Maths Flex and low-stakes assessment
When it comes to low-stakes assessment, the consensus is that it is assessment which is not pass or fail, does not cause added stress or anxiety for pupils (Bain, 2004) (children can make mistakes without a penalty) and aims to get children to retrieve information. This blog looks at how Maths Flex can be used for low-stakes assessment.
Why use low-stakes assessment in the classroom?
- It can have a powerful effect on knowledge retention (Karpicke and Aue, 2015).
- Low-stakes assessment can help teachers to identify learning gaps which need addressing (DfE, 2021).
- It should be frequent and spread across time (Roediger, 2013). Barton (2017) suggests using low-stakes assessment at the end of a lesson and then re-visiting the area about 3 weeks later.
- It can help children to identify their own learning gaps and strengths.
- Richmond and Regan (2021) have suggested that in the future primary schools may move away from high-stakes assessment (i.e., formal tests) and move towards low-stakes assessment which is digitised.
What activities can be low-stakes assessment?
The DfE (2021) have suggested multiple choice quizzes or tests are the most effective methods of low-stakes assessment. They are scaffolded and support children to answer questions. Maths Flex offers a variety of different Maths Mastery question forms including multiple-choice questions. Other activities for low-stakes assessment are:
- spelling or vocabulary tests (e.g., testing children's understanding of the key Mathematical language or terms)
- asking children to label diagrams from their memory
- asking children to re-call key Maths terms or rules
- Roshenshine (2012) talks about how teachers can use questions to ascertain how well children have learnt the material.
What about Maths Flex and low-stakes assessment?
Possible ideas for using Maths Flex for low-stakes assessment are:
- The teacher could put Maths Flex questions on the screen as a warm-up and children could discuss the answers in pairs before answering.
- The teacher could do the same as the above but get the children to write the answers on mini-whiteboards.
- The teacher could finish the lesson with children completing the nugget that they were taught about that day on Maths Flex (on tablets) .
- Maths Flex questions could be answered in small groups. This approach encourages a high-level of discussion about Maths and supports children with their Maths reasoning skills.
In summary, there are lots of ways that Maths Flex provides pupils with low-stakes assessment.
We’d love to hear your ideas and find out about what has worked best in your class! Let us know by emailing ukschools.customersuccess@pearson.com
References:
Bain, Ken (2004). What the Best College Professors Do. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Barton, 2017. Low Stakes Assessments: TES Maths Resource of the Week - Mr Barton Maths Blog. [online] Mr Barton Maths Blog. Available at: <http://www.mrbartonmaths.com/blog/low-stakes-assessments-tes-maths-resource-of-the-week> [Accessed 2 February 2022].
DfE, 2021. [online] Assets.publishing.service.gov.uk. Available here [Accessed 2 February 2022].
Karpicke, J.D. and Aue, W.R., 2015. The testing effect is alive and well with complex materials. Educational
Psychology Review, 27(2), pp.317-326.
Richmond and Regan, 2021. [online] Edsk.org. Available at: <https://www.edsk.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/EDSK-Making-progress.pdf> [Accessed 28 January 2022].
Roediger III, Henry L. (2013). "Applying Cognitive Psychology to Education:
Translational Educational Science" Psychological
Science in the Public Interest. 14(1) 1-3.
Rosenshine, B., 2012. Principles of instruction: Research-based strategies that all teachers should know. American educator, 36(1), p.12.