Assessment for, as and of learning: what's the difference?

Ontario's Growing Success describes three purposes for assessment. They often use the same tasks, but they do different jobs, and only one of them goes into the mark.

Assessment for learning

Purpose: find out where students are, where they need to go and how to get them there.

The teacher gathers evidence during learning and uses it to adjust instruction and give descriptive feedback.

Examples: a diagnostic at the start of a unit, exit tickets, mini whiteboards, a quick check during a lesson, a draft you give feedback on.

The question it answers: "What should I teach tomorrow, and what does this student need?"

Assessment as learning

Purpose: help students become independent learners who can monitor their own progress.

Students are the ones assessing: themselves and each other, against clear success criteria.

Examples: self-assessment checklists, peer feedback using a rubric, reflection journals, goal setting after a test, "two stars and a wish".

The question it answers: "How do I know how I'm doing, and what's my next step?"

Assessment of learning

Purpose: evaluate, which means judging the quality of student learning at a point in time and assigning a value.

This is what goes into the mark and the report card. It should come after students have had time to learn and practise, with feedback along the way.

Examples: unit summatives, tests, culminating tasks, final exams, presentations evaluated with a rubric.

The question it answers: "How well has this student achieved the expectations?"

Why the difference matters

• Don't mark practice. If every quiz counts, students stop taking risks. Keep most of the early, low-stakes work as assessment for and as learning.
• Feedback before evaluation. Students should see descriptive feedback on similar work before they're evaluated on it.
• Peer and self-assessment don't go in the grade. They build independence; the teacher does the evaluating.

A simple plan for every unit

1. Start with a short diagnostic (for).
2. Share the learning goals and success criteria, and co-construct them where you can (as).
3. Check in daily with exit tickets or quick checks (for).
4. Build in a self- or peer-assessment before the summative (as).
5. Finish with a summative task and rubric (of).

Tools that help

• The learning goals and success criteria builder writes "We are learning to…" goals and "I can…" criteria with a self-assessment checklist.
• The rubric builder makes four-level achievement chart rubrics you can print or paste into Docs.

Every unit in a K9solutions course follows this pattern: a learning goal and success criteria in every lesson, quick checks and exit tickets, and a summative with a four-level rubric at the end. Try a free lesson to see it in action.