Hannah's speech

Assessment: Hannah


Assessment characterizes all stages of schooling. This part of education involves identifying, gathering and interpreting information about students’ learning in education. (Brady & Kennedy, 2009) Wormeli states that Instructional decisions of assessment practice are based not only on what we know about curriculum, but also on what we know about the specific students we serve (Wormeli, 2006, p20).


The purpose of assessment programs are to:
 Improve teaching
 Help students achieve the highest standards they can within their own capabilities
 Provide meaningful reports to parents/carers on students’ achievement
(Queensland Studies Authority)


Types of Assessment


Assessment consists of different types in order to assess students’ knowledge and understanding, skills, attitudes and values, and behaviour. Teachers develop a range of different assessable ways to identify these areas in individuals.


Formative Involves formal or informal types of assessment intended to help students gain a higher level of performance. Ways in which a teacher could develop this type of assessment is through testing, class quizzes, checklist for observation of students work, and peer and self assessment.


Summative is the type of assessment that indicates the achievement or level of performance that students deliver by the end of a focus teaching area.
This level or performance can be delivered through reporting, certification, culminating task (projects for example), test and essays.


Diagnostic is a particular type of formative assessment that is intended for determining the nature of a student’s learning problems and to then provide feedback or intervention. This type of assessment is developed through reading, writing and numeracy problems that students may show.


NAPLAN is a national program test taken yearly in every school for years 3, 5, 7 and 9s that covers the areas of literacy and numeracy. This development of assessment provides judgment about students of the schools; compares the results to other schools’ results and helps with identifying students learning abilities to focus on throughout the year.


What results show? What to do with the results


Assessment results with:
 providing students with opportunities to demonstrate core learning outcomes
 gathering and recording evidence about students’ demonstrations of these core learning outcomes
 Using this evidence as the basis for making overall judgments’ about students’ demonstrations of core learning outcomes.


Teachers are able to use individual student results to identify specific learning difficulties and the causes, inorder to create higher achievement. This is developed through data collection and observations, taking action that benefits those students, appraising evidence and working with others such as parents and colleagues.


Assessment places individual students on a scale of achievement in particular learning areas that helps teachers decide what steps to take next for students to achieve better results by the end of the year. Students’ level of abilities are displayed in such a way through NAPLAN testing.
Steps taken by teachers are usually feedback on what results show. Lambert and Lines, Understanding Assessment, state that feedback should be conducted at the level of individual learners and avoid comparisons with other pupils. (Lambert & Lines, 2000, p137) Feedback stands some chance of being ‘consequentially valid’ when the initial assessment produces evidence on which teaching and learning decisions can be based. (Lambert & Lines, 2000, p136)


Some teachers think students will fail at integrity because we didn’t attach integrity to academic grades, but we give students feedback on integrity in many other ways. They will gain integrity by our careful attention to substantive and clear feedback. (Wormeli, 2006, p100)


Informing Parents/Carers


Assessment is a record that can be profiled to inform parents and other educators on the progress of students learning ways. Profiles are seen as purely as a personal record of experience and achievement for pupils, rather than merely as something done to them (Wragg, 2001, p77). This profile can be used for evidence when it is time to communicate with parents about their child’s achievements. Communication is usually conducted twice during the year to discuss and allow parents the opportunity to be involved in assessment process and negotiation for improvements (Brady & Kennedy, 2009, p111). It is the support and partnerships between home and school that are of importance.
References:


Brady, L., and Kennedy, K. (2009). Celebrating student achievement: Assessment and Reporting, Pearson Education Australia, Frenchs Forest, NSW.


Lambert, D., and Lines, D. (2000). Understanding Assessment: Purposes, perceptions, practice, RoutledgeFalmer, London.


The State of Queensland (Queensland Studies Authority) 2010.


Wormeli, R. (2006). Fair Isn't Always Equal: Assessing and grading in the differentiated classroom, Stenhouse Publishers, Portland, Maine.


Wragg, E., C. (2001). Assessment and Learning in the Primary School, RoutledgeFalmer, London.


Year 1-10 Curriculum Framework for education Queensland Schools (2001), Governemnt Printers, Brisbane.