Planning a whole term’s assessments in one go usually produces a calendar nobody keeps to. A more reliable approach is to plan unit by unit: decide what each unit should teach, how you’ll check it has been learned, and what you’ll do with the results. Then line the units up across the term.
Start with what students should be able to do
For each unit, write three to five statements of what a student should be able to do by the end. Write them as actions you can observe:
- “Explain why the Moon has phases, using a diagram”, not “understand the Moon”
- “Add fractions with different denominators”, not “know fractions”
Each statement should be something you could ask a student to show you.
Choose three checkpoints per unit
- A starting check (5–10 minutes). A few questions at the start of the unit show what students already know, so you don’t reteach it.
- A midpoint check. A short quiz or exit ticket on the first half of the unit, early enough to change your teaching.
- An end-of-unit assessment. Covers every statement you wrote, with at least one question per statement.
Only the end-of-unit assessment needs to count towards a mark. The first two are there to guide your teaching.
Plan the follow-up before the assessment
Decide in advance what you’ll do with the results. If a third of the class misses one question, will you reteach it to everyone, run a small-group session, or set a targeted homework task? Leave one flexible lesson after the midpoint check for this.
Line the units up across the term
Once each unit has its checkpoints, place them on the term calendar and look for clashes:
| Week | Unit | Checkpoint |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Unit 1: Forces | Starting check |
| 3 | Unit 1: Forces | Midpoint quiz |
| 5 | Unit 1: Forces | End-of-unit assessment |
| 6 | Unit 2: Energy | Starting check |
| 8 | Unit 2: Energy | Midpoint quiz |
| 10 | Unit 2: Energy | End-of-unit assessment |
- Avoid end-of-unit assessments in the same week as other subjects’ major tests, where you can.
- Keep marking time free in the days after each end-of-unit assessment.
- Leave the last week of term free of new assessments. Something will slip.
Track results by statement, not just by score
A total score tells you how a student did overall. Results by statement tell you what to reteach. Record which questions map to which statement, and look at the class’s results statement by statement. That is where the next unit’s planning starts.
A one-unit planning checklist
- Three to five observable statements written
- Starting check prepared
- Midpoint check scheduled, with a flexible lesson after it
- End-of-unit assessment covers every statement
- Each question mapped to a statement
- Marking time blocked out