FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT

SUPPORT PACKAGE

Module: Learning Intentions and

Success Criteria

Participant Workbook

NSW Department of Education School Services Directorate

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Activity 1: Line Drawing
Use the space provided to draw the image as described by the presenter.

Activity 2: Learning Intentions

Fill in the missing sections of the table.

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Activity 3: Learning Intentions SWOT Analysis

Complete the SWOT Analysis to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
that may come about through the use of learning intentions.

Strengths Weaknesses

Learning intentions are useful because: Learning intentions might not be good if:

Opportunities Threats

I can see that using learning intentions I feel a bit anxious about using learning
would be good in my class/classes intentions because:
because:

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Learning intentions
and success criteria
WHAT IS IT?
Learning Intentions are descriptions of what learners should know,
understand and be able to do by the end of a learning period or unit.
Learning intentions are the basis for tracking student progress,
providing feedback and assessing achievement. In addition to learning
intentions, students may also have individual learning goals that
they address in their learning.
Success criteria are the measures
used to determine whether, and
how well, learners have met the
learning intentions.
WHY LEARNING INTENTIONS AND SUCCESS CRITERIA?
• Ensure all students know what they are going to learn and where they are heading.
• Provide guidance to teachers on what their chosen teaching and learning activities are seeking to achieve.
• Provide the basis for feedback and reduce discrepancies between current student understanding and
intended learning.
• Assist students and teachers in tracking and assessing student progress.
• Help teachers to understand the impact of their teaching and learning activities, and when they may need
to adapt or change these.
• Help students understand what improved performance looks like.
LEARNING INTENTIONS ARE MOST EFFECTIVE WHEN:
• they provide students with appropriate challenge
• they are matched to teaching and learning activities and assessment tasks
• students share a commitment to achieving them, as they are then more likely to seek feedback
• they are generalisable to allow effective transfer of learnt skills to different contexts.
SUCCESS CRITERIA ARE MOST EFFECTIVE WHEN:
• they are clear and specific to avoid ambiguity. If too general they risk becoming meaningless,
providing little guidance to students
• exemplary samples of work are also provided to help clarify and communicate what quality looks like
PRACTICAL TECHNIQUES:
• Rubrics are guidelines for measuring achievement that state the learning intentions with clear
performance criteria, a rating scale and a checklist. Ideally, they are relevant to multiple tasks over a
unit of learning.
• What A Good One Looks Like (WAGOLL) is a collection of work samples, usually on a wall inside
the classroom, where teachers share exemplary work. Students are encouraged to refer to the WAGOLL
while assessing their own or their peers’ work.
• Work samples can be provided to students at different levels of quality to prompt a discussion on
success criteria and strengths and weaknesses of the work.
• A bump it up wall involves teachers sharing annotated work samples at different levels of quality on the
wall in the classroom. The works samples are often rated against rubrics and annotated. Students are
asked to review their work against the samples to self-assess their performance and to determine how
they might improve the quality of their work before sharing it with the teacher.
• Student-designed assessment involves students designing test items for a topic they have learnt with
the correct answers. This offers an opportunity for students to clarify, share and understand learning
intentions, and provides feedback to teachers on students’ understanding.
THINGS TO CONSIDER:
• To avoid simplistic and rigid implementation of learning intentions, it is important to ensure that they are
referenced throughout the lesson and not shared only at the beginning of lessons.
• In lessons where students are expected to come up with different answers and apply different
strategies, it might be more valuable not to share learning intentions as there can be a range of equally
acceptable goals, rather than a single goal for the whole class.
WHERE CAN I FIND OUT MORE?
Feedback case studies – Australian Institute for Teaching and
School Leadership
Classroom assessment: Minute by Minute, Day to Day –
Educational Leadership
Shared clarity about learning intentions – Victorian Curriculum
and Assessment Authority
Assessment for learning – Curriculum Corporation
Leahy, S & Wiliam, D, 2015, Embedding Formative
Assessment: practical techniques for K-12 classrooms,
Hawker Brownlow Education
twitter.com/aitsl facebook.com/aitsl www.aitsl.edu.au/feedback
 Strong start, Great teachers — Phase 2

Consider assessment
Success criteria
Success criteria summarise the key ingredients or processes which link directly to the learning
intention/goal. They articulate the main things to do, include and focus on. Success criteria can be
expressed as process and/or product criteria, depending on the learning being covered and could
include a sequence of instructions or a list of ‘remember to’ prompts. Success criteria need to be
concrete, measurable, observable and open to negotiation.
Success criteria:
• are closely linked to the learning intention
• show the students what they are aiming for and how to get there
• support students to self and peer assess, independent of the teacher and in ways that are not
always reliant on teacher judgement
• make it clear to students what it is they are going to be judged or evaluated on
• give students something to refer to when they want to check if they are on track or not
• are specific to the activity and will vary with each activity, even if the activities share a common
learning intention
• are agreed with the pupils in advance. (This discussion aspect is particularly important in the
classroom to get students involved in the learning and upcoming activity before it begins).
• encourage responsibility and independence by scaffolding peer and self-assessment
• are revisited and used to provide pupils with feedback on their learning. (This feedback can be
provided by both teacher and other students).

Writing effective success criteria

Learning Intention: We are learning to write a narrative
Context: A ghost story
Activity: Writing a ghost story

Example 1 Example 2

What I am looking for: What I am looking for:

• a story that people enjoy reading
• a story that frightens people
The criteria above are not success criteria
because they focus on reaction rather than
guidance on how to achieve the effect.
• an opening paragraph that sets the scene
• a build up of tension/suspense
• spooky adjectives and powerful verbs
• a cliff-hanger at the end
The success criteria listed above, however,
provide students with the key ingredients
needed to show that they fulfil the learning
intention. If they can do these things, then
they have shown they understand how to
write a narrative.

© State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2014 1

Strong start, Great teachers- Planning a lesson

Examples of success criteria

Learning Context Activity Success criteria

intention/goal
Write Culling of Writing a letter What I am looking for:
persuasively kangaroos to • A statement of your viewpoint
using different the local MP • A number of reasons for this with evidence
techniques • A number of reasons from an alternative standpoint
• Attempts at evoking empathy with the recipient
• Recommended alternative action
• A summary
• Reasoning connectives
To share Ratios Completing a What I am looking for:
quantities worksheet • Add the parts eg. 2:3 2+3=5
• Write each ratio as a fraction 2/5 : 3/5
• Multiply each fraction by the whole eg 2/5 of 20
To know ways Savannah Compiling a What I am looking for:
of controlling grassland table • List the different causes of drought
drought • Explain how these could be reduced
• List your recommendations for how people can cope
and live with drought
• Make comparisons with drought in Australia
To present an Healthy Giving a speech Remember to:
argument eating • include opening and closing statements
• give reasons for and against
• use evidence to support use language to persuade
To calculate Reading Completing Remember to:
the passing of clock faces p.34 of • count from the minute hand
time in 5- textbook • stop where the minute hand finishes
minute • count in fives
intervals • go clockwise
To write an Racism Writing an What I am looking for:
effective introductory • an opening statement defines the topic
introduction paragraph • a ‘hook’ for the reader e.g. rhetorical question,
for about the controversial statement, quotation
a piece of effects of • the writer’s opinion
persuasive racism • a general statement about the content of the essay.
writing.

Model the process or show an exemplar

A model or exemplar provides students with an opportunity to see what the learning might look like
and to discuss and discern what ‘quality’ is, or is not.

The modelling or exemplar can be used to co-construct success criteria with students.

© State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2014 2

Activity 4: Learning Intentions and Success Criteria
Read the first two pages of the Strong start, Great Teachers – Phase 2 article ‘Consider
assessment – Success criteria’ and complete the following questions using the Silent
Whiteboard strategy.

1. What are the benefits of learning intentions and success criteria?

2. What constitutes an effective learning intention?

3. What constitutes effective success criteria?

Activity 5: Rubrics
Read the final three pages of the Strong start, Great Teachers – Phase 2 article ‘Consider
assessment – Rubrics’ and record key points before sharing your ideas with a partner.

Key Point 1. Key Point 2.

Key Point 3. Key Point 4.

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Strong start, Great teachers- Planning a lesson

Rubrics
Rubrics are based on a number of levels or performance descriptors that successively work towards
high achievement and link to the success criteria for the learning intention/goal.
It is a good idea to involve students in developing assessment rubrics and to display them throughout
the learning experience so that students can keep in mind the criteria for completing a task
successfully.

A rubric identifies:
• criteria: the aspects of performance (e.g., argument, evidence, clarity) that will be assessed
• descriptors: the characteristics associated with each dimension (e.g., argument is demonstrable
and original, evidence is diverse and compelling)
• performance levels: a rating scale that identifies students’ level of mastery within each criterion.

Some rubrics describe three levels of performance; others have more. The terminology used in the
descriptors will differ but what matters is that the rubric makes the levels of performance clear for both
teachers and students.

Rubrics can be used to support both teaching and learning

For example:
A 3-level rubric with performance levels such as Yes I can; Almost; Not yet can guide what is taught
during modelled, guided and independent teaching. If most students are in the Not yet descriptor,
further modelled teaching needs to occur for those students, the students who are in the Almost
descriptor require further guided support, while the students in Yes I can should be practising and
applying the learning or moving to new learning.

Terminology

Whatever the terminology used within the rubric, it is important to apply the terminology consistently
and explain exactly what it means. For example:
• When prompted might include: a reminder to check a wall chart; a quick review; a reminder to
think about previous learning.
• I need help might mean: I have not got the concept yet; I need further modelled teaching; when
you/someone sits with me and takes me through it, I can do it.
• A scaffold could include a template, a worksheet, a wall chart, a mind map, etc.
• Most/usually means approximately 75%/75% of the time
• Some/sometimes means approximately 50%/50% of the time
• Few/occasionally means approximately 25%/25% of the time
• When deciding on performance levels, try thinking of the words "yes", "yes-but", "no-but", and
"no" to create your gradations.
Ideally the rubric should include the learning goal/intention and the success criteria with performance
descriptors/levels of performance. This could form an individual recording sheet.

© State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2014 3

Strong start, Great teachers- Planning a lesson

Example rubric

Global learning Specific learning Success criteria Not Almost Yes I

intention: intentions: yet can
To write an Research • locate relevant information
information information using books and the internet
report • read and locate key words and
ideas and write them in your
book
• organise information into
headings

The rubric to accompany the above recording sheet might look like this:

Research information Not yet Almost Yes I can

Locate relevant
information using
books and the
internet
Read and locate key
words and ideas and
write them in your
book
Organise information
into headings
Information doesn’t Either books or Both books and the internet
fit with the topic. internet used to used to locate information.
locate information. Information fits with the topic.
Information fits with
the topic.
Slab copying or only Some key words and All important key words and
one or two key ideas recorded. ideas recorded.
words recorded.
Few key words Key words and ideas All key words and ideas
organised; headings organised under organised under appropriate
inappropriate. inappropriate headings.
headings or only
some key words and
ideas organised
under headings.

Useful guidance in writing performance descriptors for rubrics can be found on the Assessment for
Learning website and the Rubistar website.

© State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2014 4

Strong start, Great teachers- Planning a lesson

Display success criteria

Success criteria can be displayed for students as in the following examples:

Global learning Specific learning Success criteria

intention: intentions:
To write an To research information • locate relevant information using books and
information report the internet
• read and locate key words and ideas and write
them in your book
• organise information into headings
We are learning….

to represent data on a line graph

To be successful we will need to…

• mark and label axes on the graph
• use an appropriate and even scale
• plot the information accurately
• give the graph a label/title.

© State of New South Wales, Department of Education and Communities, 2014 5

Activity 6: Create Success Criteria
Use your unit of learning or lesson plan to write a clarified learning and success criteria or
use the space provided below.

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