Abstract
Research in the area of classroom assessment for learning (AfL)—in which students are deeply involved in the formative assessment process—is not only extensive, it is also overwhelmingly positive in terms of its impact on student learning and achievement. This chapter focusses on the authors’ work with schools and systems where AfL strategies have been deliberately used with adults in support of professional growth and change. The authors provide examples from the perspective of professional growth and evaluation cycles for teachers and school principals. Whether in a school or a large school system, these two Canadian examples illustrate the use of assessment in the service of adult learning, including redefining reliable and valid evidence of adult learning. Experience across multiple schools and school systems has shown that the deliberate alignment of actions from the classroom to the system—particularly in the areas of evaluation and professional growth—positively implicates and impacts everyone’s learning.
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Notes
- 1.
Policy documents in Canada often refer to the term ‘teacher supervision’, rather than ‘teacher evaluation’. However, for the international audience, the latter will be used in this chapter.
- 2.
Many educational professionals in public school systems (teachers and principals) are unionized across Canada.
- 3.
A school system is defined, for example, by its capacity to direct policy development, hire and evaluate staff. In Canada, public school systems vary in size up to 250,000 students (595 schools).
- 4.
In December 1993, the ministers responsible for education in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon Territory, and Northwest Territories signed the Western and Northern Canadian Protocol for Collaboration in Basic Education (WNCP), Kindergarten to Grade 12. In February 2000, Nunavut also joined WNCP. In 2006, Manitoba Education, Citizenship, and Youth published the policy statement referred to here about assessment and evaluation on behalf of the WNCP.
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Davies, A., Herbst, S., Sherman, A. (2016). Assessment for Learning: A Framework for Educators’ Professional Growth and Evaluation Cycles. In: Laveault, D., Allal, L. (eds) Assessment for Learning: Meeting the Challenge of Implementation. The Enabling Power of Assessment, vol 4. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39211-0_14
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