Nurturing Assessment Capable Learners: A Reflection Tool for Teachers
- Kate Korber
- Oct 3
- 5 min read
When we talk about assessment in schools, it’s easy to focus only on measurement: on what students know or can do at a given point in time. But assessment has far greater potential than simply recording results. At its best, assessment is about empowering students to become their own teachers, to set goals, monitor their learning, give and receive feedback, and take ownership of their progress. Assessment that is not done 'to' students, but 'with' them... to enable them to drive their own learning progress.
This is the heart of what it means to develop assessment capable learners.
Why Assessment Capability Matters
John Hattie’s Visible Learning research (2009; updated in Hattie, 2023) synthesised more than 1,600 meta-analyses of factors influencing achievement. Among the most powerful? Students becoming their own teachers and drivers of learning. Hattie highlights the impact of self-reported grades (effect size 1.33), self-assessment, and metacognition, all of which depend on learners having the skills and dispositions to track their progress and respond.
Dylan Wiliam’s work continues to reinforce this. In Embedded Formative Assessment (2nd ed., 2018), and in more recent papers (Wiliam, 2020), he shows that achievement rises when students are actively engaged in understanding learning goals, co-constructing success criteria, and using feedback to close the gap between where they are and where they need to be.
Research also reminds us that assessment capability is not just a cognitive skill but an emotional and motivational driver. When students see themselves as capable of directing their learning, they build agency, persistence, and resilience. In other words: assessment isn’t something that happens to students, it’s something that happens with them.
A Tool to Support Teacher Reflection
When I work alongside teachers, one of the most valuable moments comes when we pause and simply talk about what’s visible in the classroom. What do students see? What do they hear? What do they know about their learning because of the way we design and communicate it?
Too often, our best intentions remain hidden, locked inside our planning documents or in our heads. But learning becomes powerful when success is made visible and shareable. That’s where reflection comes in. When teachers step back and reflect together on the practices that make assessment visible, the conversation itself becomes a driver of change.
The Nurturing Assessment Capable Learners Reflection Tool was designed for exactly this purpose. It’s not a checklist or a compliance measure. Instead, it’s a conversation starter, a way for teams to reflect honestly on their current practice, celebrate what’s working (GLOW), and identify small, deliberate steps forward (GROW).
This tool unpacks ten practical strategies educators can use in their classrooms. It is designed to help teachers ask:
Which of these practices do my students experience every day?
What might not yet be visible?
How can I bring students further into the process of learning and assessment so that they can better drive their learning?
Ten Practices and Companion Reflection Questions
Sharing learning intentions and success criteria clearly at the start of lessons AND check for understanding . Reflection: How often do I make learning goals explicit, and how do I check that students understand these measures of success?? As Professor John Hattie mentioned in giving feedback for this resource, it is not enough to share the intentions and criteria - we must ensure that we check for understanding!
Referring back to goals throughout the lesson so learning stays visible (Hattie & Clarke, 2019). Reflection: Do I revisit success criteria during learning, or only at the end?
Using worked examples (WAGOLLs or WHAT A GOOD ONE LOOKS LIKE) to model quality and success (Hattie, 2023). Reflection: What examples of quality work have my students seen lately, and how are they using them to guide their own efforts to achieve rise to the occasion?
Teaching students how to give and receive peer feedback that is kind, specific, and helpful (Wiliam, 2020). Reflection: Have I explicitly taught students what effective peer feedback looks like, or do I just expect it?
Encouraging self and peer assessment using clear criteria (Black & Wiliam, 1998; Wiliam, 2018). Reflection: When was the last time I asked students to self-assess, and how did it shape their next step?
Providing feedback that closes the loop, helping students know their next steps for improvement (Hattie & Timperley, 2007; Hattie, 2023). Reflection: Does my feedback stop at “what’s wrong,” or does it also guide “where to next”? How can we help studebnts understand how THEY can close the gap between where they are at and where they need to get to?
Building in time for reflection, not just activity (Hattie, 2023). Reflection: Do I schedule reflection as deliberately as I schedule content delivery?
Designing learning that considers both growth (learning zone) and achievement (performance zone) (Briceño, 2015). Reflection: Do students know the difference between practising to grow and performing to show what they know?
Co-creating success criteria with students to build ownership (Clarke, 2014).Reflection: How often do I involve students in shaping what success looks like, rather than just telling them?
Using rubrics, bump-it-up walls, and visual anchors to help students recognise and achieve quality (Hattie, 2019). Reflection: What visible tools do students currently have to compare, self-monitor, and set their own next steps?
Making the Shift
When we embed practices like these, we shift the culture of assessment. Students begin to see feedback not as judgment but as guidance for growth. They develop the language to describe their learning pathways and the confidence to steer it.
This is not about adding more to teachers’ plates, it’s about weaving feedback, reflection, and self-assessment into the fabric of daily lessons. It’s about making visible what success looks like, and giving students the tools to get there.
Most importantly, it is about empowering students to be (as John Hattie says) 'drivers of their own learning'. We want our learners to understand where they have been, where they are going, and how to adjust their path along the way to tackle challenges, make changes and achieve success.
If we truly want to raise achievement, we need to raise agency. And that starts by helping students see themselves as capable, reflective, and active participants in their own learning journey.
My hope is that it helps teachers pause, reflect, and ask:
Which of these practices am I already using?
Which could I make more visible?
And how might I take the next step in nurturing assessment capable learners who drive their own success?
I’d love to hear your thoughts—what strategies have made the biggest difference in helping your students become more assessment capable?
Kate
References
Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment. Phi Delta Kappan.
Briceño, E. (2015). Growth mindset and the learning zone vs. performance zone. [TEDx talk].
Clarke, S. (2014). Outstanding Formative Assessment: Culture and Practice. Hodder Education.
Hattie, J. (2009). Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement. Routledge.
Hattie, J. (2019). Visible Learning: Feedback. Routledge.
Hattie, J., & Clarke, S. (2019). Visible Learning: Feedback. Routledge.
Hattie, J. (2023). Visible Learning: The Sequel. Routledge.
Hattie, J., & Timperley, H. (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research, 77(1), 81–112.
Wiliam, D. (2018). Embedded Formative Assessment (2nd ed.). Solution Tree Press.
Wiliam, D. (2020). Principled assessment design. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 27(3), 303–310.
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