Assessment Principles and Practice / Reflective Questions

CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT OutLINE

assessment principles AND REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS

ASSESSMENT PRINCIPLES AND reflective questions

ASSESSMENT PRINCIPLE 1
Assessment should be an integral part of Teaching and Learning
Assessments should arise naturally out of the teaching and intended learning of the curriculum
and syllabus. They should be carefully constructed to enable judgements to be made about
students progress in ways that contribute to ongoing learning.
To do this, assessments should provide information about fine changes in student learning
related to specific aspects of that learning. They should help teachers understand where students
are in their learning, what they need to learn next as well as identify any misunderstandings or
misconceptions that the students have. It is this fine-grained information that enables teachers to
plan programs that challenge students to go beyond what they already know, understand or can
do in order to build new knowledge, understandings and skills.

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There are myriad ways that teachers can find out where students are in their learning including
one-to-one conferencing with individual students, the range of formative assessment strategies
that allow teachers to check students understandings during the course of the lesson, learning
journals, exhibitions, portfolios as well as teacher-devised tests and standardised assessments.
All the information teachers collect about their students should become an integral part of the
planning of instructional activities.
Teachers need to give careful consideration to planning for assessment as well as planning for
teaching. This preparation should include planning how they will draw on their own observations
and planning for summative assessments. Teachers also need to consider how they will refine
their teaching programs based on the information they collect.
Reflecting on integrating teaching and assessment

Background
Fine-grained assessment refers to assessment that examines very specific aspects
of learning. It includes in the moment observations of a student or students; posing
a question in the middle of a lesson to see who has got it and who hasnt; as well as
devising assessments that provide information about specific aspects of learning. Finegrained assessment is an essential component of formative assessment.
Carefully constructed rubrics, score keys and marking guides that arise out of the teaching
need to be developed if formal or recorded assessments are to provide fine-grained
evidence of learning. Where possible, assessments should focus both on learning that
has been achieved and understandings and knowledge that are yet to be acquired, so that
the information collected is relevant for both summative and formative purposes.

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Assessment Principles and Practice / Reflective Questions

CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT OutLINE

assessment principles AND REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS

ASSESSMENT PRINCIPLE 1

Consider how you integrate Teaching and Assessment

Is assessment an integral part of your lesson planning?

What information do you collect during lessons (your observations, student

responses to questions, student participation in group activities and so on) and
to what extent is this information used to shape subsequent lessons?

How do you use assessment information as the starting point of your lesson?

To what extent is your planning for assessment incorporated into lesson

planning?

Do the rubrics, score keys and marking guides that you use reflect what you have
taught and provide you with fine-grained evidence of student learning?

What standardised assessments does the school use and to what extent are you
using these assessments to inform your teaching?

Are there any assessments being conducted where the data collected is not being
used to inform your teaching or to evaluate the school programs?

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Ensure your assessments provide fine-grained information about student learning

You can check whether your assessments provide fine-grained information about student
learning by asking yourself:

Does the assessment enable me to say what students know and understand about
specific aspects of learning?

Does the assessment inform me as to what each of my students needs to learn
next?

Does the assessment distinguish between students of different abilities?
If your answer to these questions is yes, it is likely that your assessments do provide you
with fine-grained information.

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Assessment Principles and Practice / Reflective Questions

CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT OutLINE

assessment principles AND REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS

ASSESSMENT PRINCIPLE 2
Assessment should be educative
Assessment practices should be educationally sound and contribute to learning. Assessments may
do this in a number of ways. Firstly, assessment activities should encourage in-depth and longterm learning. Secondly, assessments should provide feedback that assists students in learning
and informs teachers planning. Thirdly, where appropriate, assessment criteria should be made
explicit to students to focus their attention on what they have to achieve and provide students with
feedback about their progress.
Assessment needs to be comprehensive and balanced across various domains of learning and
assess knowledge and higher order cognitive skills such as problem solving and critical thinking.
Assessments need to be aligned with the curriculum and use a variety of assessment strategies,
on the basis of their relevance to the knowledge, skills and understanding to be assessed and the
purpose of the assessment.
Students
need topolicyR
be included inesources
the assessment process. With expert support, students can learn
Reporting
to assess and evaluate their own learning in a way that further extends that learning. It is important
that teachers are responsive to the unexpected ways students reveal their thinking. These
opportunities can be used to extend or redirect teaching.
Reflecting on educationally sound assessment practices
Background
In-depth long-term learning refers to students having a deep foundation of factual
knowledge; understanding ideas in the context of a conceptual framework; and organising
knowledge in a way that facilitates retrieval and application.
It is therefore important that feedback to students provides logical connections between
what they know and what they need to learn next. If feedback is to be effective, it needs to
be clear, purposeful and compatible with students prior learning.
Assessments also inform the teacher because they enable teachers to determine how
successful their teaching strategies have been and which students require further
instruction.
Consider feedback to your students

Have you determined what information your students need to support their learning?

Does your feedback relate specifically to the task?

Does it identify for students what they got correct and point them in the direction of
what they need to pursue next?

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Assessment Principles and Practice / Reflective Questions

CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT OutLINE

assessment principles AND REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS

ASSESSMENT PRINCIPLE 2

Consider feedback to you

Have you determined what information you need to better understand your students
learning?

Do you plan for the collection of evidence (within your lesson planning)?

Do you anticipate how you will use the information to refine your lessons?

Do you use assessments to identify the point at which a misconception or gap in
learning has developed?

Do you use assessments to identify the next skill or understanding a student or
group of students needs to learn?
Ensure your assessments are educative
There are several ways you can ensure your assessments are educative.
1. Plan focused
and specific
learning aims and plan assessment strategies that
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are compatible with those learning aims. When focused learning and focused
assessment are planned together the assessments are more likely to contribute to
student learning.

2.

Use strategies that enable ongoing checking for understanding and accounting for
every students learning. These strategies should be clearly evident to students so
they get regular information about how they are progressing.

3.

Provide feedback to students to support them in understanding what they currently

know and can do, and what they need to learn next. Ensure your feedback is clear,
purposeful, and meaningful; that it helps students connect prior knowledge with what
they are currently learning; and it helps them establish short- and long-term goals.

Provide feedback in a manner that supports and encourages learning, and extends
students thinking.

5.

Give students opportunities to provide feedback to you about aspects of their

learning that they feel uncertain of, so that you can act on these concerns in a timely
manner.

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Assessment Principles and Practice / Reflective Questions

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assessment principles AND REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS

ASSESSMENT PRINCIPLE 3
Assessment should be fair
Assessment needs to take account of the diverse needs of students, to be equitable with regard
to gender, disability, background language and socio-economic status and not discriminate on
grounds that are irrelevant to learning.
If assessments are to be fair they should provide valid information on the actual ideas, processes,
products and values expected of students. A valid assessment is one that assesses what it is
supposed to assess. For example, recall of facts should not be assessed if the primary purpose of
the assessment is to collect information about problem solving skills.
Assessments should also provide reliable indications of students knowledge, understandings and
skills and should be based on the integration of a range of types and sources of evidence.
Reflecting on fair assessment

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Background
If you have made sure that your assessments are integral to your teaching and learning
program and that they are educative and equally available to all students, without
discrimination, then it is likely that your assessment of all your students is fair.
Consider how fair your assessments are

Do your assessments closely match your lesson objectives?

Have you defined the aspect of learning that you are assessing and not allowed
other aspects to influence your judgements? For example, when assessing
students ability to write a narrative, have you made sure their handwriting and
presentation have not influenced your judgements?

Have you assessed your students in a way that does not give some students an
advantage because of factors that are irrelevant to your lesson objectives?

Have you collected a range of information (including anecdotal information) on
students so that your judgements about their skills and understandings are reliable?
Ensure your assessments are fair
1. Check that what you are assessing and how you are assessing provide worthwhile
information about students learning.
2.

Reflect on the different groups in your class and whether you allow any
characteristics not related to the purpose of your assessment to unfairly influence
your judgements of a group.

3.

Reflect on individual students and whether you allow any characteristics not related
to the purpose of your assessment to unfairly influence your judgements of the
individual.

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Assessment Principles and Practice / Reflective Questions

CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT OutLINE

assessment principles AND REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS

ASSESSMENT PRINCIPLE 4
Assessments should be designed to meet their specific purposes
Information collected to establish where students are in their learning can be used for summative
purposes (assessment of learning) and for formative purposes (assessment for learning) because
it is used to inform subsequent teaching. The principles of assessment apply to all forms of
assessments.
Summative assessment involves assessment procedures that aim to determine students
learning at a particular time, for example when reporting against the achievement standards,
after completion of a unit of work or at the end of a term or semester. The aim of the assessment
is to identify students achievement at that point in time and it is particularly important that the
assessments are fair and that teacher judgements are reliable.
Formative assessment involves a range of informal and formal assessment procedures used by
teachers during the learning process in order to improve student attainment and to guide teaching
and Reporting
learning activities.
It often involves
qualitative feedback (rather than scores) for both students
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and teachers that focuses on the details of specific knowledge and skills that are being learnt.
Therefore it is essential that the assessments provide fine-grained information about student
performance that supports teachers to plan learning that challenges students to go beyond what
they already know, understand or can do in order to build new knowledge, understandings and
skills.
Reflecting on the different purposes of your assessment
Background
There is a growing body of research that shows that assessment is essential for effective
teaching. Yet, you may feel that if you were to attend to the Principles of Assessment, you
would have no time left to teach. One way of getting the correct balance is to consider the
purpose of the assessment.
The other way to help you get the right balance is to examine to what extent an
assessment informs your teaching. Only use assessments that give you worthwhile
information and support you in improving student learning.
Consider how you can achieve the right balance between assessment and teaching

Are you clear about the purpose of your different assessments?

Do you know how you will use the information you collect to improve student
learning?

Are there assessments that you administer but which you dont use to inform your
teaching?

Are there strategies you can adopt which would provide you with quick information
about your students?

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Assessment Principles and Practice / Reflective Questions

CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT OutLINE

assessment principles AND REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS

ASSESSMENT PRINCIPLE 4

Ensuring your assessments fit the purpose

1. Review your various assessments/assessment strategies and categorise them in a
way that works for you. (For example, categorise them as Assessment for learning
or Assessment of learning.)
2.

For each assessment within each category: identify what information the
assessment provides to both you and to your students; determine how useful that
information is; and, how much time it takes to collect that information.

3.

Based on this analysis, decide if you need to refine the assessment/assessment

strategy and how you need to do this, or decide to discontinue using an assessment
that does not provide you with worthwhile information.

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Assessment Principles and Practice / Reflective Questions

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assessment principles AND REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS

ASSESSMENT PRINCIPLE 5
Assessment should lead to informative reporting
Reporting happens at the end of a teaching cycle and should provide an accurate summary of
the formative and summative assessment information collected for each student. The purpose of
reporting is to provide feedback to students, parents, and teachers. The information is also valuable for school and system-wide planning. It is important that, in addition to providing an accurate
synopsis of student performance, the judgements of student achievement are reliable.
Reflecting on reporting

Reporting using grades

It is a federal government requirement that schools report student achievement to parents
using grades. Grades are a broad classification of student performance and while they are
a useful way of communicating with parents, grading students as A, B, C, D and E does
not provide apolicyR
level of detailesources
necessary to inform teaching programs. It is recommended
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that grading is an end process that is completed after more detailed assessment has been
conducted.
As reporting student achievement in terms of grades is a broad classification of
performance, each grade represents a wide range of student ability. Many students will
be given the same grade in semester 1 and semester 2, even though their teachers will
have observed growth in learning. Bearing in mind that work in semester 2 builds on
semester 1, maintaining a grade indicates students have held their own in the face of
more advanced material and in this way have grown in their learning.
Moderation of teacher judgements
Moderation of teacher judgements is an important component of reporting student
performance. It is however useful to consider two broad purposes of moderation,
Moderation for Learning and Moderation for Reporting. The two purposes of moderation
are complementary and the one can be used to support the other.
i.
ii.

Moderation for Learning supports teachers within and across schools in developing
shared understandings of students learning and shared expectations of student
performance. It is closely aligned with the formative purposes of assessment.
Moderation for Reporting enables teachers to develop consistent judgements
of student performance and is closely aligned with the summative purposes of
assessment.

Moderation for Learning focuses on teachers working together to reach more in-depth
understandings of their students learning relative to a broader group of students. This
broader group may be students who are in the same year level or students from across
year levels. When moderation processes focus on learning, they support teachers in
refining their understandings of what their students know and what they need to learn
next. In this context, the moderation process should use fine-grained information about
specific aspects of learning.

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Assessment Principles and Practice / Reflective Questions

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assessment principles AND REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS

ASSESSMENT PRINCIPLE 5

Because Moderation for Learning is concerned with understanding learning at a finegrained level, it will be very difficult to ensure teachers judgements are highly comparable
and teacher time will best be used in analysing the different features of students work and
what that means for learning.
Moderation for Reporting focuses on those aspects of assessment where schools are
required to be accountable for student performance and where it is important that teacher
judgements are comparable. When undertaking moderation for reporting purposes,
the emphasis is on broad classifications of student performance (e.g. reporting student
performance in terms of grades or in terms of achieving the standard) and ensuring
teachers have consistent interpretations of these broad classifications.

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Assessment Principles and Practice / Reflective Questions

CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT OutLINE

assessment principles AND REFLECTIVE QUESTIONS

ASSESSMENT PRINCIPLE 6
Assessment should lead to school-wide evaluation processes
Highly effective schools pay particular attention to teachers qualitative and quantitative data and
standardised test data. Teachers and school leaders need to understand current and past student
achievement levels, be explicit about targets for improvement and be explicit about how progress
towards those targets will be monitored. School leaders need to plan for how they will evaluate the
effectiveness of school initiatives and programs. Teachers should plan for how they will reflect on
and evaluate their teaching practices. This implies that schools and teachers need to be willing to
identify and evaluate both the intended and unintended consequences of any initiative or program.
Reflecting on school-wide evaluation
Background
The distinction between summative assessment (assessment of learning) and formative
assessment (assessment for learning) is useful when describing the different ways
in which information
about esources
student learning is collected (how it is collected, when it is
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collected, why it is collected, and how it will be used). School-wide evaluation processes
require that school leaders and teachers use all data collected to better understand and
improve student learning.
Consider your school-wide evaluation processes

Which assessments do you use in the school and how is the data from these
assessments used to evaluate:
o school programs?
o teaching practices?

Do you have a culture of involving all teachers in evaluation of school programs?

Do you value and use data from standardised testing programs as well as teachers
qualitative and quantitative data?

Do you use data to evaluate the learning of each and every student?
Ensure your evaluation leads to improved school performance
The process of collecting data is more likely to lead to improved school performance if:
1.

The data collected is meaningful (i.e. the assessments address the preceding
assessment principles).

2.

The school has a strategic plan for the collection of a range of student data (both
test data and classroom assessments).

3.

Many, if not all, staff members are committed to using data to evaluate school
programs and to evaluate their teaching practices.

4.

Teachers use data to evaluate each students learning and the school always puts
faces on the data.

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