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Session 5. Fair Assessment and Working with Families
Objective. Mark content and language separately for several pupils, cut the language load of a test question without lowering the thinking, and plan a talk homework and a message to a family in their language.
A test in a second language measures two things at once: what the pupil knows, and how well the pupil handles the language of the test. If you mix them, the mark tells you little about either. Families are often the missing partner: they hold the home language, which is a resource, but they often receive notes they cannot read. This lesson shows how to mark the idea, report the language separately, lower the language load without lowering the thinking, and bring families in.
Key ideas
Mark the idea and the language separately
- In a science, geography or mathematics test, the mark is for the subject. A grammar error is not a wrong idea. If you take marks off for language, the mark no longer tells you what the pupil knows.
- Give a second note on language: the pupil's stage and one next step ('Use because to link two ideas'). Use it for teaching and feedback, not for the subject mark.
- The exception is a language lesson, where language is the aim. Tell pupils in advance which one you are marking.
Cut the language load, keep the thinking
- Rewrite questions: short sentences, one question at a time, common words, a word bank for technical words, and a picture when it helps. Keep the same demand: 'explain', 'compare', 'give two reasons' stay.
- Offer another way to answer: labelled drawing, sorting cards, oral answer, short answer with a frame, or a draft in the home language that a helper or the family can read to you.
- Use the same rubric for all pupils. Fairness means the same standard with different ways to show it, not a lower standard.
Mark with a short rubric and keep a progress record
- A four-level content rubric is enough: for example 4 two reasons with a link, 3 two reasons, 2 one reason, 1 a related fact, 0 nothing relevant. Write the rubric before you mark.
- Compare a pupil with the same pupil's earlier work. A move from one-word labels to a frame sentence is real progress, even if the writing is still short.
- Check your marks with a colleague on two or three answers. If you disagree, find out whether the difference is about the idea or the language.
Families as partners
- Ask families about their languages with respect. Tell them that strong talk, stories and reading at home in the home language help school learning. They do not need to replace their language.
- Send short messages with a picture and the key sentence in the family's language, checked by a colleague or community member. For meetings, use an adult interpreter; do not ask a child to interpret serious matters.
- Give talk homework that needs no parent who reads the school language, and invite family knowledge: Navruz stories, words for the word wall, crafts or farm work.
Two things to report
Content mark
What the pupil knows
- Rubric written first
- Ideas and reasons
- Same standard for all
- Goes in the subject record
Language note
How the pupil uses language
- Stage for the skill
- One next step
- Compared with earlier work
- Used for teaching, not the subject mark
Separating content from language
Write the content rubric before you mark, with four levels and a clear description of each. Mark the ideas against it. Then add a language note with two parts: the stage you see and one next step. The note feeds your teaching; it does not change the subject mark. Evans, Jones, Leung and Liu, in their EAL assessment framework, list feedback that separates language issues from content issues as one purpose of assessment, and describe assessment as mainly formative.
To lower the language load, rewrite the question with short sentences, one question at a time and a word bank, but keep the verb that carries the thinking: explain, compare, give two reasons. Offer another way to answer, such as a labelled drawing or a spoken answer. Compare a pupil with the same pupil's earlier work, and check two or three marks with a colleague.
Families as partners
Begin by asking and affirming. Families need to hear that talking, telling stories and reading in the home language help school learning and that they do not have to replace it. Tip sheets for families exist in many languages, such as the Colorín Colorado reading tips, and are a model for what to send. Avoid notes that say 'help improve the language'; ask for something specific that families can do in any language.
Make messages short, with a picture and the key sentence in the family's language, checked by a colleague or a community member. For meetings, use an adult interpreter and do not ask a child to interpret serious matters. Give talk homework and invite what families know: Navruz stories, farm knowledge, words for your word wall. Good news by phone first builds trust for harder conversations.
Examples from the classroom
Four answers, two marks
Scene. Malika teaches Grade 7 geography in Tashkent. Dilnoza writes the right reasons for cotton in Fergana but with many grammar errors. Malika gives content 4 of 4 and a language note: 'Stage Building. Next step: use because to join two ideas.' Before, a mark of 6 out of 10 had hidden both facts. Dilnoza now volunteers an answer in the next lesson.
Insight. Separate marks show what the pupil knows and tell the pupil what to practise.
The lighter question
Scene. Jasur teaches Grade 5 science in Bukhara. The test asked: 'Describe the process by which liquid water transforms into vapour and then condenses.' He rewrites: 'What happens to water when it is heated? What happens when steam cools? Draw and label, then write one sentence.' The demand, explaining two changes, is unchanged, and pupils may speak instead of write.
Insight. Cutting words and giving a drawing option keeps the thinking and removes the barrier.
Ask your grandmother
Scene. Aziz teaches Grade 3 in Samarkand. His talk homework says: 'Ask someone at home how people kept water cool in summer, and bring one word for water in your home language.' No parent needs to read Uzbek. Pupils return with stories and words in Tajik, Uzbek and Russian, and Aziz adds them to the class word wall.
Insight. A talk homework brings family knowledge into the lesson and needs no reading in the school language.
Common pitfalls
- Taking marks off for grammar in a subject test, so the mark no longer shows what the pupil knows.
- Lowering the standard instead of lowering the language load.
- Sending home a note in the school language that the family cannot read.
- Asking a child to interpret at a meeting about the child's own difficulties.
Mark Fairly and Write to a Family
- Open the Activity Kit: a SAMPLE Grade 7 geography question on cotton in the Fergana Valley, four pupil answers, a two-column marking scheme and a family message template.
- Pairs (12 min): mark the four answers with the scheme: a content mark 0 to 4 and a language note (stage and one next step). Then mark them again as if language errors cost points. Compare the two sets.
- Pairs (10 min): rewrite the question to cut the language load and name two other ways a pupil could answer. Keep the demand 'give two reasons'.
- Groups (8 min): write a three-sentence message to a family and one talk homework. Share and check that no parent needs to read the school language.
- Alone (5 min): write your classroom action task from the Kit.
Your facilitator will guide you through this activity in the session.
Questions to discuss
- Which pupil's mark changed most when language errors stopped costing points? What does that tell you?
- Did the rewritten question still ask for two reasons? How do you know the thinking stayed?
- What would help the families in your school feel welcome to talk in their languages?
Reflect
- Have you ever lowered a mark for language in a subject test? What did the mark then mean?
- Which pupil's strong knowledge has been hidden by language in your tests?
- What do the families of your multilingual pupils know that your lessons could use?
Try it tomorrow
- Write a four-level content rubric before you mark your next test, and mark six pupils in two columns.
- Rewrite one test question with short sentences, a word bank and a drawing option, keeping the verb that carries the thinking.
- Send one picture message to a family with the key sentence in their language, checked by a colleague.
Further reading and links
Mark the idea with a clear rubric, report the language separately, lower the language load but not the thinking, and treat home languages as the family's gift to learning.