1. School Based Assessment and Reporting Unit Curriculum Directorate

2. 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 ”
(Policy Standards for Curriculum Planning and Programming, Assessing and Reporting to Parents K-12)

3. 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.

4. 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

5. 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.
Formative Assessment
Formative assessment is the practice of building a cumulative profile of student achievement. This usually takes place during day-to-day classroom activities and involves informal interaction and systematic observation of the student. While it may also include more formal assessment procedures, formative assessment provides a broader profile of the student than formal assessment may provide. It is a valid and valuable part of overall assessment.
Summative Assessment:
Summative assessment is the practice of making judgements about student achievement at certain relevant points in the learning program, such as at the end of units of work, or the end of a term or year of schooling. Formal assessment activities such as tests, projects and assignments are generally used to make summative judgements. Such assessment tools may focus on a single outcome or on a number of outcomes.
Formative and summative assessment complement each other, and both should be used to form a comprehensive profile of student achievement.

6. Discussion
What do you consider are the features of effective assessment practice?
List suggested features and compare to those listed on next slide.

7. 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

8. 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.
Emphasise the importance of the overall professional judgements being made. These judgements are based on not just assessment tasks, but observations, ongoing anecdotal records and other contextual information known by the teacher.

9. 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.

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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.

17. 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.

18. 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?

19. 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.
The Assessment Practice guide can be used in further professional learning activities to design rich assessment tasks. It is important that teachers develop rich assessment tasks that allow for students to demonstrate extensive knowledge and application of this knowledge with a high level of competence. Provide professional learning opportunities for teachers to code assessment tasks using the QT Assessment Guide, to inform further development of effective assessment tasks for their students.

20. 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?

21. 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?

22. 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?

23. 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?

24. 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?