Dylan Wiliam - Assessment in Secondary English - Florida
In this episode, I am speaking with Dylan Wiliam. Dylan is many things in the world of education. He is Emeritus Professor of Educational Assessment at the UCL Institute of Education, author and co-author of many seminal books from the past 30 years, and along with Paul Black, one of the foremost authorities on educational assessment. Within education research and teacher professional development, he is widely regarded as a huge figure who has fundamentally reshaped much of modern classroom practice.
I have been a massive fan of Dylan’s work ever since I read Carl Hendrick and Robin McPherson’s What Does This Look Like in the Classroom?, where I was first introduced to some of his research and ideas. From which, I explored his other writing and like many others came to develop my understanding of formative and summative assessment accordingly.
We discuss:
The difference between formative and summative assessment and why is it difficult to design a task that fulfils both functions at once.
Whether end of unit or end of term assessments can be expected to fulfil a formative and summative role simultaneously.
What performance assessments and authentic assessments are and why they are important.
And finally, what the delicate balance authentic assessments rely upon means for the frequency or sequence with which we use them.
Thanks again to Dylan for spending time looking at assessment through the lens of English with me as well as his substantial influence and input on educational research over the past three decades.
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Additionally, if you would like a head start on learning how to prioritise your middle years English curriculum, head to the bottom of this podcast’s show notes or top of my stream on X to find a beta copy of my forthcoming book: Reinforcing Middle School English You can read as much as you want and even highlight elements that you like, dislike or find confusing to help make it better.
