Critiquing Assessment Items

Activity 1 Stage 1 Money Matters

Web Reference: http://arc.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/go/stage1/maths/activities/money-matters/

Description Of Activity
Part A
Students are given a collection of 5, 10, 20 and 50-cent coins (or
cardboard shapes representing these). They demonstrate and
record different ways of making 20 cents, 50 cents and $1 using the
coins.
Part B
Students determine the change that they would receive from $1 if
they made each of the following purchases:
i.
1 ruler @ 30 cents each
ii.
2 erasers @ 40 cents each
iii.
1 notebook @ 75 cents each
iv.
3 pencils @ 20 cents each

Work Sample Ainsley (Year 1) Grade C

Critique
Ainsley has shown some strength in counting and adding money,
she has made some errors in recording different ways to make each
denomination, but has a mostly sound grasp of the concept. She has
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also somewhat grasped the addition and subtraction needed to

calculate the change given from one dollar, for each of the
purchases. These strengths can be seen in that she was able to
correctly calculate some amounts and one set of change.
Another strength of Ainsleys is using diagrams to demonstrate her
calculations in Part B of the assessment. She has correctly drawn
each item in the list, and labelled them with the correct price,
though this has not enabled her to answer all of the questions
correctly.
Ainsley requires continued improvement (has weakness) in the
consistency of her work. She has shown some skills in parts of the
work sample, but has lacked understanding in others. This is
possibly due to a combination of more difficult questions and lack of
focus. Ainsley would benefit from practice of the same problems,
allowing her to further develop her understanding.
For Ainsley to advance her grade in this academic area, she would
require consolidative teaching. Ainsley has grasped some of the
concept, and with continued practice, and further explicit teaching
she will have developed the skills to answer all questions correctly.
To begin, Ainsley could be given the same questions, using different
denominations and a different shopping list for purchase, in the
same style. Allowing her to practice the same skill, without
repeating the activity exactly and leading her towards rote learning
the answers would best allow her to strengthen the skills she has
begun developing.

Activity 2 Stage 4 Meal Plan For A Week

Web Reference: http://arc.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/go/78/pdhpe/activities/meal-plan-for-a-week/

Description Of Activity
1. Students design a realistic meal plan for a family of 4 (2
adults, 2 children) for a week. The meal plan must include all
meals and snacks. The meal plan should reflect the NHMRC
Dietary Guidelines for Australian Adults and Dietary Guidelines
for Children and Adolescents in Australia.
a. The teacher may wish to include a family member with
special dietary needs e.g. allergy to a specific food.
2. Students write a one-page report describing the cultural and
social influences on a familys food choices.
a. Students may present their report in other formats e.g.
PowerPoint.

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Work Sample Jerry (Year 8) Grade B

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Critique
Jerry has shown that he has a strong understanding of meal
planning; one strength that Jerry demonstrated is that he was very
detailed in his plan, and was thus able to identify all key elements
that he required. Jerry was able to demonstrate understanding of
the need to vary meal plans for the different members of the family
through the modification of each meal. Jerry was able to include an
introduction and description that provided evidence to the influence
of his meal plan, and this was a strong way to back up the choices
made in the plan.
Jerry did not demonstrate a strong knowledge of calorie intact or
portion control recommendations. Though his meal plan included
many different nutritional elements, all of which would be of benefit,
each meal was quite large, and often did not differ highly in terms of
calorie count for each family member. (E.g. father and infant meal
plans having similar calorie count / portion size.) Jerry also did not
include a detailed description of each family member, and therefore
did not allow himself a strong background to build from in regards to
nutritional needs.
Jerry would benefit from some explicit remedial teaching, in order to
develop the skills needed to understand portion control. Because of
his strong understanding of whole foods versus take-away foods,
this would be a key area to consider in furthering his understanding.
Jerry would benefit from a whole class discussion about portion
sizing and calorie count (depending of prior learning regarding
energy intake). Students could be shown one of many YouTube
videos discussing health portion sizing, and also participate in an
activity where they could write their ideas of a healthy meal size,

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and then demonstrate the same idea using actual foods. Allowing
students to make the connection between their written work and the
actual foods they eat may help them to gain a strong understanding
of how much food is healthy and necessary.

Activity 3 Stage 5 Popular Film Review

Web Reference:
http://arc.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au/go/sc/english/activities/popularfilm-review/

Description Of Activity
Students will select and view a recent popular film (on video or
DVD). Students will write their own review of this chosen film for a
magazine for teenagers.

Work Sample Casey (Year 9) Grade D

Critique
Casey has demonstrated some recount skills, though the
assessment task required analysis and review of the film. Casey has
attempted to use descriptive language and tried to avoid sounding
repetitive in her writing by using adjectives and other writing
techniques. Casey has demonstrated some evidence of analysis, in
her final remarks about the film, suggesting perhaps she has added
these comments to a near finished assessment in order to meet
marking criteria, without a full understanding of the requirements of
the task. Casey has identified some areas of film that have been
used, such as close-up shots, and plot line, but has not
demonstrated an understanding of their purpose or effect. She has
not used a variety of language tools, for example her lack of critical
or persuasive language, which is key to an effective review. Casey
would benefit from consolidating any learning she has previously

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encountered regarding the types of language necessary in different

texts.
Casey has not been able to effectively review the film, and has only
provided a superficial recommendation about the films audience
and her opinion of it.
Casey would benefit from explicit teaching of the purpose of a film
review, and the way to structure this most effectively. Remedial
teaching of analysis would benefit Casey, for example, reviewing a
short film, in order to allow Casey to practice writing a review about
something that is less easily recounted. If Casey is able to practice
writing reviews for shorter films, or storybooks she may be able to
move back to film reviews, and be better facilitated to use
sophisticated language and writing tools to create a stronger
assessment task. Casey may also benefit from a more detailed
assessment criteria, for example outlining that a film review
requires a lot of opinion based writing, and little description of the
film itself.

Assessment For Learning, As Learning & Of

Learning
Assessment may be performed in three ways, assessment for, as
and of learning. Assessment for learning means that a teacher will
use what they know about students progress to develop their
teaching plan. Assessment for learning should be done frequently
throughout normal lessons, to enable the teacher to best shape
their short-term planning goals.
Assessment as learning means that students are able to reflect and
self-check their own progress in order to develop and work towards
learning goals. Again, assessment as learning should be done
regularly, and will allow students to take on some responsibility of
their own learning. Assessment as learning also allows students to
develop a further understanding of the standards and criteria that is
expected of them, thereby improving their learning and class work.
Assessment of learning means that teachers use student work and
tasks to make conclusions about students achievement. Teachers
use prior goals and standards to compare student work, and decide
whether students have achieved the necessary level of learning.
Assessment of learning is performed much less frequently, and is
usually formal and at the end of a unit of work or task. Assessment
of learning is both formative and summative, in that it provides
evidence for long term planning and shows student progression
against set standards.
The Money Matters activity may have been used for learning by
the teacher to inform the next lessons work, as discussed in the
critique. Seeing Ainsleys work and where she needed to improve
would have allowed the teacher to see that the class (or some of)
needed continued practice and explicit teaching on the topic. This
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task was set out very simply, and would have also allowed for
simple assessment as learning for the students. The class could
work through the answers together, discussing each question as
they go. This could allow students to talk through any questions
they didnt understand, while at the same time giving the teacher
more insight into which students understood all elements of the
task, and those who required further learning time. Money Matters
could have been an assessment of learning very easily, as it would
have been an excellent task to use at the end of a unit, allowing the
teacher to observe students strengths and weaknesses in their
understanding of financial mathematics. Using the range of
activities in the task added to the benefit of using Money Matters
as an assessment of learning.
The Meal Plan For A Week activity may have been used as an
assessment for learning or an assessment as learning as an in class
task. If students were able to use some lesson time to research and
complete their task, the teacher would have been both able to
observe students while they were undergoing their task. This would
have allowed them to plan each lesson as they occurred, as
necessary to best continue developing student understanding. For
example, each lesson that the students were engaged in the task,
the teacher may have discussed and explored a different element of
the research and writing project. Using Meal Plan For A Week as an
in-class task would have allowed students to use it as an
assessment as learning because they could have worked through
the task progressively as a group, as well as being in reach of
assistance when needed. This would better allow students to both
stay on task, and ensure they were continuing working in the right
direction.
Meal Plan For A Week could have been used an as assessment of
learning very simply, as again the teacher could have used this task
at the end of a unit of work, and mark it according to success
criteria based on curriculum outcomes and indicators. The task
included both outcomes from the curriculum and criteria for success
of student work, which demonstrates that it could have been used
very simply as a final assessment task for the nutritional unit of
work in PDHPE.
The Popular Film Review task may have been used an as
assessment for learning as it is quite a short task, especially for a
stage 5 task. This would have allowed the teacher to engage in
student progress, and plan for further development where needed.
For example, as Casey did not show a lot of strengths during her
completion of this task, the teacher may have used this evidence to
plan to further elaborate on the necessary elements of writing a film
review.
Students may have used the task as an assessment as learning if
they were able to use it as a practice task, and compare it to

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professional film reviews in order to improve their work. For

example, students could have written multiple short film reviews,
and had them be both reviewed by their teacher, shared with
classmates and self-assessed by checking them against standards
set by their teacher and professional reviews.
Popular Film Review could also have been used as a final
assessment task, and an assessment of learning similarly to the
other examples. This task would have made an excellent final
assessment as for an English unit of work, focussing both on film, or
writing. Students again should be provided with success criteria, and
could be assessed compared to this, in order to review their
knowledge and strength of understanding in the unit of work.
All of these tasks have provided excellent examples of strong
assessments that can be useful in all areas. The differentiation of
each task, in that it allows for students to complete their task at
their own level, enables their teacher to explicitly see their
achievements. All three tasks were written in a way that allows for
assessment for, as and of learning, meaning that teachers can use
these resources as they see fit, and incorporate the tasks in a way
that best suits their tasks.

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Isabel Horton 11477162A

Assessment Item 1