Assessment

On assessment: measure what you value instead of valuing only what you can measure.

Andy Hargreaves

Assessment   

Week 5 Assessment

In our final week before your placement, we are exploring assessment approaches to support and measure learning of Digital Technologies, including notions of formative, summative and diagnostic assessment. 

In tutorial this week we will discuss the various assessment policies and documents provided by the QCAA and ACARA. Looks at those provided below, and come along with your questions.

The following information outlines the K–12 assessment position of the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) and provides a foundation for building and clarifying knowledge and understanding of assessment literacy. It is intended to support and guide the processes integral to quality teaching, learning, assessment and reporting.

Understanding K–12 assessment (PDF, 307.3 KB)

Assessment:

Principles and attributes of assessment

The following principles form the foundation of beliefs about assessment practices.

Principles of quality assessment (QCAA 2017a) should be:

Quality assessment (QCAA 2017b) is characterised by three attributes:

Assessment

Assessment is the ongoing process of gathering, analysing and reflecting on evidence to make informed judgments about the achievement or capabilities of individuals and cohorts.

Assessment plays an integral role in improving learning and informing teaching. Its fundamental purpose is to establish where learners are in an aspect of their learning at the time of assessment (Masters 2014).

The literature uses different terms about assessment, including assessment for, as and of learning, diagnostic, formative and summative.

Assessment for, as and of learning

Assessment for learning, assessment as learning and assessment of learning (Earl 2013) are purposes for which evidence is gathered about student progression to improve teaching and learning. Assessment for these purposes can involve both teachers and students, providing opportunities for them to give and receive feedback and inform future planning. The principles and attributes described above should be considered when planning any assessment.

Assessment for learning

Assessment for learning occurs throughout the learning process and could be diagnostic[1] and/or formative[2].

Assessment as learning

Assessment as learning places the student central to the processes of assessing and learning. Students monitor their own learning and use formal and informal feedback and self-assessment to determine the next steps required to meet learning outcomes/objectives. Assessment as learning encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning.

Assessment of learning

Assessment of learning is often referred to as summative[3] assessment and can include formal assessment tasks, internal or school-devised assessment and external assessment.

Uses of assessment

Assessment information has multiple uses, including:

Assessment literacy

What is assessment literacy?

Assessment literacy is defined as the skills and knowledge teachers require to design, evaluate and quality assure assessment performances to support student learning (DeLuca 2016).

Teachers who are assessment literate:

As students move through the phases of schooling, they become increasingly assessment literate, with the ability to:

School assessment policies

School assessment policies provide guidelines for teachers and expectations for all staff and students for assessment. These policies support schools in promoting equitable and credible outcomes, including academic integrity.

Academic integrity

Academic integrity requires academic responsibilities to be approached in an honest, moral and ethical way. Schools, parents/carers and others who support students in their learning are responsible for promoting and maintaining academic integrity.

When students genuinely demonstrate their learning, they achieve results based on their own work and effort. Students will become increasingly more aware of their responsibility in demonstrating academic integrity as they progress through the phases of schooling.

Quality assurance

Assessment-literate teachers use quality assurance processes to develop a shared understanding of the expected quality of learning performance (Willis & Adie 2016). This assists teachers to improve teaching and inform assessment processes.

Quality assurance processes involve teachers:

Moderation

Moderation of assessment is a process in which teachers engage in focused dialogue to share their observations and judgments in order to:

Conversations should occur before judgments about the quality of work are given to learners. This provides students and parents/carers with confidence that the decisions made are an accurate judgment of achievement.

Quality assurance processes for Senior schooling

The QCAA operates quality assurance processes for internal assessment in Applied, Applied (Essential), General, General (Extension) subjects and Short Courses.

The QCAA quality assurance processes support schools to develop and administer assessment instruments and ensure consistency of judgments about student responses. The processes support the continual improvement of assessment practices in schools.

Feedback

Purpose of feedback

The purpose of feedback is to provide meaningful information about a student’s strengths and areas for improvement to support them to progress towards their learning goals.

How teachers and students make use of assessment information is vital to understanding and improving learning. Effective feedback encourages self-reflection, allows students to actively monitor and evaluate their own learning, and facilitates self-direction and motivation. Together assessment and feedback support continuous, collaborative, active and self-directed learning.

Characteristics of effective feedback

To support evaluation, self-reflection and improved understanding, feedback should be:

Reporting

Schools should refer to their sector policies for reporting requirements.

Purpose of reporting

The purpose of reporting is to communicate assessment information, formally or informally, to help students, parents/carers, teachers and education authorities make decisions about what students know and can do, including recommendations for their future learning.

Reports/statements may provide:

Characteristics of effective reporting

To support the effective communication of achievement, areas for improvement, and actions that the student, school and parents/carers might take, reports/statements should be:

The National Education Agreement (Australian Government 2015) underpins the legal obligations of schools and teachers in relation to reporting.

QCAA Techniques and Conditions

Techniques and conditions provide advice that supports teachers to develop a range and balance within an assessment program. A range and balance of assessment gives students the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge, understanding and skills across a year or band of years.

Resources

ac_tech_digital_yr7-8_tc.pdf
ac_tech_digital_yr9-10_tc.pdf

QCAA Making Judgements

Judgments about evidence of student learning are made against the Australian Curriculum achievement standard, which represents the C standard (or equivalent).

Teachers make judgments about the evidence in student work using task-specific standards that contribute to a planned assessment folio containing evidence of student learning. Teachers can use the standards elaborations to create task-specific standards for making judgments about student work.

Advice

ac_develop_task-specific_standards.pdf
ac_making_judgments.pdf

QCAA Standards Elaborations

The QCAA has developed standards elaborations from the Australian Curriculum achievement standards. The standards elaborations provide teachers with a tool for making consistent, comparable and defensible judgments about how well, on a five-point scale, students have demonstrated what they know, understand and can do.

The standards elaborations can be used to:

Resources


ac_tech_digital_yr7-8_se (1).pdf
ac_tech_digital_yr9-10_se (4).pdf

QCAA Quality Assurance

Quality assurance processes enable schools and teachers to develop a shared understanding of the expected quality of learning performance.

Advice

Resources

ac_p-10_feedback.pdf
ac_strategies_ensuring_authenticity.pdf
ac_qa_attributes_principles_assess_design.pdf
ac_qa_reflect_tool.pdf

QCAA Moderation

Moderation of assessment is a process whereby teachers engage in focused professional conversations to share their observations and judgments. They do so to improve the consistency of their decisions, and to ensure their judgments are as valid, reliable and fair as possible.

Advice

Resources

ac_moderation_advice.pdf
ac_moderation_models.pdf
ac_moderation_protocols.pdf
ac_moderation_recording_sheet.docx
ac_moderation_summary_sheet.docx

QCAA Reporting

Schools are required to provide parents/carers with a report on each student twice a year. In most schools, this takes place at the end of each semester.

Reports should be:

Schooling sectors and/or employing authorities provide advice for schools about reporting requirements.

Advice


ac_reporting_advice_guidelines.pdf

9-10 Example Curriculum and Assessment Plan


ac_year_plan_template7_10.dotx
ac_tech_digital_yr09-10_ca_plan.docx

9-10 Example Assessment Plan 

9-10 Elaborations Rubric

ac_tech_digital_yr9-10_plan.pdf
ac_tech_digital_yr9-10_se.pdf

7-8 Example Assessment Plan

ac_tech_digital_yr7-8_plan.pdf

7-8 Elaborations Rubric

ac_tech_digital_yr7-8_se.pdf

Scope and Sequence

ac_tech_digital_p-10_sequence_content.pdf

ACARA Assessment Guidelines

ac_technologies_yr7-10.pdf

References

Australian Government 2018, The National School Reform Agreement: https://www.dese.gov.au/quality-schools-package/national-school-reform-agreement

Earl, L M 2013, Assessment as learning: Using classroom assessment to maximise student learning 2nd edn, Corwin, California, USA, ISBN 978-1-4522-4297-2

DeLuca, C, LaPointe-McEwan, D & Luhanga, U 2016, ‘Approaches to classroom assessment inventory: A new instrument to support teacher assessment literacy’, Educational Assessment, vol. 21, issue 4, pp. 248–266, https://doi.org/10.1080/10627197.2016.1236677

Masters, G N 2014, ‘Assessment: Getting to the essence’, Designing the Future, issue 1, Centre for Assessment Reform and Innovation, www.acer.org/cari/articles/assessment-getting-to-the-essence

Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) 2020, QCE and QCIA policy and procedures handbook v2.0 https://www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/senior/certificates-and-qualifications/qce-qcia-handbook

Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) 2018, Understanding K–12 assessment, www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/k-12-policies/student-assessment/understanding-assessment

QCAA 2018a, Principles of quality assessment, www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/k-12-policies/student-assessment/understanding-assessment/principles-quality-assessment

QCAA 2018b, Attributes of quality assessment, www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/k-12-policies/student-assessment/understanding-assessment/attributes-quality-assessment

Willis, J & Adie, L 2016, ‘Developing teacher formative assessment practices through professional dialogue: Case studies of practice from Queensland, Australia’, paper presented at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association,Washington DC, 8–12 April, https://eprints.qut.edu.au/98412


[1] Diagnostic assessment gathers evidence on a student’s strengths or discrete knowledge and skills. This evidence can inform further support, differentiation or intervention to teaching and learning.

[2] Formative assessment is undertaken throughout the teaching and learning process to determine progress on achieving learning outcomes/objectives. Formative assessment provides the basis for feedback that is used to adjust teaching and learning and can help teachers to differentiate instruction.

[3]Summative assessment is undertaken at defined key points of the teaching and learning process to indicate standards achieved and informs reporting/certification. Summative assessment provides sufficient evidence of learning to make defensible and comparable judgments about the quality of student responses against predetermined standards/objectives.

ac_unit_plan_template_7-10.dotx