Defining Assessment

Assessment in the Classroom“Assessment is today’s means of understanding howto modify tomorrow’s instruction.”Carol Tomlinson Lyn Gordon

Defining Assessment Assessment is the process of gathering and interpreting evidence to make judgements about student learning. It is the crucial link between learning outcomes, content and teaching and learning activities. Assessment is used by learners and their teachers to decide where the learners are at in their learning, where they need to go next, and how best to get there. The purpose of assessment is to improve learning, inform teaching, help students achieve the highest standards they can and provide meaningful reports on student achievement.

Assessment Policy Rationale: Accurate and comprehensive assessment of student performance against state-wide standards aids in establishing open communication, guides student learning, assists in establishing future direction, and helps to identify areas of exemplary performance, as well as those areas in need of support and assistance. Aims: • To assess school and student performance accurately and comprehensively against state-wide standards • To improve student learning by accurately determining current performance as well as areas of future learning and development Implementation: • Schools are responsible for accurately assessing student achievement against state-wide standards and progression points detailed within the Australian Curriculum / Victorian Essential Learning Standards (AusVELS). • Assessment requires a mix of summative assessment of learning to determine and report what the student has learned, formative assessment to guide future learning, and ongoing assessment to focus teacher feedback alongside student self-assessment and reflection. Fundamentally, assessment will be used primarily to guide future teaching and learning, rather than simply a prelude to reporting achievement. • The school will establish a whole-school assessment schedule for teachers which will include a variety of assessment strategies providing multiple sources of information about student achievement. These may include tests and assignments, projects, portfolios, performance observations, discussions and involvement in state-wide standardised testing processes such NAPLAN and school entry assessment tests. • The school will develop a manageable system of keeping records that will provide a rich mixture of observations, results, reflections and discussions. • Teachers will use the data they collect to make judgements about, and report on, student achievement in the AusVELS strands and standards. • Staff will participate in moderation professional development involving assessment maps and annotated work samples so that they can apply consistent judgements of student progress against AusVELS standards across the school. • Self-assessment by students against individual learning goals will comprise an additional component of the assessment program. • In-services for parents on assessment, AusVELS and NAPLAN will be provided. • The school will assess the achievements of students with disabilities and impairments in the context of the AusVELS. Program support groups will help develop individual student profiles containing learning goals for each student. Progress towards learning goals will be assessed and reported by the program support group. • Students for whom English is a second language will have their progress in English reported against the ESL Companion to the AusVELS. Evaluation: • This policy will be reviewed annually as part of the school’s four-year review cycle.

Literacy Assessment Schedule

Numeracy Assessment Schedule

At Duke University, there were four students taking chemistry and all of them had an "A" so far. These four friends were so confident, that the weekend before their final exam they decided to visit some friends and indulge in a big party. They had a great time, but after all the partying; they slept all day Sunday and didn't make it back to the university until early Monday morning. Rather than taking the final exam then, they decided that after the exam they would explain to their professor why they missed it. They said that they visited friends but on the way back they had a flat tyre. As a result, they missed the exam. The professor agreed they could make up the exam the next day. The students were relieved and studied long and hard that night in preparation. The Professor placed them in separate rooms and gave them a test booklet. They quickly answered the first problem, worth 5 points. Great, they thought! Each one in a separate room, thinking this was going to be easy ... then they turned the page. On the second page was written ... For 95 points: Which tyre? ____________________________

Principles Underpinning Effective Assessment Practice In 2002 the Assessment Reform Group (Cambridge University, School of Education) produced ten principles that are fundamental to assessment for learning. Assessment should: • be regarded as a key professional skill for teachers • be part of effective planning of teaching and learning • promote commitment to learning goals and a shared understanding of the criteria by which they are assessed • be recognised as central to classroom practice • focus on how students learn • provide constructive guidance about how to improve • develop each learner’s capacity for self-assessment so that they can become reflective and self-managing • take account of the importance of learner motivation • be sensitive and constructive because any assessment has an emotional impact • recognise the full range of educational achievement

Assessment can be used for: • Planning: finding out where the students are at, so that the teacher can start at an appropriate place, finding out how this particular group of students best learn. • Student feedback: so students know how they are progressing through the learning process. Explicit feedback from the teacher can provide information on what the student is doing that is effective and the next step in the learning process. • Reporting to parents and authorities: Are the students achieving a standard appropriate to their learning ability? What is the next step in their learning? What can be done to support them? What do they need to be doing for themselves?

“Using one assessment for a multitude of purposes is like using a hammer for everything from brain surgery to pile driving.” Walt Honey

Types of Assessment There are three types of assessment: • Diagnostic • Formative • Summative

Diagnostic Assessment Diagnostic assessment can help identify students’ current knowledge of a subject, their skill sets and capabilities, and to clarify misconceptions before teaching takes place. Knowing students’ strengths and areas for development informs strategic planning of what to teach and how to teach it.

Types of Diagnostic Assessment • Pre-tests ~ on content and abilities • Self-assessments ~ identifying skills and competencies • Discussion responses ~ on content-specific prompts • Checklists • Running records • Formal assessment tools

Formative Assessment Formative assessment is used to provide feedback to students and teachers to promote powerful teaching and learning. As assessment for learning, it is used at the beginning of an instructional period and during the process of instruction as teachers check for student understanding. The information gained guides teachers’ decisions in respect to enhanced lesson delivery and instruction. Formative assessment enables students to learn through the process of feedback and opportunities to practise and improve. As students reflect on and monitor their progress this process effectively becomes assessment as learning and contributes to students planning future learning goals.

Types of Formative Assessment • Observations during classroom activities • Learning intentions and success criteria • Homework exercises as revision for tests and of class instruction • Reflection journals that are reviewed periodically during the year • Question and answer sessions, both formal — planned and informal — spontaneous • Conferences between the teacher and student at various points throughout the year • In-class activities where students informally present their completed tasks • Student feedback collected by periodically answering specific questions about the instruction and their self-evaluation of performance and progress • Analysis of writing samples • Reading logs

Summative Assessment Summative assessment contributes to the judgement of student learning for reporting and certification purposes. As assessment of learning,summative assessment takes place after the learning has been completed and provides information and feedback that sums up the teaching and learning process. Teachers document the culmination of students’ learning achievements through tasks that invite students to demonstrate their mastery and knowledge of the course content. Summative assessment data provides teachers with information about how effective teaching strategies have been, time needed for instruction and how to improve teaching for future students.

Types of Summative Assessment • Standardised tests • Examinations • Teacher prepared tests • The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) • Project work ~ project phases submitted at various completion points could be formatively assessed • Formal assignments • AusVELS achievement standards / progression points • Essays • Portfolios ~ could also be assessed during development as a formative assessment • Concept maps • Problem solving activities • Rubrics • Performances • Oral presentations

“When the cook tastes the soup, that’s formative; when the cook discerns there’s no salt in the soup, that’s diagnostic; when the guests taste the soup, that’s summative.” Robert Stake

I have a pet cat and her nam is scrufeeand she cam to our hous and stayd and she liks fish and she liks milk. She relleerelleeliks milk and she relleerelleeliks me. She duz not lik my bruverbecoz he pulls her tarl and she duz not lik my muverbecoz she sayz cats stay out sid and she duz not lik my farverbecoz he rubs her nos in her poo.I relleerelleelikscrufee but not wen she has poo on her nos. Tahlia: Age 7

Best Practice in Assessment Best practice includes: • clear understanding that the purpose of assessment is for students to develop and improve in their learning and for teachers to plan and teach effectively • the use of diagnostic tools to determine what the students already know, understand and can do • ongoing assessment through a variety of differentiated tasks and strategies, both formal and informal, so that sufficient evidence is gathered to make sound judgements about individual student’s learning • students being actively involved in, and having some control over, their learning • learning goals that are explicit in that students know what they are learning, why the learning is important, what products are expected, and how they will be assessed • assessment tasks that are differentiated through offering quality choices of ways for students to demonstrate knowledge, understanding and skills • assessment tasks and strategies that are fair and enable all students to demonstrate their learning achievements • the giving of specific and timely feedback, for example, through conversations between students and the teacher, written feedback, peer assessment and self-assessment • students’ work being discussed and moderated through shared concepts and language • assessment tasks that are integrated/embedded in instruction so that they are a planned and essential part of teaching and learning • authentic assessment tasks that align with the ways such knowledge and skills would be used in the real world

“Assessment is derived from the Latin assidere to sit with or beside. It is something we do with and for a student, not something we do to them.” Grant Wiggins

Consider students’ needs What are you trying to assess? For students who have difficulties with reading and writing, a formal pen-and-paper test is not the best way to assess their understanding and learning of the skills and knowledge taught. Can students demonstrate their learning in another way? Consider alternative forms of assessment such as: • work samples (writing, drawing, concept map, model) • tests (verbal, essay, multiple-choice, matching) • interviews and conferences (taped, verbal, peer assessment, group discussion) • portfolios (diaries, sketches, journals, digital files, notes) • performance (problem solving, role-play, structured discussions, debates) • major work (exhibition, invention, investigative project, recital) Check that students understand the assessment task. Is the language used clear and explicit? What specific needs may students have to be able to access the task? Will they need a reader, a scribe, extra time or a reduction in the length or complexity of the task?

"Too often, educational tests, grades and report cards are treated by teachers as autopsies when they should be viewed as physicals." Douglas Reeves

Misunderstandings about Assessment Misunderstandings about assessment include the following: • Assessment is only the ‘test’ at the end of a unit of work or series of lessons. This ignores the importance of formative assessment. • Assessment is an auditing exercise about what students do and don’t know or can and can’t do, by testing student memory, asking trick questions etc. This fails to align teaching objectives (involving high intellectual quality) with assessment tasks. • Assessment focuses on what is easiest to measure. This fails to address what is important to learn. • Assessment is an average of performances across a teaching period. This fails to reflect that learning is a journey, and results closest to the end, when carefully designed summative assessment tasks are used, should reveal an accurate ‘final’ achievement. • Group assessment is giving the same mark or grade to each participant in a group activity. This ignores the importance of validly assessing each student’s work within a group process. • Assessment is the same as grading. This confuses the purposes of both grading and assessment. They are not synonymous because assessment focuses on gathering information about student learning while grading is an end point judgement about achievement. • Giving zero for work not submitted in the context of a learning achievement is fair. This confuses the purpose of assessing learning with the different purpose of getting students to submit work. • Assessment for an achievement grade includes student dispositions and behaviours. This confuses the purpose of assessment of learning. Attendance, effort, attitudes etc. should be reported on separately from achievement.

How is Assessment planned? Assessment is integral to the teaching and learning cycle. When planning assessment tasks as part of a unit of work, it is important to cater for all students in the class. When constructing an assessment task / activity a range of factors need to be considered: • What is the purpose of the assessment? Is it to gather formative or summative information? • What is the essential learning / learning outcome that students will demonstrate? • How can all students demonstrate their learning? • What evidence will be collected to support this? • What are other skills / concepts that the student will require in order to demonstrate this learning outcome? For example, oral presentations require a student to have both oral communication skills and content knowledge. • What criteria will be used to assess student performance?

Assessment Strategies Assessment Strategies include: • anecdotal records: objective narrative records of student performances, strengths, needs, progress and negative/positive behaviour • authentic tasks: activities that are genuine and purposeful. These can include real life shopping tasks, measuring a ball-park, designing a home, building a bridge or tower, writing about significant issues and so on • checklists, scales or charts: identification and recording of students' achievement can be through rubric levels, letter grade or numerical value, or simply by acceptable/unacceptable • conferences: meetings between the student/parent/teacher and others where progress is checked and goals for growth are established and agreed upon • contracts: agreements or goals (verbal or written) set by the teacher/parents and the student • games: games are excellent opportunities for simulations and small and large group assessment • diagnostic inventories: student responses to a series of questions or statements in any field, either verbally or in writing. These responses may indicate an ability or interest in a particular field. • peer evaluation: assessment by students about one another's performance relative to stated criteria and program outcomes • portfolios: collections of student work that exhibit the students' efforts, progress and achievements in one or more areas • rubrics: a set of guidelines for measuring achievement. Rubrics should state the learning outcome(s) with clear performance criteria and a rating scale or checklist. • self-evaluations: student reflections about his/her own achievements and needs relative to program goals • simulations: the use of problem-solving, decision-making and role-playing tasks • student journals: personal records of, and responses to activities, experiences, strengths, interests and needs • student profiles: a compilation of data which may include student work samples • student-led conferences: where the student plans, implements, conducts and evaluates a conference regarding their learning achievements. The purpose of the conference is to provide a forum in which students can talk about their school work with parents/carers and demonstrate their growth towards being self-directed lifelong learners. • teacher observations: regular, first-hand observations of students, documented by the teacher

“To say that you have taught when students haven't learned is to say you have sold when no one has bought. But how can you know that students have learned without spending hours correcting tests and papers? . . . check students’ understanding while you are teaching (not at 10 o'clock at night when you're correcting papers), so you don't move on with unlearned material that can accumulate like a snowball and eventually engulf the student in confusion and despair.” Madeline Hunter

“One teacher on their feet is worth ten in the seat.”

Defining Assessment