The first part of "Assessment for Learning" ("EiS", February 2009) summarised some of the research that led to the recognition of the benefit to be had from formative assessment. As noted there, hardly any of the studies had been carried out in normal classrooms, leaving questions over how to translate the general strategies identified in the research and how to introduce useful procedures to teachers. So, the questions of concern were, for example: was it necessary to put all the strategies into practice to obtain the benefits and, if not, were some more effective than others? Did teachers need to understand the reasons (in terms of theories of pupils' learning) for why the strategies "worked" or just that they did "work"? What changes in the classroom would indicate that Assessment for Learning (AfL) was being implemented? At the policy level, formative assessment, or AfL, has been taken up in different ways. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, attention to formative assessment has been part of much wider education policy changes, a key feature of which has been termination of high stakes national testing. This recognised the damage from such tests to pupils' learning experiences and to teaching, including inhibiting the implementation of formative assessment. In England, the action taken to implement formative assessment looks like an "add-on", compared with the radical changes in other parts of the UK.