The Effect Of Embedding Formative Assessment On Pupil Attainment

17th February 2020 : 12:45 - 14:00

There is pre-existing evidence that formative assessment that is well-delivered can be effective in improving students’ learning (Hattie and Timperley, 2007; Education Endowment Foundation, 2018).

In this trial, we estimate the causal impact of an intervention aimed at embedding the process of formative assessment in a school using only light-touch training and support with most of the work done by teacher-led teaching and learning communities (TLCs) within the school. In our pre-registered primary analysis, we estimate an effect size of 0.09. When excluding schools found already to be participating in a similar programme at the outset, we estimate a larger effect size of 0.11, although we acknowledge that this analysis was only pre-registered in the project’s statistical analysis plan, rather than the evaluation protocol agreed at the outset. Nevertheless, these results are encouraging for this approach to improving the implementation of formative assessment and, hence, academic attainment, in English secondary schools. Our analysis also suggests the intervention may help to narrow the gap between high and low prior attainment pupils, although not the gap between those from disadvantaged backgrounds and the rest of the cohort.”