Overview and Historical Perspectives

Charles Sturt University Faculty of Education

EEE 314Assessment and Reporting

Mode of deliveryThis subject is delivered in the independent learning style.Lectures delivered by either Kaye Blackburne or Peter Hurcum.Workshops incorporated in the unitsReadings An expectation of 10 hours per week2

Activities Each unit will have activities and readings for you do .

Each lecture will have a workshop forum.These are to be done and loaded on the forum site. The resources for activities are stored in the Module folder for each lecture

Writing ReflectionsThe style for written reflections we advise you use for readings in these modules is :PointEvidenceYour opinionHow this may influence your future teaching

Lecturer Contact

Kaye Blackburne : [email protected]

Course ObjectivesUnderstand the social and political trends which inform assessment practices

Understand the social and political trends which inform assessment practices.

Understand how to assess student learning - Demonstrate understanding of assessment strategies, including informal and formal, diagnostic, formative and summative approaches to assess student learning.

Course Objectives ContinuedUnderstand how to provide feedback to students on their learning - Demonstrate an understanding of the purpose of providing timely and appropriate feedback to students about their learning.

Be able to make consistent and comparable judgements - Demonstrate understanding of assessment moderation and its application to support consistent and comparable judgements of student learning.

Be able to interpret student data - Demonstrate the capacity to interpret student assessment data to evaluate student learning and modify teaching practice.

Course Objectives Cont.Understand how to report on student achievement - Demonstrate understanding of a range of strategies for reporting to students and parents/carers and the purpose of keeping accurate and reliable records of student achievement.

Have examined and understood the national assessment program

Course Content

There are 5 Modules with two lectures in each module.The reporting module has 3.

Module 1

The course introduction and historical perspectives of assessment and reporting

2. The principles of assessment FOR, AS and OF learning

Module 2

The benefits of and strategies for peer and self assessment

Strategies for assessing student achievement traditional and authentic

Module 3

Designing assessment items for a range of learners k-6

Designing assessment items for a range of learners 7-12

Module 4 Assessment in the senior years

National and state testing

Using data to Inform teaching

The principles of reporting

Writing Reports

Interviews with parents

Module 5

Assessment Tasks

Critiquing Assessment Items 40%- due 18th AugustReporting Student Learning - 30%-Due 22nd SeptemberAnalysis of Data to Inform Instruction-30%-Due 13th October 15

Module 1 Assessment and Historical perspectives

Assessment and Reporting EEE 314

What is assessment?

Who tests or assesses?

Why do we test or assesses?

Who do we report to and why?

Definition Assessment is the ongoing process of gathering, analysing and reflecting on evidence to make informed and consistent judgements to improve future student learning. 18


What is assessment?

Judgment on a person, a performance or an inanimate objectUsually based upon a knowledge background (but not always)It should be consistent and explicit (but not always)

Principles of Assessment 1.The primary purpose of assessment is to improve student performance

2. Assessment should be based on an understanding of how students learn

3. Assessment should be an integral component of course design and not something to add afterwards

4. Good assessment provides useful information to report credibly to parents on student achievement

5. Good assessment requires clarity of purpose, goals, standards and criteria

6. Good assessment requires a variety of measures

7. Assessment methods used should be valid, reliable and consistent

8. Assessment requires attention to outcomes and processes

9. Assessment works best when it is ongoing rather than episodic

10. Assessment for improved performance involves feedback and reflection

Source http://www.education.vic.gov.au/studentlearning/assessment/preptoyear10/assessadvice/default.htm#principles21

State perspectives Brady, L. & Kennedy, K. (2009). Celebrating student achievement : assessment and reporting (3rd Edn.).

Pages 24-26

Workshop 1Purpose: To identify how your current approaches to assessment are influenced by your experiences as a student. 23

Step 1: Take time for a quiet 30-second think: What are your earliest, or most vivid, memories of assessment? In Primary? In Secondary? In Tertiary? Why are these experiences memorable? Step 2: What was pleasing (positive), or frustrating (negative), for you? For others? How have these experiences affected the way YOU assess, now? Step 3: Assessment is always the product of the interaction of people, time and place, with all that this implies in terms of a complex web of understandings, motivations, anxieties, expectations, traditions and choices. (Patricia Broadfoot 2002, p. 157) Reflect on how your personal experiences of assessment, as students, have influenced your current values and beliefs about assessment, and in turn, may have shaped your thinking and your future assessment practices.

Write your thinking on the forum .

Who Tests or Assesses in Education and Why?

Students self assessment, what do I or dont I know (knowledge) or what can I or cant I do (skills) or what do I or dont I understand (values)



Teachers Learning cycle Curriculum content Identifying student achievement Providing students with feedback Providing parents with feedback



School Counselors

Diagnostic analysis of learning difficulties Full assessment potentials, strengths and weaknesses



Schools Ranking of students Departmental statistics - League tables FundingPublic Accountability Resourcing staff, books , software etc



Departments Of Education Accountability Certification - eg.HSC Funding Course design and variation Resourcing Equity

Technical Terms Relating to Assessment

Norm Referenced Assessment

Generally comparing or ranking student performance with students with similar characteristics eg. Age, gender, socio economic status.


Criterion Referenced Assessment

Shows how a student achieved or mastered a set of pre-determined criteria or goals ( knowledge, skills)Is not designed to compare students


Standards Based Assessment

A form of criterion referenced assessment designed to rate students against pre-determined levels of achievement.


Standardised Tests

A test whose statistical properties have been identified through trialing with a defined populationCan be either Norm or Criterion referenced


Traditional Assessment

Paper and pencil tests that request students to choose responses from alternate answersMultiple choice, true/ false, etc


Alternative Assessment

Students requested to create a response or product to demonstrate their level of achievementEssay, painting, model or oral presentation


Performance Based Assessment

An alternate form of assessment based upon direct observation of student engaged in a related activity

Playing a musical instrument , debate


Authentic Assessment

An alternate assessment that engages students in real world tasks such as a letter, problem solution or menu, recipe


Portfolio Assessment

An alternate form of assessment based upon the collection of student work samples, demonstrating progress over a period of time.


Formative Assessment

Part of the teaching / learning cycle.Provides feedback to both student and teacher


Summative Assessment

Takes place at the conclusion of a unit of work and indicated the extent to which outcomes have been achieved.


Reliability

Refers to the consistency and stability of assessment.Results should be the same irrespective of who gave the test, where it was given and who or how it was marked.


Validity



Who are the stakeholders ?




StudentsParentsBusinessGovernmentSociety




How do teachers or can teachers meet the varied demands of all stakeholders?



How do teachers or can teachers meet the varied demands of all stakeholders?

teachers are the guardians of the educational function of assessment Brady and Kennedy

Teachers have close personal contact with students.Need to retain trust, respect, true purpose and professional integrity during the process.



Governments, industry and academia have spawned terms such as:

knowledge economyskills based economyinformation revolutiontechnology economy

Historical Perspectives

AspectsChurch based education 1800s State based education 1820sCompulsory educationTechnical or trade based collegesEducation apolitical Boards of Education pre 1960Politicizing of Education 1970sLeaving certificate matriculationFee free universities (Whitlam)Schools Commission (Whitlam)Non State School FundingNational CurriculumOutcomes linked funding - Federal



1800s2000s18120s1900s1920s1970sChurch Based EducationWealthy landowners , officers business familiesMale focusedCity centred



1800s2000s1820s1900s1920s1970sState controlled educationCountry wide small schoolsGirls and boysPrivate and Church schools School Inspectors to check standards



1800s2000s1820s1900s1920s1970sCompulsory Education (exception indigenous students)Reporting at schools discretion



1800s2000s18120s1900s1920s1970sTrade Schools or Technical Colleges trade certificatesState wide testing Leaving CertificateReporting simplistic at schools discretion no specified standardsTeachers experience strong guide



1800s2000s18120s1900s1920s1970sApolitical administration of educationCommonwealth Scholarships academic gifted Streaming of subjects a or b streamIncrease retention of girls in secondary education



1800s2000s18120s1900s1920s1970sPoliticizing educationPublication of student and school resultsSchools Commissions ( Socio Economic deprivation), funding, DSPFree UniversitiesGrowth of tertiary institutions



1800s2000s18120s1900s1920s1970sNational AgendasPrivacy of the individual exam results not publishedNational Curriculum and expected outcomesResult or outcomes linked funding


Historical Perspectives (Dr. Christine Richmond)

1800s2000s18120s1900s1920s1970sColonial StructureAristocratic structureColonial GovernorWealth or social positionAuthoritarian in nature - Church



1800s2000s1820s1900s1920s1970sFormation of StatesStopped Convicts arriving increase in free settlersGold discovery population growthShared government landowners , later asset richSome challenges to authority Eureka etc Authoritarian



1800s2000s1820s1900s1920s1970sFederationVoting to males and femalesAuthoritarianWealthy LandownersColonial in nature British Empire / Privy Council



1800s2000s1820s1900s1920s1970sFirst World WarConscriptionMilitary Structure wealthy and landowners officersNo challenge to authority



1800s2000s1820s1900s1920s1970sEnd of WarGreat DepressionMobility of Work forceColonial structures of government remainNo questioning of authorityLittle industrial or union presence



1800s2000s1820s1900s1920s1970sWorld War 2ConscriptionColonial Nature trade and social structureWomen supplement workforceAuthority unquestionedLandowners and wealthy still positions of power and influence



1800s2000s18120s1900s1920s1970sVietnam War ConscriptionWomens liberationEducation increased participation Baby boomersOpposition to war young educated with moral opinionSocial change willing to challenge authority and social structure, indigenous recognitionUniversity Education freeIndustrial growth, union support teachers strike 1969



1800s2000s18120s1900s1920s1970sEconomic rationalismGlobal in nature tradeRise in political diversity can be different new political partiesIndustrial awareness of peoples rights eg privacyMore litigations willing to challenge

Workshop Forum Activity

Reading to be posted on forumBrady and KennedyChapter 1Contexts for Assessment and ReportingThe style for written reflections we advise you use for readings in these modules is :PointEvidenceYour opinionHow this may influence your future teaching

Acknowledgements Brady, L. & Kennedy, K. (2009). Celebrating student achievement : assessment and reporting (3rd Edn.).Frenchs Forest: Pearson Education Australia.Department of Education and Early Childhood Development VictoriaBlack & Wiliam (UK) www.assessment-reform-group.org.ukOECD (2005 Conference) www.oecd.orgAssessment is for Learning (AifL), Scotland www.ltscotland.org.uk/assessTKI Assessment, New Zealand www.tki.org.nz/r/assessmentAssessment Crisis: The Absence of Assessment FOR Learning, in Phi Delta Kappan Vol 83, No. 10, pp 758-765