Consistency of Teacher Judgement Human Society and Its Environment 7-10 © 2007 Curriculum K-12 Directorate, NSW Department of Education and Training

What is Consistency? Consistency in relation to assessment occurs when teachers are able to make the same judgements about student learning independent of the: student teacher location or the time.

The basis of judgements Judgements about student learning are based on a shared understanding of the syllabus standard: its expectations, content and requirements.

Consistency in making assessment judgements can be improved by providing sufficient time on a regular basis for : faculty planning of assessment policies and procedures the development of moderation procedures to provide comparability How is Consistency developed?

Faculty Planning to assist consistency 1. collaboratively plan teaching programs which clearly state the intended learning and nominate assessment of learning tasks. 2. collaboratively develop faculty assessment policy and practices including components and weightings.

Faculty Planning to assist consistency (2) 3. For each assessment of learning task, collaboratively develop marking criteria that incorporate the syllabus standard 4. Discuss samples of student work in relation to the marking criteria to establish common understanding of what the criteria look like at different levels of performance.

Faculty Planning to assist consistency (3) 5. Assessment of learning information for each student could be organised according to faculty determinations on components and weighting. 6. In some schools, students may have a class assessment rank and score or common assessment tasks. 7. Schools may choose their own appropriate processes to inform assessment judgements

Moderation Moderation is a process where teachers compare judgements to ensure they are equitable and either confirm or adjust them.

Professional dialogue Irrespective of the processes engaged, teachers will benefit from ongoing discussion about student work samples in relation to the tasks and marking criteria. These discussions will enhance the comparability of teacher judgements.

Moderation and consistency Moderation of assessment of learning judgements Comparing assessments given by different teachers when using or not using common criteria to achieve consistent judgements. Moderation of ranking across classes Applying the results of a common assessment instrument to adjust/establish marks/rankings across groups to achieve consistent judgements about grades/descriptions

Allocating A to E reporting grades Grades/descriptions are allocated on the basis of using holistic and on-balance judgements about the work of students, In cases where students are ranked according to assessment procedures, teachers may work together to decide an appropriate allocation of grades based on their corporate understanding of the five point achievement scale