SAIL STUDENT ASSESSMENT TO IMPROVE LEARNINGTraditionally, schools have used summative assessment at the end of a learning period - assessment of learning by examinations and tests. By contrast, assessment for learning (AFL) operates in every learning situation as students receive personalised feedback from continuous dialogue over their reflexive attainment of specific, explicit, learning goals. Formative assessment aims to improve each student’s capacity to benefit from each and any learning opportunity through self and peer assessment of their own understanding and attainment. Over the last decade, wider diffusion of AfL has been official educational policy in a growing number of member states. Research shows that AFL measurably enhances not just (a) attainment and standards in conventional assessment but also (b) students' roles and capacity as self-directed lifelong learners and citizens throughout their subsequent educational and employment careers. AFL has been hailed as a paradigm shift in educational theory and practice enabling a step change forward in enhancing and motivating the capacities of all EU citizens’ for lifelong learning and lifetime employment.However, there are serious obstacles to putting theory and research into everyday classroom practice in primary and secondary schools. Research emphasises the wider assessment and learning cultures which vary between and within schools and from country to country. The effectiveness of AFL innovation is also influenced by national and regional variations in the provision of appropriate training and support for teachers and others involved in AfL.. For the EU as a whole to benefit from the huge educational potential of AfL, it is vital to make it a mainstream component of policy and practice in each member country. The project will facilitate this step-change by bringing together AFL researchers, teachers, educational advisers and policy makers from 6 countries linking North, South, “old” and “new” members of the EU. All partners have expertise in one or more of theory, research and practice in AFL but they operate in the different learning cultures which reflect EU diversity. Partners will initially produce a state-of-the art report on AFL in their own countries as the baseline for the project's work. All partners will then conduct case studies of classroom AfL innovation within local networks of teachers, school leaders, educational advisers and policy makers to establish their training and support needs for AfL innovation. A 5 day training course and course handbook addressed directly to these needs will be developed and delivered twice to a total of 70 delegates from across the EU.These and the project's other core products, documented case studies and a DVD presentation on best practice in AfL innovation, will be accessed freely through the project's website “AFL for EU”. This will be renewable and sustainable after the project's lifetime. It will also host a cumulative series of Strategic Implementation Packs (SIPS) which teachers are invited to use, evaluate and discuss on-line. SIPS will include: key policy documents; theoretical and methodological guidelines; our own and other's research findings, teaching materials and AFL-based curricula for specific subject areas. An International Conference on the Implementation of AFL will be organised and we will produce research publications and Conference, Interim and Final reports for wider dissemination The project will help to raise educational standards and the effectiveness and efficiency of students' lifelong learning. During its lifetime, it will impact directly on the teaching and learning of approximately 3000 students and 200 teachers and their co-workers in the AFL networks established by each partner. It will also impact upon the 70 participants of the two training courses and appr. 4-500 participants at a conference.