Madam, - I welcome the announcement of a national policy on standardised testing in primary schools. It will bring greater uniformity of practice across schools and will help to ensure that the tests are used to support the work of teachers and policy-makers.
That said, in Ireland as in many countries, there is too much emphasis on testing and not enough on assessment for learning (AfL), the evaluations carried out minute-by-minute, hour-by-hour and day-by-day in classrooms.
I am referring here to such practices as teachers sharing success criteria with pupils, comment-only marking and pupil peer- and self-assessment. Research published over the past 10 years indicates that some of the largest learning gains recorded are associated with AfL strategies. Even more significantly, it has been found that AfL has a disproportionately positive influence on low attainers.
Once a year or so standardised testing can provide valuable information to schools and parents on how pupils are doing. However, the most important consumers of assessment information are the pupils themselves and they need good information about their learning much more frequently. That is why AfL is so important.
Recent evaluations of the Irish primary curriculum highlight the fact that there is a need to attend to the assessment skills of teachers. Now that the testing issue in primary schools has been addressed, the next important challenge is to organise a professional development process that supports the task of integrating assessment with teaching and learning for the benefit of all our pupils. - Yours, etc,
Dr MICHAEL O'LEARY, Lecturer in Assessment, Education Department, St Patrick's College, Dublin 9.