School Based Assessment andReporting UnitCurriculum Directorate

Assessment

What is assessment?

“Assessment is the process of identifying, gathering and interpreting information about students' learning. The central purpose of assessment is to provide information on student achievement and progress and set the direction for ongoing teaching and learning.”

(Principles for Assessment and Reporting in NSW Government Schools)

“Schools are to undertake assessment to collect information about students’ learning. This will occur through both formal and informal activities.

Assessment of student learning will be undertaken for all learners, including students with disabilities:

enrolled in regular classes; enrolled in special classes or in special schools; accessing life skills outcomes and content in Years 7-10 or following life skills

patterns of study in Years 11-12.”

(Policy Standards for Curriculum Planning and Programming, Assessing and Reporting to Parents K-12)

Good assessment practice requires that students are assessed using appropriate strategies for the information that is being collected during teaching and learning. To ensure that assessing student achievement and progress is manageable, it is important that teachers are clear about what is expected in assessment.

Describing effective assessment

Assessment programs that focus on individual outcomes create assessment regimes that are inappropriate and unmanageable. Assessment should address groups of outcomes and should enable teachers to make judgements which:

inform teaching and learning provide feedback to students provide a basis for reporting to parents

Describing effective

assessment

Purposes of assessment

Teachers need to be clear about what they are assessing and why.

Assessment provides information for participants in the teaching and learning process to compare what is known and can be demonstrated against standards.

Assessment takes many forms in schools and classrooms: Formal and informal observation and discussion with students Formal assessment tasks Formative monitoring and adjustment of teaching Summative assessment at key points Comparing evidence of achievement with other students Comparing evidence of achievement against syllabus standards.

Assessment provides vital information at the point of planning, along the way and at the end of a cycle in preparation for the next teaching and learning cycle. In a standards framework, teachers can compare student achievement against syllabus standards that remain constant over time.

Discussion

What do you consider are the features of effective assessment practice?

Features of effective assessment practice

assesses what has been taught links directly to syllabus outcomes allows for a range of performance engages students in purposeful interaction or activity is equitable in allowing opportunities and access for

students to demonstrate what they know and can do is clear and explicit has clear criteria for making judgements provides clear directions for teaching and learning promotes reliable and consistent judgements by teachers allows students to clearly understand and be involved in

the assessment process provides meaningful feedback to students, parents and

other teachers

Choosing the right grade in the

assessment process

allocating grades requires teachers to use their on-balance judgement in relation to standards.

this is a key professional skill. an on-balance judgement does not just focus on a

single piece of work. teachers weigh up the assessment information

collected for a student up to that point in time. this information will come from both formal

assessment activities and informal observations and will be built up over time and in different situations.

Assessment for learning

Assessment for learning acknowledges that assessment should occur as a regular part of teaching and learning and that the information gained from assessment activities can be used to shape the teaching and learning process.

Assessment for learning: is an essential and integrated part of teaching and learning reflects a belief that all students can improve involves setting learning goals with students helps students know and recognise the standards they are aiming

for involves students in self-assessment and peer assessment provides feedback that helps students understand the next steps

in learning and plan how to achieve them involves teachers, students and parents reflecting on assessment

data.

Principles of assessment for learning

i) Emphasises the interactions between learning and manageable assessment strategies that promote learning

In practice, this means: teachers reflect on the purposes of assessment and on their

assessment strategies assessment activities allow for demonstration of learning

outcomes assessment is embedded in learning activities and informs

the planning of future learning activities teachers use assessment to identify what a student can

already do

Principles of assessment for learning

ii) Clearly expresses for the student and teacher the goals of the learning activity

In practice, this means: students understand the learning goals and the criteria that

will be applied to judge the quality of their achievement students receive feedback that helps them make further

progress

Principles of assessment for

learning

iii) Reflects a view of learning in which assessment helps students learn better, rather than just achieve a better mark

In practice, this means: teachers use tasks that assess, and therefore encourage,

deeper learning feedback is given in a way that motivates the learner and

helps students to understand that mistakes are a part of learning and can lead to improvement

assessment is an integral component of the teaching-learning process rather than being a separate activity

Principles of assessment for learning

iii) Reflects a view of learning in which assessment helps students learn better, rather than just achieve a better mark

In practice, this means: teachers use tasks that assess, and therefore encourage,

deeper learning feedback is given in a way that motivates the learner and

helps students to understand that mistakes are a part of learning and can lead to improvement

assessment is an integral component of the teaching-learning process rather than being a separate activity

Principles of assessment for

learning

iv) Provides ways for students to use feedback from assessment

In practice, this means: feedback is directed to the achievement of standards and

away from comparisons with peers feedback is clear and constructive about strengths and

weaknesses feedback is individualised and linked to opportunities for

improvement

Principles of assessment for learning

v) Helps students take responsibility for their own learning

In practice, this means: assessment includes strategies for self-assessment and

peer assessment emphasising the next steps needed for further learning

Principles of assessment for learning

vi) Is inclusive of all learners

In practice, this means: assessment against standards provides opportunities for all

learners to achieve their best assessment activities are free of bias.

Assessment of learning

Assessment of learning is assessment for accountability purposes, to determine a student's level of performance on a specific task or at the conclusion of a unit of teaching and learning. The information gained from this kind of assessment is often used in reporting.

Discussion

How do we currently assess our students? What is working well? What are our concerns? What are the purposes for assessment in our

school? What assessment strategies do we use? Identify

as many as you can. How do we use assessment to identify students’

strengths and weaknesses for curriculum planning purposes?

Quality Teaching Assessment

Practice

The assessment practices of teachers are clearly much broader than the written materials they use for assessing student achievement and progress.

The “Quality teaching in NSW public schools: an assessment practice guide” has been written to assist schools in building a shared vision. It provides an elaboration of the elements of the model to assist teachers and school leaders to talk about assessment practice and to understand what constitutes quality teaching.

Quality Teaching Assessment

Practice

When planning assessment the students to tasks it is useful to consider the following four questions:

What do you want learn? Why does that learning matter? What are you going to get the students to

do or produce? How well do you expect them to do it?

Quality Teaching

Assessment Practice

What do you want the students to learn?

Consider: Key concepts in KLA outcomes and

content How do key concepts relate to each other?

Quality Teaching Assessment Practice

Why does that learning matter?

Consider: Does the learning have meaning in the

world beyond the classroom? How does the learning link to prior

learning? How does the learning in one task link to

the learning in another?

Quality Teaching Assessment

Practice

What are you going to get the students to do or produce?

Consider: How will students demonstrate their deep

understanding of key concepts? Assessment tied to concepts Which products or performances will be

most meaningful to students?

Quality Teaching Assessment

Practice

How well do you expect them to do it?

Consider: High expectations for student performance

and/or product. How will students know what a quality

product or presentation looks like? How will they know when they have

achieved the outcomes?