Dylan ap Rhys Wiliam is a Welsh

educationalist Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...

. He is

emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

professor of educational assessment at the

UCL Institute of Education IOE, UCL's Faculty of Education and Society (IOE) is the education school of University College London (UCL). It specialises in postgraduate study and research in the field of education and is one of UCL's 11 constituent faculties. Prior to m ...

. He lives in

Bradford County, Florida Bradford County is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,303. Its county seat and largest city is Starke. History New River County, as it was known at the time, was created in 1858 from segment ...

, United States.

Early life and education

Born in

North Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...

, Wiliam grew up in a monoglot

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

-speaking family. He did not learn English until attending

Whitchurch Grammar School Whitchurch may refer to: Places Canada *Whitchurch, Ontario, since 1971 part of Whitchurch-Stouffville, Ontario England *Whitchurch, Bristol *Whitchurch, Buckinghamshire *Whitchurch, Devon, in Tavistock ** Whitchurch, Devon (parish), a civi ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

and

Altrincham Grammar School for Boys Altrincham Grammar School for Boys is a boys' grammar school in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, England. Admissions The school is a fully selective non-fee paying grammar school with admission via an entrance exam. Its previous status as a fo ...

in Greater Manchester. He continued further education at the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

(Bachelor of Science, 1976), the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

(Bachelor of Arts, 1983), the

Polytechnic of the South Bank London South Bank University (LSBU) is a public university in Elephant and Castle, London. It is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name. Founded in 1892 as the Borough Po ...

(Master of Science, 1985) and the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

(PhD, 1993).

Research and career

His research focus is the

professional development Professional development is learning to earn or maintain professional credentials such as academic degrees to formal coursework, attending conferences, and informal learning Informal learning is characterized "by a low degree of planning and ...

of teachers. His 1998 book, ''Inside the Black Box'', which he wrote with Paul Black, was a successful polemic about formative assessment, selling over 100,000 copies. Wiliam, along with Black were educational advisors to

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

, and in 2013 Wiliam and Black wrote a report that criticised the current assessment, stating ''"A-level grades are an unreliable guide to a student's ability."'' He demonstrated his ideas in a 2010 BBC documentary series, ''The Classroom Experiment'', in which a class at Hertswood School was encouraged to participate more widely in activities such as answering questions. He further expands on these ideas in his 2011 book, ''Embedded Formative Assessment'', which describes five key strategies of effective formative assessment in the classroom. According to

Google Scholar Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes p ...

and

Scopus Scopus is Elsevier's abstract and citation database launched in 2004. Scopus covers nearly 36,377 titles (22,794 active titles and 13,583 inactive titles) from approximately 11,678 publishers, of which 34,346 are peer-reviewed journals in top-l ...

his most cited

peer review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

ed publications are on

assessment for learning Assessment may refer to: Healthcare *Health assessment, identifies needs of the patient and how those needs will be addressed *Nursing assessment, gathering information about a patient's physiological, psychological, sociological, and spiritual s ...

(AFL) and formative assessment.

References

Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Welsh educators 21st-century Welsh educators Welsh educational theorists Welsh schoolteachers Alumni of London South Bank University Alumni of the Open University Alumni of St Cuthbert's Society, Durham Alumni of the University of London People educated at Altrincham Grammar School for Boys People educated at Whitchurch Grammar School, Cardiff {{education-stub