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The approach gained popularity in the 1990s and is linked to formative assessment, with clear distinctions from summative and diagnostic assessment.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/exam/","Exam",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/assessment-for-learning-afl-education-brief/642095/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/assessment-for-learning-afl-education-brief/642095.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Logic","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-01","2026-10-23",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",6,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What does assessment for learning (AfL) mean in practice?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"AfL creates feedback for students and teachers so learning improves and next steps are clear. It integrates into teaching and learning rather than functioning only at the end of a unit.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How does AfL help teachers and learners understand progress?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"AfL addresses where learners are going, where they are now, and how they can get there. It shares lesson aims and success criteria, gathers evidence through techniques like effective questioning, and uses it to inform next instructional choices.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What is the difference between AfL and summative or diagnostic assessment?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Formative assessment has a similar meaning to AfL, contrasting with summative assessment, which sums up learning at the end of a period. 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Where the learner is going. Sharing the aims of a lesson and success criteria helps learners to see what they are aiming for and what they need to do to achieve those aims.  \n2. Where the learner is now. Techniques such as effective questioning will help teachers to gauge what individuals and groups have learnt during a lesson, generating evidence of learning that both teacher and students can make use of.  \n3. How can the learner get there? Teachers use this evidence of learning to inform choices about what they will do next with a class or individual students. Learners can use this evidence to make decisions about their learning, such as how to spend their independent study time.  \nHow can the  \nof learning  \nlearner get there?  \nProviding feedback Helping learners to take their next steps  \nAfL is concerned with maximising the feedback process (teacher to student and student to teacher) to optimise student learning. Feedback ranges from the informal  \n(e.g. oral comments given immediately to learners as they think through problems), to more formal (e.g. written feedback given after an end-of-topic test). AfL also involves high-quality peer and self-assessment where learners or peers may be involved in making decisions about future learning needs (Wiliam, 2018).  \nThe term ‘assessment for learning’ became popular in the 1990s. At this time there was concern that learners were being over-assessed and that there was a disproportionate focus on end results (assessment of learning) rather than on assessment processes that could actively enable learners to make progress. Both assessment for learning and assessment of learning are valuable in education, but they have different purposes.  \n1   \nEducation brief-Assessment for learning continued  \nWhat is the theory behind assessment for learning?  \n• AfL is associated with social constructivist theories of learning. Mental models and assumptions that the learner uses to understand a subject are complex, and are constructed from previous experiences and interactions with others. This means the quality of interactions between teachers and learners is critical in the learning process.  \n• The work of Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam has been highly influential. Their pamphlet for teachers called Inside the Black Box (1998a) was based on a literature review of 250 sources on classroom assessment practices (Black & Wiliam, 1998b). They found that ‘the effective use of formative assessment [see below] would increase achievement by between 0.4 and 0.7 standard deviations, which would be equivalent to a 50 to 70 percent increase in the rate of student learning’ (Wiliam, 2018, p.38).  \n• Black and Wiliam (1998a) suggested that formative assessment could be improved by:  \n– helping learners understand exactly what they have to do in order to succeed  \n– encouraging productive classroom discussion, including sufficient thinking time  \n– embedding opportunities for all learners to express their understanding  \n– providing feedback that helps students to move onin their learning and avoids comparison with other learners, then giving them the opportunity to acton that feedback  \n– training learners in self-assessment and providing opportunities for them to be learning resources for each other.  \nWhat other terms are associated with assessment for learning?  \n• Formative assessment has a similar meaning to AfL. The term was introduced to contrast with summative assessment (see below), and show that assessment could be used to form students’ learning and look forward to what they will learn next. Some writers in this area ","cbCaihJjnqwAZQtx","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaihJjnqwAZQtx","pdf",1259047,"English","# Assessment for learning (AfL)\n## Meaning of AfL\n## The theory behind AfL\n## Associated terms\n## Benefits of AfL\n## Challenges of AfL","[{\"question\":\"What does assessment for learning (AfL) mean in practice?\",\"answer\":\"AfL creates feedback for students and teachers so learning improves and next steps are clear. It integrates into teaching and learning rather than functioning only at the end of a unit.\"},{\"question\":\"How does AfL help teachers and learners understand progress?\",\"answer\":\"AfL addresses where learners are going, where they are now, and how they can get there. It shares lesson aims and success criteria, gathers evidence through techniques like effective questioning, and uses it to inform next instructional choices.\"},{\"question\":\"What is the difference between AfL and summative or diagnostic assessment?\",\"answer\":\"Formative assessment has a similar meaning to AfL, contrasting with summative assessment, which sums up learning at the end of a period. Diagnostic assessment identifies what learners know or can do, often by detecting difficulties or misconceptions at the start of a topic.\"}]","Assessment for learning (AfL) - Education brief | PDF",1792721358]