Religious Literacy Assessment 2015 Data Analysis Staff Meeting for 2015 Results Catholic Education Office, Wollongong – CLEM Services – BR

Religious Literacy Overview  The Religious Literacy Assessment Project is part of the Partners in Learning initiative begun in 2000 between the Australian Catholic University and CEO Wollongong  Completed its eleventh year in  Its goal is a practical assessment and reporting system at a diocesan level that contributes to gathering information about the process of learning in RE.  Its aim is to document and report on students’ learning in RE and be able to tell that story on a continuing basis.  The Religious Literacy assessment is placed in Year 4 at the end of Stage 2 of schooling. Catholic Education Office, Wollongong – CLEM Services – BR

Religious Literacy Definition Being religiously literate requires children leaving Catholic Primary School to be able to communicate with and be at home in Catholic society and religion in general. Catholic Education Office, Wollongong – CLEM Services – BR

Religious Literacy  Religious Literacy is about understanding, participating and communicating between: members of the group the group and its texts the group, the individuals and God  It encompasses knowledge, practices, strategies and skills for communicating within a Catholic community. Catholic Education Office, Wollongong – CLEM Services – BR

Religious Literacy Assessment  Assessment of religious literacy focuses on students’ knowledge and understanding of the key concepts that are being addressed by the RE program and the students’ ability to communicate with their religious tradition Catholic Education Office, Wollongong – CLEM Services – BR

Religious Literacy Framework Informs RE assessment across K-6  Knowing the Tradition knowledge & understanding outcomes  Working with the Tradition reasoning skills  Applying the Tradition practical and social skills  Valuing the Tradition attitudes & values Catholic Education Office, Wollongong – CLEM Services – BR

Religious Literacy Assessment K-6  The Religious Literacy Assessment framework should be employed across K-6.  It is NOT just a Year 4 concern!  When devising assessment strategies in your program use a range from across the RLA framework of Knowing, Working with, Applying and Valuing the tradition. Knowing the Tradition knowledge & understanding outcomes Working with the Tradition reasoning skills Applying the Tradition practical and social skills Valuing the Tradition attitudes & values Catholic Education Office, Wollongong – CLEM Services – BR

Choose one RE unit in your Year for a rich extended task assessment experience.  Select a ‘high stakes’ unit or one with content that lends itself to a rich, extended task out of the 8 units in your Year Level. For example…  Kinder: Unit K.4 God’s Great Family  Year 1: Unit 1.4 Nourished by God  Year 2: Unit 2.6 Reconciliation  Year 3: Unit 3.7 Eucharist  Year 5: Unit 5.5 Church in Australia  Year 6: Unit 6.6 The Bible Catholic Education Office, Wollongong – CLEM Services – BR

Important Consideration…  The Religious Literacy Assessment has a diversity of questions, drawing on a range of outcomes identified across Early Stage 1, Stage 1 and Stage 2.  If teachers and schools are addressing the outcomes and Unit Contents of the RE curriculum from K-4 this is more than adequate preparation for the Part A workbook.  A previous Part A Workbook is only to be used in conjunction with this Data Analysis Staff Meeting to assist teachers in identifying areas of strengths and weaknesses and/or areas that need to be addressed.  The Part A Workbook is most definitely NOT to be used to prepare students in a contrived way for the Religious Literacy Assessment. Any teacher or school that would use a previous Part A workbook to prepare their students is not only behaving unethically, but is also not complying with the spirit and intent of the Religious Literacy Assessment. Catholic Education Office, Wollongong – CLEM Services – BR

System Wide Assessment  Influence learning and accountability  Drive a culture of reflection on learning, pedagogy and improvement Catholic Education Office, Wollongong – CLEM Services – BR

The Instrument  Part A – Multiple choice/restricted answer and short answer/performance questions. 30 questions (Assessment of learning)  Part B – Extended Task Scenario with focus derived from Unit 4.6 One With God’s Creation  1 task with 10 sets of criteria (Assessment for, as and of learning) Catholic Education Office, Wollongong – CLEM Services – BR

Levels of Performance Developing  able to identify some of the basic facts and concepts that are included in Early Stage 1, Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the Primary Religious Education Curriculum,  able to respond to information based texts and other simple forms of communication in RE within his or her immediate experience.  may be able to use some of the literacy skills that were gained as part of schooling. Catholic Education Office, Wollongong – CLEM Services – BR

Levels of Performance Achieving  able to identify facts and concepts that are included in Early Stage 1, Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the Primary Religious Education Curriculum,  able to use simple reasoning skills to process information, respond, and interact with several forms of communication in RE.  Performance is well with in the expectation of the Yr 4 Curriculum Catholic Education Office, Wollongong – CLEM Services – BR

Levels of Performance Extending  able to identify facts and concepts that are included in Early Stage 1, Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the Primary Religious Education Curriculum,  able to use more developed reasoning and practical skills to process information, respond, and interact with oral, written and other forms of communication in RE.  able to move across materials that are presented in written, oral and visual forms.  able to present personal ideas, positions and values that relate to the religious tradition Catholic Education Office, Wollongong – CLEM Services – BR

Diocesan Mean (2007 – 2015) PART APART BOVERALL %52.44%NA %68.60%66.98% %67.16%68.29% %68.36%68.18% %64.10%67.27% %65.77%66.62% %66.69%65.21% %66.61%66.57% %69.07%69.18% Catholic Education Office, Wollongong – CLEM Services – BR

School Reports Package  Report 1 – This outlines each item in Part A and gives the distribution of responses as a percentage for the school and the diocese.  Report 2 – Contains Individual Student Reports. This shows:  Each student’s level of achievement for Parts A and B.  Each student’s level of achievement overall for the Religious Literacy Assessment as an arrow position on a continuum.  The diocesan percentage in each level of achievement for comparison. (Students who only sat one part of the assessment will not have the diocesan statistics shown on their report)  Report 3 - The Indicators Report identifies the list of indicators for Part A. The achievement of each indicator is shown as a percentage for your school and for the diocese.  Report 5 - (Excel File) – This contains each individual student’s achievement of indicators.  Report 6 - Distribution of Performance Levels – This contains the distribution of performance levels for Parts A and B for the school and the diocese and includes 2012 and 2013 data enabling comparison across years.  Report 7 – Diocesan and School Distribution and Statistics for Part A, B and Overall - This contains the distribution and detailed statistics for Parts A and B for the school and the diocese and includes, mean, median, standard deviation and the highest % score.  Report 8 – (Excel File) – This contains student scores related to each assessment item.  Report 14 – This is a NEW report for 2015 and shows the Overall Performance Order for student rankings, indicating top performances plus those above/below diocesan mean. Catholic Education Office, Wollongong – CLEM Services – BR

 Identify questions where your school achieved well.  Look at where there is a high percentage of incorrect responses. Can you identify selections /choices made by students that need addressing?

Student Report  Student levels of achievement for Parts A and B  The diocesan mean for comparison  A graph with shaded regions and a solid circle indicating overall religious literacy student performance on a continuum  A black arrow pointing to the Diocesan Average  There is also an inclusion for a student ranking where a student has performed very well (between the top 1 -10%). NB This inclusion is only printed on the reports of those top performing students

 Identify indicators where your school achieved well.  Identify indicators that were not achieved by your school. Compare with Diocesan results.

Catholic Education Office, Wollongong – CLEM Services – BR

 Report 14 – This is a NEW report for 2015 and shows the Overall Performance Order for student rankings, indicating top performances plus those above/below diocesan mean.

Part A Workbook: Table of Specification 2015 Year Levels Knowing Working with Applying Levels Total Kinder 3% 9% Year 1 10% 30% Year 2 7% 3%17% Year 3 14%17%7%38% Year 4 3%0%3%6% Process Total 37% 26%100% Catholic Education Office, Wollongong – CLEM Services – BR