Assess+to+Learn

. - Students reporting their own progress to parents. - Tools and strategies for teaching and assessing Key Competencies. = Reflection and Reporting at Apiti School. = **- Published in the' New Zealand Principal' Magazine - November 2009. Volume 24. Number 4 -** For the last three years we have we have used three way conferences at mid year to report progress to parents. These have been planned and run by the students with teacher support. To talk to their parents about their learning, students need to truly understand the level they are working at, what they have ‘got better at’ and what the next step for their learning is. Preparation for student / parent / teacher conferences is extremely valuable as it often leads to extremely powerful learning conversations. Students need to inquire as to how they have learnt in order to share with parents. This naturally develops oral language and all key competencies.
 * **Professional Development**
 * Fully involved in the Assess to Learn Contract 2005 – 2008
 * Worked with Head of Assess to Learn, Massey University (Brian Coles) to sustain and continue to improve teaching and learning using formative and summative assessment in the classroom and throughout the school
 * Worked with a team at Massey University to look at the revised New Zealand Curriculum (2009) and National Standards and reporting (2010) ||
 * **Achievements**
 * Presented workshops (2008 – 2009) at Massey University for first and second year teachers on using formative assessment effectively in the classroom.
 * Attended and presented at three National “What’s Next with Assessment for Learning” National Conferences 2007 – 2009
 * Employed by Massey University as a Support teacher for schools beginning their AtoL journey 2008 - 2009
 * Committed to integrating Assess to Learn strategies into all areas of planning, teaching, ongoing and final assessment and reporting to parents, BOT and Ministry of Education. ||

In the past, teachers have written and sent reports home to parents at the end of the year. Because the ‘Three way conferences’ were so successful, we wondered if it would be more beneficial for students to write these reports. The same skills are required. If students are aware of their levels in curriculum areas and why, goals and achievements and how they got there, they have a genuine understanding of their learning. We thought this was the next step in empowering our students and encouraging them to think critically about their learning. As our class (year 4 – 8), we looked at a range of reports and had learning conversations around what makes an effective report. What would parents want to see and what did the students think was important to share with their whanau. From here we developed a framework and set of starters for comments. These were very useful in helping students scaffold their report comments. We all agreed that any statements made about learning needed to be supported with evidence. I was thrilled with the quality of the reports that students wrote for their parents. They were very specific and honest. All students used evidence to write a thorough and accurate summary of their year’s learning for each area of the report. The added bonus was that they were thinking critically about their learning! It sparked number of great learning conversations.

I have moved from level 3 to 4i this year. I am proud of the way I have developed my descriptive writing by choosing words that build a picture. I am now better at putting in full stops and capital letters. My next step is to use different sentence structures to add impact to my writing. I look forward to achieving my goal. || ** Written Language ** I am at level 3 and trying to get to level 3ii. I am good at hooking the readers in with the first couple of sentences. I also try to use complex and compound sentences. I’m good at using the correct tense and good at proofreading my own and others work. I am now starting to use paragraphs. My writing has improved heaps. I am now getting better at taking notes. My next step is to get to 3ii. || At the beginning of the year I was working at Early Additive. Now I am working at Advanced Additive. I am proud of how I have learnt my times tables and developed my problem solving skills with learning different strategies. I think that I am now more confident when applying my numeracy strategies. My next step is to learn my division. I look forward to seeing how my times tables will help me. || ** Maths ** I’m working at the top end of Advanced Additive. I now know all of my timetables but would benefit from keeping practicing them. I’m really good at learning new strategies quickly. I’m way above average in e-asTTle. I am learning to apply my strategies to solve problems. I was proud of my statistics graph from the h2o pools on camp. ||
 * ** Example from Year 6 Girl ** || ** Example from Year 5 Boy ** ||
 * ** Written Language **
 * ** Maths **

//I believe that writing my report was a good idea because made me think about where I was at.// //I gathered the information from, my e-asTTle results and other tests from through out the year, my books and evidence in my portfolio such as writing matrix and Numeracy ‘I can ‘ sheet.//
 * From a student’s perspective…**

//We had to back up any statements about our learning with evidence. This was a great idea as it meant I had to really think about my goals and learning. Writing my report helped me develop my skills when communicating with others.// //Importantly I looked at the goals I had set for myself through out the year. I worked out where I had been successful and how I had achieved them. For example I looked at how I had developed my leadership through our authentic learning opportunities throughout the year.//

//It made me think about the opportunities and successes, both at school and in wider context, that I have had such as my lead role in this year’s school production, Grease. It also allowed me to think ahead and set myself goals for next year.//

//Writing my own report gave the teachers and my parents a chance to see how I feel about my learning and where I am at.// //I believe that we should do this again this year.// Emma Wills Year 7

//Below are my comments as a parent, about my child writing her own end of year report : // //I was happy to have Emma write her own report, as I felt it provided an additional learning opportunity for her. She was able to reflect on her own strengths and weaknesses, her achievements and her next steps and goals, and then write these in appropriate context. I also felt that it provided her with a sense of “ownership” of her learning at school, whether it was positive or “needed working on”. // //I had confidence in the validity of Emma’s report, knowing that Nicki had read through it and conferenced with her when necessary. It is important to note that this report was not assessed by me in isolation, that is, I feel that I get regular updates on Emma’s progress at school throughout the year and via many other mediums as well. //
 * From a parent’s perspective…**

//Sara Wills //

Students writing their reports has proven to be very valuable. But this is at the end of the year and students are setting goals for the following year. At Apiti School, as a small school, we are naturally in regular contact with all of our parents and value discussions with parents about their child’s learning. We wanted our reporting process to be useful to parents and children in the same way. Key aspects influencing Reflection and Reporting: – Many of our learning goals are developed through authentic learning opportunities throughout the year, such as our annual production, environmental projects for sustainability and the science fair. – Emphasis is on each child’s progress and goals developed are specific to individual needs. Within class we already reflect on learning and inquire how we have learnt and how we can improve. – This is the information that students include in their end of year report.
 * Our Next Step…**

Therefore it makes more sense for students to use this reflection and goal setting to report to parents regularly. When reporting is an ongoing process:
 * Parents get a report update more regularly and therefore are always involved in their child’s learning and current goals.
 * Students’ critical reflection and inquiry is current rather than retrospective and therefore parents are more likely to support continued learning. By using the students’ wikispace pages ([|www.apitischoolwiki.wikispaces.com]) for this, the link between home and school is effortless.
 * Learning within curriculum areas and Life Capability learning naturally work symbiotically as it is current and can be built on, rather than remembered from earlier.

At Apiti School, we are embracing the improved opportunities that Information and Communication technology provides. Students can now easily reflect and report in oral, written and visual forms. Computers, along with regular parent contact, are an excellent medium for ongoing inquiry, reflection and reporting on progress.

More in depth examples of Student reports are available. Email: nickifielder@gmail.com