Track learner attainment with these teacher-approved strategies
Now that you’ve thought carefully about why you’re recording learner attainment in lessons, you can start to think about how. Many of the schools that I visit have systems in place to track learner attainment, here are three of my favourites.
1. Colour coding
Wouldn’t it be great to have a simple way of seeing how your learners are progressing without sifting through a mountain of data? One school I’ve visited uses a nifty colour-coding system that lets you do just that. The system is well-established across the school, so all teachers and learners all know how the colours relate to attainment in lessons.
Teachers put a coloured flash mark at the top of the first workbook page for each lesson. The colour coding lets you flick through the workbook and instantly see how learners are doing over time.
2. Marking diaries
Once you’ve identified the struggling or advanced learners after each lesson, what do you do with that data? Another school I visit uses marking diaries to log any learners who have either exceeded or didn’t meet the objective after each lesson. These diaries track the progress of outlier learners and support them as needed.
If a significant number of children have struggled with a particular question or concept, you don’t have to waste time writing down their names. Begin your next lesson with a ‘feedback starter’, where you address the issue with the whole class.
3. Bookmark objective cards
Another tip for making the most of attainment data is encouraging your learners to track their own progress. Asking learners to reflect and self-assess helps build their metacognitive skills and growth mindset.
So how can you do this without making children feel like they are being scrutinised?
Give each child a card that communicates the objectives of each lesson, where they can record attainment against that objective. The card lives in their workbook and doubles up as a bookmark — particularly handy with younger pupils who can take time to find today’s page!