Assessment Policy in Schools: What You Need to Know

How does your school’s assessment policy affect your teaching, marking, target setting and feedback as a classroom teacher? This article answers these questions and more.

Key Takeaways

• Assessment policies ensure consistency and fairness, setting clear expectations for how all teachers assess, mark and report pupil progress across the school.

• They guide classroom practice, influencing lesson planning, feedback and use of assessment data to identify gaps and adapt teaching effectively.

• Effective assessment policies enhance learning, helping teachers track progress, plan interventions, and communicate achievement clearly to students and parents.

What Is an Assessment Policy?

An assessment policy is a document that sets out how a school measures pupil progress and achievement. It defines the principles, practices and procedures teachers should follow when assessing students.

Typically written by school leaders, the policy ensures everyone follows a consistent approach to assessing, marking and reporting progress. It covers everything from how often assessments take place to how feedback should be recorded and shared with relevant stakeholders.

For classroom teachers, their school’s assessment policy provides a framework for planning lessons, marking work, giving feedback, and entering data in a way that aligns with whole-school expectations.

Why Do Schools Have Assessment Policies?

Schools use assessment policies to ensure consistency, fairness and accuracy in measuring student progress. Without a clear policy, assessment can vary widely between classes or subjects. In summary, an assessment policy provides:

• Consistency and Fairness: An assessment policy ensures that all students are assessed against the same criteria, regardless of who teaches them. This promotes equity and reliability, especially when comparing results across classes.

• Progress Tracking: A structured approach to assessment helps teachers and leaders identify progress over time, spot knowledge gaps and plan interventions. For example, departments using Question Level Analysis, can identify topics where students have underperformed and act to address areas of weakness.

• Teacher workload: Assessment Policies should ensure teachers are not “over marking”. The expectations of teacher marking should be realistic and fair.

• Accountability and Inspection: Assessment policies also support internal (e.g. standards meetings) and external (e.g. Ofsted inspections) accountability.

Key Elements of a School Assessment Policy

While policies will differ between schools, there are several key elements that will be common to most:

Formative and Summative Assessment

Assessment policies usually distinguish between:

• Formative assessment (opens in a new tab) (sometimes referred to as Assessment for Learning, AfL): Ongoing checks during lessons to gauge understanding, such as questioning, thumbs up/down, quizzes or exit tickets.

• Summative assessment (opens in a new tab): Formal evaluations at the end of a unit, term or year, such as mock exams or moderated tasks.

A good policy will outline when summative assessment should occur, how outcomes should be recorded, and how teachers should use results to plan next steps. In addition, the policy should encourage formative assessment and outline best practice.

Feedback and Marking Expectations

Many schools embed marking and feedback within their assessment policy. This section typically:

• Specifies how often feedback should be given (e.g. “at least once every two weeks”). Often this will vary between Key Stages.

• Outlines different ways that feedback could be provided.

• States how pupils should respond to feedback (e.g. correcting their work using green pen).

The best policies balance consistency with flexibility, allowing teachers to decide how to give feedback effectively in their subject.

Data Entry and Reporting

Assessment policies usually detail how often teachers must submit assessment data and what format to use. For example:

• Recording grades and/or descriptors on the school’s MIS.

• Inputting attainment data after designated assessment points (e.g. November mock exams).

Use of Assessment to Inform Teaching

Perhaps the most valuable part of an assessment policy is how it encourages teachers to use results to adapt teaching. Policies often outline expectations that teachers will:

• Identify learning gaps from assessments.

• Adjust planning to address misconceptions (e.g. adapting lesson plans).

• Use pupil data to inform how best to cater for the range of needs in a class (e.g. creating differentiated resources).

In summary, assessment data should shape what happens next in the classroom.

How Assessment Policies Affect Classroom Practice

Your school’s assessment policy is likely to affect all aspects of your teaching. Here are some of the key areas:

• Lesson Planning: Teachers will draw on the policy when designing SOW, learning objectives and lesson plans. For example, the sequence of lessons.

• In-Class Assessment: The policy is likely to encourage low-stakes quizzes or verbal checks to help monitor progress in real time.

• Marking and Feedback: Your school’s policy should outline how you are expected to mark. For example, it may prioritise feedback over grades.

Supporting Student Progress Through Assessment

Used well, an assessment policy is a powerful tool for improving learner outcomes. It helps teachers:

• Track progress over time, ensuring every pupil moves forward from their starting point. Teachers often feel overwhelmed by the number of “data drops”. In reality, they are key to understanding student progress, and should be valued as such.

• Identify underachievement early, through consistent assessment points. Collecting data across subject areas also helps identify patterns and trends. If, for example, a student is only underperforming in one subject, this red flag should trigger further investigation.

• Plan targeted interventions, such as small-group work or “stretch” work, for high attaining students.

Common Challenges Teachers Face

Even the best assessment policy can create challenges for overworked teachers. Common issues include:

• Workload Pressure: Summative assessment is invariably a precursor to a data drop. This means another round of marking. It’s important to be smart when marking: use self-marking quizzes, peer marking, self marking and formative assessments whenever possible.

• Overly Prescriptive Systems: Rigid policies can discourage creativity and professional judgement. If you feel restricted, seek clarification from your line manager. Most schools allow subject-specific flexibility within the framework.

• Inconsistent Understanding: Different interpretations of policy can lead to uneven implementation. Department meetings and moderation sessions are crucial for aligning practice.

• Lack of Training: Early career teachers (or teachers who have recently joined a new school) may struggle to understand the rationale behind the policy. If that’s you, ask your school to provide relevant training.

Finally, if you have concerns with your school’s assessment policy, make sure you air them. The best policies tend to come from school leaders who work closely with classroom teachers.

How to Stay Aligned with Your School’s Assessment Policy

The best assessment policies are designed to assist teachers - embrace your school’s policy. Here’s how you can do this:

• Read the policy carefully at the start of the year (and when updates are issued). If you use a teacher planner or similar, add the key dates at the beginning of the year.

• Ask questions if any expectations are unclear. Use your department time to do this.

• Share resources across your department. Make sure you are all using, for example, the same assessment materials.

• Reflect regularly on how assessment outcomes are influencing your teaching.

An assessment policy is a crutch, not a stick. If you work within the framework, it should help you plan and reduce your workload.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the difference between an assessment policy and a marking policy?

A marking policy is often a subset of the assessment policy, focusing specifically on feedback practices. For example, how, when and why work is marked. The assessment policy covers the wider process of measuring and reporting progress.

Do all schools follow the same assessment policy?

No. Each school will develop its own policy based on its ethos, curriculum and school type. However, all must align with statutory requirements and Ofsted expectations.

What happens if I don’t follow the assessment policy?

Non-compliance can lead to inconsistent data, missed deadlines or poor lesson planning. All of these are likely to negatively affect your students’ progress. It’s also likely to negatively affect your teaching career and, in the worst cases, it could lead to disciplinary procedures being brought against you.

How often should I assess students informally?

That depends on your subject and key stage. Most policies encourage ongoing formative assessment within every lesson, using questioning, peer feedback or other AfL techniques to check understanding.

Final Thoughts

Understanding your school’s assessment policy is about using the system to enhance teaching and learning. A clear policy ensures fairness and consistency, but it also gives teachers a roadmap for identifying gaps, tracking progress and supporting pupils.

Remember: policies provide the structure, but professional judgement, knowledge of individual students and flexibility are also key to accurately assessing your pupils’ progress.

References

• Secondary school accountability in England: https://www.adruk.org/our-mission/our-impact/secondary-school-accountability-in-england (opens in a new tab)

• Embedding formative assessment leads to higher attainment: (opens in a new tab)https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2022/mar/embedding-formative-assessment-leads-higher-attainment (opens in a new tab)

• A systematic review of the impact of summative assessment and tests on students' motivation for learning: https://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Default.aspx?tabid=108 (opens in a new tab)