Powerful APP assesment for learning - made easy
Teachers know ‘AfL’ is the secret to motivating students and
raising achievement. Now the Government has given us APP (Assessing
Pupil Progress), the most effective feedback will be based on the APP
criteria.
The problem is, the statements are written for teachers. Simply
converting them to ‘pupil-speak’ won’t work . There needs to be much
information for students to understand what they did right, and how to
improve. So AfL with the APP grid is difficult and time consuming.
Missions Booklets make giving APP feedback quick, easy and
powerful. They expand the APP statements into clear outcomes -
Missions. And booklets put the success criteria where they should be -
in the hands of the students.
How it works
You’re teaching students to ‘evaluate evidence’ (AF5). Look how simple the Mission makes it to give APP feedback and set targets.
Marking an assignment
All you have to do to is:
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Write on the students’ work the level they achieved e.g. Silver.
-
List the numbered outcomes they didn’t achieve, e.g. 1c, 1d, 1e - the target.
The student looks at your feedback, opens their Mission booklet, and can instantly see what they achieved and their next challenge.
Class feedback
It's ideal to use the Missions booklets while students are doing class assignments. Then you can give feedback on the medal/statements at the time when the student can take advantage of it and improve their work.
Mission booklets give students more responsibility - so they can become better learners. The clear criteria encourage self- or peer- assessment - both are proven AfL strategies. Over time, the Missions pages will build up a picture of students' strengths and weaknesses.
AfL is also about rewarding achievement. Missions booklets are especially useful for encouraging students at level 4 and below that their efforts are worthwhile. They make success criteria simple so students feel confident about achieving more. And because it’s a long climb from L3-7, there are two Missions for each objective. One, such as ‘Check Reliability’ is designed for L3-5, while the ‘Check Validity’ takes students from there up to L7. To make the goals more appealing, we’ve replaced limiting levels with motivating medals.
APPREND is a research & development project. Get in touch: contact@apprend.org.uk
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