Where Assessment Fits: Assessing Learning in the Context of Curriculum and Classroom Teaching

Kevin Bartlett
What follows is not a paper as such, but instead a practical guide to the conference presentation,
so that the purpose of the presentation is made explicit ahead of the event, as follows:
Whats the Big Idea?
The logical flow of the presentation is as follows:
1. Schools are in the learning business, yet rarely define learning, therefore rarely define their
business.
2. Schools are connected places, where everything affects everything yet rarely think
systemically.
3. The conclusion from 1 & 2 above is that effective schools must pro-actively design
connected learning systems driven by a common definition of learning.
4. Central to these learning systems is the curriculum itself.
5. A systemic way to think of curriculum is to consider the what (documented learning
intentions) the how (agreed best teaching practices) and the whether (agreed
assessment practices) as inter-related elements in one system.
6. An essential element in designing the what of curriculum is to design curricular standards
that relate to learning how to learn, providing a meta-cognitive toolkit for students to be
regulators of their own learning.
7. A key element in these Learning Standards relates to formative assessment, and guides the
students in, for example, goal-setting and responding to feedback, so that they can use
assessment for learning in self-directed ways.
8. If students are to learn how to self-assess in these ways, then they must be provided with
clear criteria, exemplars, and other tools and be explicitly taught how to use them.
9. If students are to learn in these ways then teachers need to teach in these ways, so that
Learning Standards drive Teaching Standards, including those that relate to assessment.
10. The learning definition, through Standards, thus drives the what of curriculum, which then
drives the how (pedagogy) and the whether (assessment).
11. All of the above needs to be documented in clear, concise expressions of policy and practice
that drive all the supporting systems of a school including job descriptions, professional
appraisal and development.
What does it look like in practice?
The International school of Brussels has designed a comprehensive framework for learning:
The Common Ground Curriculum. This curriculum defines learning in terms of conceptual shifts
supported by shifts in related knowledge and skills, and provides a framework of conceptual
standards in three areas: Cognitive and Linguistic Development, Critical Content, and Citizenship.

These standards include a strong emphasis on assessment, particularly formative

assessment and, even more particularly, teaching students to take responsibility for their own
learning by self-assessing using clear criteria and exemplars provided by the school.
This approach is reflected in related standards for teaching and leading which include a
strong emphasis on formative assessment and on adults supporting students in self-assessment,
fully aligned, in purpose and in language, with the learning standards.
The presentation will be illustrated via multiple examples of this work including:

Learning Standards and Teaching Standards

A school-wide Assessment Policy

An article on learning how to learn co-authored by the presenter

An overview of The Common Ground Curriculum

Are there any wider implications?

The Common Ground Curriculum has attracted considerable interest, to the extent that a
new global network has been founded, with a view to member school using this framework in
agreed ways. This project, The Common Ground Collaborative, has established 12 Founding Schools,
prior to opening membership more globally. The website for the Collaborative will be launched in
March 2011. This powerful network of practitioners talking to practitioners holds great promise in
terms of developing schools as more systemic, learning-focused organizations in which learning
intentions, pedagogy and formative assessment are more fully aligned in support of improved
learning for students.