March 2021

© 2 0 2 1 G O L E A R N E D U C A T I O N L I M I T E D A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D

Why Continuous Assessment Is

Redefining Global Education

Alex Mirza PgCert FRSA

Edited by Jessie Montague BSc

As this approach is experimental and iscurrently in a trial period (Lock 2021),steps toward reinventing the wheel foran entire country of students,especially those who need consistencyand structure should be takencautiously. Now more than ever, weneed to dig deeper into why ourcurrent processes are failing.

“Concern for the poor

quality of education is

nothing new. What is

unprecedented is the

scale at which

education systems are

failing” - UNESCO, 2013

Assessments have been causing a stirduring this pandemic. Teachers,parents and students have faced thebrunt of a failing assessment system.As students return to the classroomafter a challenging period of remotelearning, some educators, like JohnHattie, are suggesting a totalassessment overhaul. Hattie will bepioneering the ‘world’s largest studentsurvey about learning’ in the UnitedKingdom to reframe our approaches toassessment, turning the focus tomeasuring learners’ knowledgeretention, rather than the learning thathas taken place.

By understanding the limitations of ourcurrent methods we can rework andreframe them, using the extensiveresearch already conducted to help usdo better for each of our learners.

This paper looks into why continuousassessment is central to deliveringquality education at scale and howtechnology can accelerate learning. Itwill address the current manual andtime-consuming, methods, which are putting untold pressures on teachersand risking the well-being of ourlearners.

A global learning crisis

1

Pandemic threatens topush 72 million morechildren into LearningPoverty as outlined by

the World Bank.

Despite the steady rise inliteracy rates over the past50 years, over 110 million

young people are stillilliterate, and this is not

acceptable.

Nationwide school closureshave disrupted the

education of more than 1.57billion students – 91 per

cent – worldwide.

Why assessment is vital for a

quality education

2

When UNESCO declared a ‘globallearning crisis’ in 2013, it led to thequestioning of worldwide systemicprocess failures and brought together aGlobal Alliance, led by top-downorganisations such as the OECD,UNICEF, the World Bank and UNHCR.These organisations have beenworking tirelessly to address the issueof assessment which is undoubtedlylimiting the provisions of a qualityeducation.

Assessment is a vital component of aquality education; it is the engine thatdrives student learning. A studentundertaking any form of study will besubject to assessment in one form oranother. Similarly, any member of theteaching staff will be engaged inassessment-related work. Assessmentstake up a considerable proportion ofteacher workload, and for students, itcan be a significant determinant ofwhat, when and how they learn.Getting assessment 'right' is thereforeessential in delivering a qualityeducation at scale.

In further pursuit of a commitment toquality education - through a robustand fair assessment process - in 2015,the Republic of Korea hosted one ofthe largest educational global events -the Incheon Declaration for Education2030. This event aimed to address theglobal learning crisis by searching foreffective innovations. As a result,innovation to deliver quality educationis at the heart of the Alliance. For anyinnovation to be a success, it has to bescaled to provide the biggest visibleimpact at the lowest cost, particularlyif any improvement in learning is to beseen globally.

However, first, we need to understandthe importance of assessments inproviding a quality education that canbe delivered to learners and measuredat a global scale.

"Acquiring skills, knowledge, values and attitudes that

are critical to securing basic socio-economic needs

which will allow the sustainable development of their

societies" - UNESCO

‘Assessment…’ The word itself renderseither interest, passion or dread ineveryone who finds themselves in alearning environment.

In order to innovate and redefineassessments, we must first understandmore about the current assessmentmethods and why they are puttinguntold pressures on teachers due tosystemic failures.

The merits of formative assessmentsare well documented for their success.The way these assessments work isvery much based on on-goingevidenced feedback for both teacherand learner.

When formative assessments werefirst introduced in the 90’s they weremade popular by two Britishresearchers, Paul Black and DylanWiliam. They used meta-analysistechniques to track the extent oflearning and concluded that learnergains in outcomes, triggered byformative assessments, are “amongstthe largest ever reported foreducational interventions''. (Black &Wiliam, 1998)

The interpretation of formativeassessment is very much to do withthe processes taking place duringlearning in the classroom, and inparticular the on-going feedback toboth teachers and learners.

However, we can see that this is notalways happening. To ensure reflectiveteaching is occurring, a teacher shouldfocus on interpreting the meaningcorrectly and continually reflecting ontheir own practice processes.

The challenges with assessment

3

"Why hasn't it worked

and how can we make

it better in the

classroom?" - Booth,

2017

For clarity, gathering data informationduring formative assessments is ‘for’learning, which may be misleadingwhen formative assessment is beinginterpreted as an assessment ‘of’learning. As shown by Black & Wiliam,this could result in learners being‘tested’ as if it was a summativeassessment. As such, this could be onereason why failure is recorded.

Furthermore, in the article, “Impact2017, What Is Formative Assessments,Why Hasn’t It Worked And How CanWe Make It Better In The Classroom?”Nikki Booth reflects on Black andWiliam’s research to deep-dive intoadditional reasons for why formativeassessments aren’t having the impactthey should. Alongside the pressure toproduce high-levels of attainment,Booth pointed out the following keypoints on your right.

4

It is clear that formative assessment isnot making the positive changes thatthe education system expected (Booth,2017) and therefore key changes mustbe adopted if we are to solve theeducation crisis we find ourselves inacross the globe.

The challenges with assessment

The term ‘assessments’ is

associated with tests and

therefore the given terminology

is misleading.

The pressure on senior leaders

to achieve better grades is

passed on to teachers. This

pressure is leading to mixing

formative with summative

outcomes.

It may be formative in helping

the teacher identify areas

where more explanation or

practice is needed. But for the

pupils, the marks or remarks in

their work may tell them about

their successes or failures, but

not how to make progress

towards future learning.

The Theory Of Planned Behaviourmodel (Ajzen, 2002) shines a light onthe oversimplifying of such complexemotions and their causes - causesthat cannot be addressed by a goldsticker or bonus credit on an Edtechapp.

If a learner is constantly praised butnever shown their weak areas oropportunities to improve, how can youencourage life-long learning? Instead,we need to move towards an approachthat values a continuous learningjourney and a partnership betweenstudent and teacher.” The approach toassessments has to be changed.

"Continuous assessment

can be central to

determinations about a

child’s school progress"

- Miskin, 2017

As previously mentioned, the purposeof assessments needs to be clearlyidentified and it appears that assessing'for' learning has become a reward andpunishment ‘behaviourism’ pedagogy.

We know from evidence thatbehaviourism is flawed in theclassroom. Chalmers, (1996) found thatbehaviourism does not take intoaccount key factors such as ‘self-awareness’.

Continuous assessment is

central to progress

Gibbs Reflective

Cycle (2020)

5

Feeling

Evaluation

Analysis

Conclusion

Action Plan

Description

In the current COVID-19 situation,where summative assessments havebeen questioned for their efficacy on aglobal scale, we need a system that isformative in nature yet takes intoaccount final grading and allows allstakeholders to benefit and provideopportunities to intervene during on-going learners’ engagements; this iscontinuous assessment.

Assessments require preparation,organising, marking, evaluation andanalysis. Continuous assessmentrequires all of these areas throughoutthe entire learning process.

As summarised by Gibbs (1988) "It isnot sufficient simply to have anexperience in order to learn. Withoutreflecting upon this experience, it mayquickly be forgotten, or its learningpotential lost".

Therefore frequent chances to assess,reflect and intervene with learning areintegral to developing a skills-basedlearning approach and using thecontinuous learning process.

Continuous assessments areconducted when students are engagedin learning and are based on reflectiveteaching cycles, where data is collectedon each student’s (or group ofstudents') learning journeycontinuously.

This continuity allows teachers tomake on the spot decisions to improvetheir practice and looks a lot likeformative assessments. Summativeassessments are conducted at keypoints in the educational journey, andstudents are given a grade (that aimsto) reflect the achievements they havemade.

Continuous assessment is

central to progress

6

Supporting this approach, Miskin’s(2017) paper for UNESCO revealedthat ‘continuous assessment can becentral to determinations about achild’s school progress'. This is furtherevidenced when we turn to countriesthat are already getting it right.Countries like Finland, Sweden andEstonia all rank in the top 10 of thePISA ratings (2018) for successful,quality education and positivewellbeing in their students andteachers.

In these countries, continuousassessments are the norm.Hendrickson (2012) found that inFinland they are using both formativeassessments and summativeassessments successfully, putting themhigh on the PISA rankings.

Continuous assessment is

central to progress

In addition, one in-depth review bySQA (2020) found that students inFinland are assessed continuously bytheir teachers in both comprehensiveand upper secondary school, showingthe benefit of embedding continuousassessment into every classroom.

7

It is clear that continuous assessmentis key. However, if continuous data iscollated manually, can it account forthe many variables that can challengethe learner to raise their potential?

With deep learning outcomes, such asystem should support and address thepersonalised feedback reportingprocess to both teacher and learner inreal-time. For a redefined assessmentprocess to be successful at scale,technological innovation and thecollection of comprehensive learningdata must be realised and implementedeffectively.

For successful implementation, themain education recommendations thatwe want to explore when consideringassessment as a resource in theclassroom, and one which impacts anevidence-based teaching system, is“The School Of Tomorrow’ by CERI(2006). They identify 3 mainrecommendations:

Innovation is needed

8

Personalised Learning

Use of diverse

resources

Addressing emotion in

learning

“Educational innovation

is defined as any

dynamic change

intended to add value

to the educational

processes, resulting in

measurable outcomes”

- OECD, 2010

If we are going to report learningoutcomes that are applicable and havedepth on an on-going basis, thegranularity of this data will be soenormous that it will greatly increasethe workload of any teacher collatingthis data, especially where class sizesare increasing. Therefore, it would belogical to use an innovation that couldautomatically provide this data,perhaps by developing algorithms formachine learning.

Innovation is needed

9

LearningObjectives

Curriculum with learningobjectives – personalised(for understanding,knowledge and skills)with use of diverseresources

Pedagogical modelthat addressesemotion in learning

Assessments forlearning...Assessment of learning...“Evidence of goodpractice”

Although these recommendations lookeasy to implement, in reality, aclassroom teacher setting up anddelivering a high-quality education,based on a competency learningenvironment, knows how tough theserecommendations can be when youhave a classroom of 30 to 40 learnerswho all require differentiated learning.

By using Machine Learning, underpinnedby well-evidenced pedagogy, 21st CenturySkills (OECD 2010) can be enhanced atscale, solving the limitations of a manualapproach. If we can innovate a resourcefor teachers that is accurate and valid for awide range of learning outcomes, we cancorrect systemic failures and embed a fullset of assessments for learning, includinginitial, formative and summative, in theform of ‘continuous assessments’,seamlessly providing a wealth of data tosupport and inform.

ContinuousAssessment

SummativeAssessment

FormativeAssessment

InitialAssessment

It is clear how important continuousassessment is to a successful, positiveand engaging learning journey. Thiswhite paper has outlined the successof such a method but as we have seenit comes at a price - copious amountsof time to collect high level granulardata.

Continuous assessment with

GoLearn

10

GoLearn has developed an effective AIbased technology platform that takesaway the hard work and provides theteacher with all the data they need tosupport their students, enhance well-being and provide each student with apersonalised learning experience.

Our platform provides teachers with rich data they can apply with ease...

GoLearn's solutionGoLearn Education is here toestablish effective change.

We’ve got the solution, theconviction, and the passion, and wewon’t stop until literacy is afundamental, inalienable, human rightworldwide. All children, no mattertheir background should have theright to maximise their life chances.

GoLearn is an AI-based Englishliteracy and language learningtechnology with continuousembedded assessment technologythat teachers can use in class orremotely to raise class and individualoutcomes.

As an English literacy EdTechsolution, we have been able to fullycomply with UNESCO and the GlobalAlliance by developing an evidenced-based reflective teaching andlearning Innovation that meets thehighest standards for continuousassessments with low-cost and high-impact to scale and acceleratelearning globally.

Our platform works on the followingthree key principles for OECD/CERI's'School of Tomorrow' and Skills-based teaching and learning:

11

Personalisation —

Unique AI Technology

ensures that each

student receives a fully

personalised journey to

ensure rapid progress

while providing instant

marking and feedback

to other teachers and

students.

Use of Diverse

Resources — We

combine text, audio and

video stimulus with 12

different task types to

keep students engaged

and cater for all

learning styles.

Address Emotion in

Learning — we use a

range of evidenced

pedagogies to support

and lift pupil wellbeing.

For more information visit golearn.guru

ReferencesUNESCO (2013) Available at: https://r4d.org/impact-story-global-book-alliance/

World Bank (February 2021)Available at:https://reliefweb.int/report/world/two-thirds-poorer-countries-are-cutting-education-budgets-due-covid-19

World Bank (Jan 2021)Available at:https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/immersive-story/2021/01/22/urgent-effective-action-required-to-quell-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-education-worldwide

British Council (2021) Available at:https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/continuous-assessment

UNICEF (2020)Available at:https://www.unicef.org/turkey/en/press-releases/dont-let-children-be-hidden-victims-covid-19-pandemic

CERI (2006) Available at:https://www.oecd.org/education/school/ceri-schoolingfortomorrowalternativemodelsoflearningandinnovation.htm

Gibbs (1998)Available at:https://www.mmu.ac.uk/media/mmuacuk/content/documents/careers/Applying-the-Gibbs-Model-2018.pdf

Lock (2021)Available at:https://www-tes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.tes.com/news/john-hattie-about-change-assessment-forever?amp

Gipps, C. V. (1994) Beyond testing: towards a theory ofeducational assessment, Falmer Press

Hendrickson, K. A. (2012)Assessment in Finland: A scholarly reflectionon one country’s use of formative, summative,and evaluative practices. Mid-WesternEducational Researcher, 25(1/2), 33-43.

Popham (2008)Available at:http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/108018/chapters/Formative-Assessment@-Why,-What,-and-Whether.aspx

OECD (2010)Available at:http://www.oecd.org/education/ceri/inspiredbytechnologydrivenbypedagogyasystemicapproachtotechnology-basedschoolinnovations.htm#2

Miskin (2017)Available at: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000255511

SQA (2020) Available at:https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/files_ccc/PNP_ResearchReport1_TheAssessmentSystemsFinlandQueensland.pdf

Black P and Wiliam D (1998a)Assessment and classroom learning.Assessment in Education. Principles, Policyand Practice 5(1): 7–74.

Booth (2017)Available at:https://impact.chartered.college/article/booth-what-formative-assessment-make-better-classroom/

12

Copyright notice

The entire content of this brochure is Copyright © 2021 by GoLearn Education

Limited. All Rights Reserved. No aspect of this brochure may be copied or

duplicated in whole or in part by any means without express prior agreement

in writing.

Some photographs or references contained in the brochure may be the

copyrighted property of others; acknowledgement of those copyrights is

hereby given. All such material is used with the permission of the owner.

13

www.golearn.guru

learnmore@golearn.guru

GoLearn Education Ltd, 85 Great Portland

St, Marylebone, London W1W 7LT

© 2 0 2 1 G O L E A R N E D U C A T I O N L I M I T E D A L L R I G H T S R E S E R V E D