise Standards? “All these studies show that innovations that include strengthening the practice of formative assessment produce significant and often substantial learning gains.” - the scholars review of at least 20 studies concluded similarly – bear in mind that the studies reviewed ranged over age groups: 5-undergrads “Many of these studies arrive at another important conclusion: that improved formative assessment helps low achievers more than other students and so reduces the range of achievement while raising achievement overall.” Those pupils who don’t “do well” in school or see themselves as not being able to learn tend to become disengaged and do not take school seriously. Therefore, if formative assessment is particularly benefitting them - “Many become disruptive; others resort to truancy. Such young people are likely to be alienated from society and to become the sources and the victims of serious social problems.” Back when this paper was written, the research the scholars found around formative assessment tended to concluded that implementing formative assessment successfully would mean that classrooms as well as teaching and learning would have to change significantly. P.4 The scholars also found that a prominent concern in the literature with this topic was “the ways in which assessment can affect the motivation and self‐ esteem of pupils and the benefits of engaging pupils in self‐ assessment deserve careful attention.” Is There Room for Improvement? In the literature they reviewed, the scholars found serval shortcomings with the everyday assessments that were happening in that time in the classroom (scholars acknowledge that these are general conclusions collected from several countries): 

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“...marking reinforces underachievement and underexpectation by being too generous or unfocused. Information about pupil performance received by the teacher is insufficiently used to inform subsequent work” (p.40, OFSTED 1994-5) RELATED TO SECONDARY SCHOOLS

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Primary schools tended to favour quantity and presentation over the quality of learning. Giving useful advice – underemphasied Approaches tended to focus on comparing students with one another (links to egoorientation) - low ability children suffered the most when this approach was employed – caused them to believe that they were not able to learn

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Teaching and assessing to the test and not actually addressing learning needs The marks acquired were rarely analysed or used to inform future learning rather they were there to fill in records.

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Eventhough the UK gov recognised the importance of formative assessment they had no strategy to study or develop formative assessment nor did it devote many resources to the cause (Daugherty, 1995) Lots of policy and teacher efforts focused on summative assessment. “It is possible that many of the commitments were stated in the belief that formative assessment was not problematic, that it already happened all the time and needed no more than formal acknowledgment of its existence.” Summative assessment was seen as more of a valuable asset by policy makers; it had “central priority” Generally speaking, high-stake testing always took precedent within teaching and assessment. Formative assessment models for teachers to follow were poor within the UK hence the overwhelming feeling that formative assessment within the UK is “seriously in need of development.” (Russell, Qulater and McGuigan, 1995). How Can We Improve Formative Assessment? P.6 “The ultimate user of assessment information that is elicited in order to improve learning is the pupil.” If we are to improve then the ethos of the classroom and the reason for learning has to change “When the classroom culture focuses on rewards, ʺ gold stars,ʺ grades, or class ranking, then pupils look for ways to obtain the best marks rather than to improve their learning.” “Indeed, many become reluctant to ask questions out of a fear of failure.” - this encourages an environment where “top dogs” reign supreme and where ego powers over mastery “Pupils who encounter difficulties are led to believe that they lack ability, and this belief leads them to attribute their difficulties to a defect in themselves about which they cannot do a great deal. Thus they avoid investing effort in learning that can lead only to disappointment, and they try to build up their self‐ esteem in other ways.” “What is needed is a culture of success, backed by a belief that all pupils can achieve.”

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Formative assessment has the potential to be a “powerful weapon” especially with low achievers as, if communicated correctly, can give those pupils “a clear understanding of what is wrong and how to put it right.” “feedback to any pupil should be about the particular qualities of his or her work, with advice on what he or she can do to improve, and should avoid comparisons with other pupils.” Formative assessment is enhanced by self- and peer-assessment – it is invevitable that selfassessment is entwined with formative assessment. Children, when self-assessing, are more often than not, honest learners. The issue isn’t with the trustworthiness rather it is concerned with pupils not understanding their targets and how they are going to attain those targets. Requires them to be active learners and not passive receivers – once children become active learners they become more committed learners. “Moreover, their own assessments become an object of discussion with their teachers and with one another, and this discussion further promotes the reflection on oneʹ s own thinking that is essential to good learning.” “Self-assessment... is in fact an essential component of formative assessment.” “feedback about the effort has three elements: recognition of the desired goal, evidence about present position, and some understanding of a way to close the gap between the two.” (Salder, 1989 cited in...) - all 3 must be understood before the learner can progess with their learning P.7 It is important to listen to in class discussion as it is a good opportunity to formatively assess and discussion led by pupils are a particularly important aid in increasing knowledge and deepening understanding. Tactical questioning from the teacher provides an opportunity to change the way in which pupils are seeing a particular question but the teacher needs to be FLEXIBLE and be prepared for the unexpected – don't lead the questioning to a particular answer The pupils need to think about it on their own and should be encouraged to work out the meaning rather than being spoon-fed the answer Teachers must give pupils enough time to respond! Without this aspect within formative assessment, they pupils do not want to try Same few people answering questions – CRITQUE that now there are lots of methods in use at MP to ensure that everyone is participating – Lolly Lottto, Chair Numbers etc This reading is saying that those children who are less able leave it up to others either because they can’t come up with an answer quick enough or they don’t feel confident enough to ‘get it right’ / comfortable to fail in front of their peers – HOWEVER this has changed, in practice in my experience, the classroom ethos has shifted and has become a safe place to learn

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P.8 Giving pupils the chance to think encourages all pupils to engage “thoughtful reflection” - “What is essential is that any dialogue should evoke thoughtful reflection in which all pupils can be encouraged to take part, for only then can the formative process start to work.” Marks and grades are no match for quality questioning when it comes to quality of feedback. “Feedback has been shown to improve learning when it gives each pupil specific guidance on strengths and weaknesses, preferably without any overall marks.” The scholars feel that tests at the end of the unit are pointless and come too late in the process of learning as it is too late to work with the results that come from such testing – EFFICIENCY – child getting immediate feedback is far more beneficial to their learning and gives them opportunity to work on any misconceptions etc P.9 “rather we mean that what is needed is a classroom culture of questioning and deep thinking, in which pupils learn from shared discussions with teachers and peers” - the scholars predicted a change that I can now see in practice In order for formative assessment to be effective, teachers need to move away from the “fixed I.Q. view” and move towards a belief of an “untapped potential” - “a belief that starts from the assumption that so‐ called ability is a complex of skills that can be learned.” “but the evidence is that ways of managing formative assessment that work with the assumptions ofʺ untapped potentialʺ do help all pupils to learn and can give particular help to those who have previously struggled.”

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