School Based Assessment and

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Assessment

• School Based Assessment and
• Reporting Unit
• Curriculum Directorate

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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)

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Describing effective assessment

• 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.

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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

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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.

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Discussion

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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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?

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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?

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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?

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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?

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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?