Overview of Developing ACL

Topic Progress:

OVERVIEW OF ACL

What exactly is an assessment capable learner?

ACL is a term invented by New Zealand department of education to emphasize student involvement. The goal is that students will feel deeply accountable for their own progress and become motivated, effective, self-regulating learners.

Assessment capable learners:

Understand what they are supposed to learn
Monitor their own progress
Set goals
Reflect on their learning

Coaching Companion

Tool/Handout: Characteristics of Assessment Capable Visible Learners

ACL IN PRACTICE

Sarah is learning to be an assessment capable learner. What are some things that you can take away from this video?

Reference: https://webertube.com/video/23902/sarah-kindergarten-writing

Coaching Companion

Video: Hillcrest STEAM Academy, Belton School District, Belton MO.

UNPACKING ACL

Before we can think about strategies to develop an assessment capable learner, we need to first think about the purpose of our assessments. Thinking about your assessments, formative or summative and formal or informal, consider who examines the assessments, who interprets the assessment data, and who acts on the results.

Some high-impact practices to use for formative assessment can yield large achievement gains. The following three are some examples.

Diagnostic assessment: Use of classroom discussions, classroom tasks, and homework to determine the current state of student learning/understanding, with action taken to improve learning/correct misunderstandings.
Feedback: Provision of descriptive feedback, with guidance on how to improve, during the learning.
Peer and self-assessment: Development of student self- and peer-assessment skills.

Use this worksheet to reflect on your own assessment use.

What do you notice about your own assessment use? What adjustments to current practice might you want to make?

Involve Students

While involving students in the process of looking at and interpreting their own assessment results is often overlooked, it can also be one of the most powerful practices you can implement. Involving students in this process is the basis of developing assessment capable learners in your classroom. Possibly one of the greatest potentials for formative assessment derives from developing student capacity to monitor the quality of their own learning. This can also help students develop self- and peer-assessment skills. It is the student who is doing the work of gathering the information, interpreting it, and acting on it.