1. www.educationscotland.gov.uk
Assessing progress and achievement
AHDS Conference March 2014

2. Transforming lives through learning
Purpose
 An overview of the Professional Learning
Resource
 Progress to date
 Key messages delivered

3. Transforming lives through learning
Support
professional practice in assessing progress and
achievement of a level within the broad general education
quality assurance and moderation activities and
approaches to managing assessment
progression in the significant aspects of learning in each
curriculum area
Purpose of the Professional Learning Resource

4. Transforming lives through learning
The suite of resources

5. Transforming lives through learning
Suite of resources

6. Transforming lives through learning
Overarching Paper – generic advice
 How Should I Plan for Assessment? NAR Flowchart
 What are Significant Aspects of Learning?
 What Does Progression Look Like?
 Breadth, Challenge and Application
 How Do I Make Holistic Judgements About Achieving a
Level?
 How Can We Monitor and Track Progress?
 Responsibility of All
Published December 2013

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Curriculum Papers
 A description of the significant aspects of learning within
that area of the curriculum
 An outline of what breadth, challenge and application
look like within the area of the curriculum
 Information on planning for progression through
curriculum levels, using breadth challenge and
application
 Information on monitoring and tracking progress and
achievement in that area of the curriculum
Almost all published – target date end of February

8. Transforming lives through learning
Progression Frameworks
 Identifies for each level a body of knowledge and
understanding and related skills, as detailed in the
experiences and outcomes
 Describes progression within the significant aspects of
learning
Draft by end of February –
final April:
http
://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/learningteachingandassessment/assessment/progressandachievement/professi
onallearningresource/progressiongrids/assessingprogressandachievementtables.asp

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Early insights….. Annotated exemplars

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Annotated Exemplars
 Early insights published June 2013
 Fourth level – Early Insights April 2014
 Early to fourth level – June 2014

11. Transforming lives through learning
Monitoring and Tracking Progress in the
Broad General Education
 Processes should be manageable and sustainable
 Focus should be on information that supports
discussions about planning, learning, teaching and
assessment
 Staff working together to reach a shared understanding
of what good progress and achievement looks like
 Important to avoid approaches which suggest a linear
approach (such as D,C,S)
Published December 2013

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13. Transforming lives through learning
Tackling Bureaucracy
Assessment judgements, particularly within broad
general education but also in the senior phase of CfE,
should be based on evidence drawn mainly from day-to-
day teaching and learning. Tracking pupil progress and
moderation is important; however, there is no need to
produce large folios of evidence to support this.
Assessment within CfE is based on the exercise of
professional judgement.

14. Transforming lives through learning
Monitoring and Tracking Paper
Class teachers and/or the adult who knows a learner well could track
information in relation to:
• a range of evidence of learners’ work to give an overview of
progress
• coverage of contexts/topics/activities/skills
• range of personal achievement activities
• using an appropriate approach to indicate how well individual
learners in a class group are progressing in relation to the
significant aspects of learning.

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Significant Aspects of Learning

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Achieving a level
• Has achieved a breadth of learning across almost all of the
experiences and outcomes for a level, including significant
aspects of the curriculum area
• Has responded consistently well to the level of challenge set out
in these experiences and outcomes
• Has moved forward to more challenging learning in some aspects:
and
• Has applied what he/she has learned in new and unfamiliar
contexts

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What are Significant Aspects of Learning?
Within the context of assessing progress and
achievement in the Broad General Education,
the phrase significant aspects of learning
refers to the core learning, based on bundles of
related experiences and outcomes, which can
be planned for and against which learners’
progress can be tracked periodically.

19. Transforming lives through learning
To ensure coherence, the development of significant
aspects of learning have been informed by:
 the rationale underpinning the curriculum area identified in the
relevant Principles and Practice paper
 key aims of learning outlined in the relevant Principles and
Practice paper
 the organisation and structure of the statements of
experiences and outcomes.
Therefore, the form and nature of the significant aspects of learning
differs across the curriculum areas because they reflect the
structure, content and underpinning rationale of the relevant
curriculum area.

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Key features of significant aspects of learning
 brings together a coherent body of knowledge and
understanding and related skills, as detailed in the experiences
and outcomes
 is common to all levels from early to third
 can provide sound evidence of learning in accord with the
principles of Building the Curriculum 5: A Framework for
Assessment
 supports the practice of holistic (‘best fit’) assessment
 can be effectively used to inform assessment of progression
within a level and achievement of a level
 can be readily used to plan further progression within a level
and from one level to the next.

21. Transforming lives through learning
Workshop 2