What is focused assessment?

An activity has been identified from each QCA Unit of Work that is appropriate for a focused assessment of scientific inquiry (SC1). Ideally it should occur about two thirds of the way through a topic - far enough that the children have had the opportunity to develop their understanding and skills, but not right at the end of the topic so that there is still time to act on the assessment information. Although matched to the QCA SoW, the general approach could be adapted for other schemes of work that you may be using.

The elements of scientific inquiry (SC1) to focus on were chosen according to the natural emphasis of the unit and activity. During the lesson children may well be involved in aspects of scientific inquiry that are not the focus, e.g. if the focus is on interpreting data, the children may have used their measuring skills to collect data and, but learning objectives and assessment are focused on certain aspects of the investigation.

Teachers using this approach are planning so that over the course of a year each of the all strands of scientific inquiry (SC1) is the focus of an assessment. This helps ensure that all strands are considered - not just fair testing!

Each activity is differentiated to give different groups of children the opportunity to show what they can do. Although the terms low attainer, middle attainer and high attainer have been used - these do not indicated fixed groups of children. For example, some children may need a great deal of support with drawing a table, but be able to give complex explanations for their results. Key questions have been suggested to support you in talking with the children about their work.

There are also assessment indicators. These suggest the different kinds of responses the children may have to the activity and attempt to match these to the National Curriculum level descriptions. These are not intended to be treated as absolutes, but to provide guidance on the children's progress. If they are used to form part of a summative record of the children's attainment, then they should be considered alongside other teacher assessment information such as (informal) observations during everyday teaching.

A blank proforma has also been provided if you wish to create your own focused assessments.

Click here for blank sheet

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