Peer and self assessment

This Gifted & Talented Update article is from December 2007. To receive the latest
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Assessment
Classroom Teacher
Gifted and Talented
Leading teacher for gifted and talented
Peer Support
Teaching & Learning Coordinator
Teaching and Learning
AfL strategies can be invaluable in providing feedback for pupils and developing
insight into G&T learners' individual needs. Clare Smale provides some practical
tips for teachers
Peer assessment can involve formative reviews to provide constructive feedback, as
well as summative grading: it can also include student involvement in the setting of
marking criteria and decisions about evidence of achievement. Self-assessment
enables students to become reflective and self-managing, to identify next steps in
learning and move forward under their own steam.

When these two strategies work well, the advantages are significant to all concerned
and many of the identified issues can be addressed by:
helping students to see the value and validity of these approaches
ensuring the reliability of student judgements
maximising opportunities for students to learn from peer and self-assessment.
Advantages
Helps students to develop insight into their own performance by assessing the
work of others.
Develops lifelong skills of evaluation and analysis.
Supports independent and autonomous learning.
Gives students a sense of ownership and thus increases motivation.
Treats assessment as part of learning, so mistakes are seen as opportunities
rather than a sign of failure.
Uses external evaluation to provide a model for internal self-assessment of a
students own learning (metacognition), encouraging deep, rather than
surface, learning.
Promotes a community of scholarship.
Reduces the amount of teacher assessment but improves the quality.
Time for reflection or discussion with a critical friend can help individuals to
stand back from their own work and make sense of others comments.
Increases students attentiveness for activities such as presentations or group
performances by peers (when they are assessing them).
Provides more accurate feedback about processes such as collaborative working
(students are often in a better position than teachers to judge individual
contributions).
Helps to clarify assessment criteria.
Gives students a wider range of feedback.
Possible issues
Validity of student assessment (address this by providing clear learning
objectives and marking criteria; have more than one assessor for each piece of
work; build in teacher moderation).
Debate about whether peer assessment should be used for formative
assessment only, or can be used summatively.
Students may allow friendships, rivalry etc, to affect their objectivity.
Involving students in assessment practices may increase an obsession with
grades.
Peer assessment some practical tips
Make sure that students understand the assessment criteria and the
characteristics of work at different levels (see example on the opposite page of
text from booklets produced to help pupils understand their tasks, the marking
criteria to be used, and how to peer-assess); this might involve discussion and
looking at examples of work which meets/does not meet the criteria.
Provide prompt questions and a structure for recording the responses a
template can be useful in eliciting a rigorous approach.
Provide opportunities for constructive quality feedback alongside grades.
Use anonymous feedback to begin with (to overcome any feelings of betrayal
among friends).
Try using peer assessment in vertical groups (eg Year 6 assess Year 5 and vice-
versa) to depersonalise the process and establish a culture of consultation.
Start with manageable tasks that are well suited to self or peer assessment.
Establish some ground rules for supportive student-to-student feedback
(perhaps developed with colleagues as well as students themselves, to ensure
consistency).
Some examples of peer/self assessment activiites are:
commenting on final or draft essays/reports
anonymously or publicly grading presentations/performance
proposing a grade for their own work, after seeing/assessing others work
discussing and suggesting improvements to others work
reflecting on improvements they could implement themselves
discussing in groups before collectively providing a grade and feedback.
Examples of information to help students understand a task and the marking
criteria

Historical inquiry: What impact did WWII have on family life in Britain?

What do I have to do?
What will it look like?...
How will I find this information?...
What should I include?...
Where do I start?...
When does it have to be finished?...

Am I being assessed?
Yes! This will be assessed according to National Curriculum guidelines.
To reach level 4 you need to: describe at least three different ways WWII affected
family life.

To reach level 5, you need to use sources and pictures to explain how and why family
life was affected by WWII in at least four different ways.

To reach level 6 or above, you need to draw on a number of different sources to
explain different factors of WWII and analyse which affected family life and why.

Historical inquiry: What impact did WWII have on family life in Britain?

You are going to work with a partner to PEER MARK both pieces of work. Follow these
steps:

1. Discuss the assignment and answer these questions:
What did you find most difficult?
What did you most enjoy?
What would you like to research further?
What conclusions did you reach?
2. Read the level descriptors carefully then read each others work. Use a coloured
pencil to make notes in the margin by any of the following:
A particularly good point.
Something you dont understand.
An interesting fact or source.
A well-explained opinion.
3. Use a coloured pencil to tick off each point you think has been met in the level
descriptors. Go back to the work and label any parts of the work you think is level 5
or above.

4. Write an encouraging comment about the work, saying what you liked about it.
Write down the level it has reached.

5. Re-read the level descriptors. What would your partner need to do to progress?
Give them two targets to help them reach the next level.

6. Hand the work back and read the comments your partner made about your work.
Do you agree? Discuss each others comments and ask about anything youre not sure
of.

Clare Smale is an experienced teacher currently running her own business providing
consultancy, leadership coaching and Inset for schools www.inspired2learn.info