Shirley Clarke began formative assessment action research learning teams in 2001. These consist of groups of about 30 teachers, drawn together by a LA or a network of schools, who meet 3 times during a year to have an update and discussion with Shirley about the various elements of formative assessment and to share their findings. On the afternoon of Day 3, each team holds a showcase event for local schools to share their research findings.

Previous Learning Teams up to 2005: Bradford, Bournemouth and Poole, Bristol, Dorset, Gateshead, Hertfordshire, Portsmouth, Southend, Tonbridge, Westminster.

2006 Learning Teams: Blackburn with Darwen, East Lothian, Essex, Gloucester, Lincoln, North Yorkshire, Powys, Salford.

GO to 2006 Learning Team findings

2007 Learning Teams: Birmingham, Glasgow, Moray, North Tyneside, Reading, Wokingham.

GO to 2007 Learning Team finding

Contact details for 2007 Learning Teams:

2008 Learning Teams:  Cowes, Essex, Hertfordshire, Hull, Nantwich, Tameside.

Contact details for 2008 Learning Teams:

Teachers are asked to experiment with the following aspects of formative assessment before Day 2:

1. In short term plans separate the learning objective from the context
2. Plan process success criteria (what they will need to do in order to achieve the learning objective). Start with one subject only and plan with someone if possible.
3. Share/write up learning objective Explicitly separate from context.
4. Write up the success criteria, involving the children: either...
   • ask them to tell you the success criteria just before they start to work (What will you need to remember to do?),
   • put them up as you go during the teaching part of the lesson,
   • give children an example from which to identify the success criteria (e.g. 'What can you see in this work?') or
   • get them to do one example then tell you what steps they followed or needed to include
   • any other ideas for involving children without taking for ever
5. During lessons, remind children to focus on the success criteria.
6. At beginning of units of work, introduce the elements to be covered in a visual form. Try to involve children in some way. Use this at beginnings and ends of lessons to remind children of the connections of what has been learnt and how it links to future learning (Link 7,8,9)
7. Extend 'wait time' to 5 seconds or more after you ask children a question.
8. Experiment with hands up at the end of the 5 seconds or no hands up at all so that anyone can be asked for a response.
9. Have 'talking partners' or threes as a regular feature of your lessons.
10. Experiment with more effective questioning, to replace recall questions, using these teachers' examples given as a starting point:

Remember to

• Build on what you are doing
• Start slowly...one subject/one lesson at a time
• Talk to each other about what you are doing-compare notes-plan together where possible
• Jot down notes about things you've tried out and what happened
• Look for impact on children's learning and your teaching
• Think of yourself as an action researcher-- these are starting points or -ways in'-- modify or experiment with your own ideas as you go along.

Teachers are asked to experiment with the following aspects of formative assessment before Day 3:

1. Continue trialling the ideas from before, building on Day 2 feedback.
2. Say 'If it's making you think it means you are learning something new!'
3. Try to get children to use the success criteria to check that they have included the right things.
4. During lessons with open success criteria, tackle one of these at a time and show the children (using an old anonymous piece or something you have made up) examples of excellence for that criterion and then a very small section that could be improved. Get them, in pairs, to suggest improvements for this class example. Then ask the children to look for their own best bit and bit to be improved in their own work. Use talking partners, group or whole class formats. (The time to do all of this may well be a follow up lesson, after the original work was done, or it might be tackled as the children are progressing through the task).
5. Move on (before children start to work) to comparing two contrasting excerpts to demonstrate quality against one of the success criteria of today's lesson. Make this a valuable teaching section of the lesson: (How does this bit fulfil the success criterion? How well has it been done? Now look at this person's work. How does it compare to the first in terms of the success criterion? Why is it better? Exactly? How could the first one be improved to make it as good as the second? Etc etc.) Remember to focus in on precise, small extracts rather than trying to compare huge pieces of work
6. Aim for lessons to consist of
   • sharing long term and short term learning objectives
   • deciding success criteria,
   • demonstrating quality,
   • letting them work, getting them to, as they go, check their work against the criteria to make sure they are included
   • half way through showing one or two examples of success and improvement, followed by getting them to decide on their own success and improvement needs, working sometimes in pairs, sometimes alone, making improvements there and then
   • focus ends of lessons on discussions about successes identified and improvements made

In preparation for the showcase event:

Previous Learning Team Findings

Click to read the 2006 Day 2 Learning Team Findings

Blackburn with Darwen
East Lothian
Essex
Gloucester
Lincoln
North Yorkshire
Powys
Salford

Click to read the 2006 Day 3 Learning Team Findings

Blackburn with Darwen
East Lothian
Essex
Gloucester
Lincoln
North Yorkshire
Powys
Salford

Click to read the 2007 Day 2 Learning Team Findings

Birmingham
Glasgow
Moray
North Tyneside
Reading
Wokingham

Click to read the 2007 Day 3 Learning Team Findings

Birmingham
Glasgow
Moray
North Tyneside
Reading
Wokingham

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