Week 8 - 9 Revision

Question 1

Why do we assess students?

Answer 1

1. To fulfil school reporting requirements?
2. For teachers to check what students have learned at the end of the teaching -
   learning process?
3. To give students quality feedback at the end of the teaching process so they can
   improve their performance next time? (feed – forward?)
4. For teachers to check what students are learning during the learning process
5. To give students quality feedback during learning so they can improve their
   performance?

Question 2

How does assessing our students help us determine whether
we are having an impact?

Answer 2

1.determine what has been learned

Question 3

Assessment for learning

Answer 3

(Implies assessing student learning along the way to improve student
outcomes) - help them help themselves…

Question 4

Assessment of learning

Answer 4

(implies assessing student learning at the end to determine the effect of
learning)

Question 5

Formal: What students know and prepare for

Answer 5

Written testing, worksheets, assignments, practical tests, examinations etc…

Question 6

Informal: When students don’t know they are being assessed

Answer 6

Questions, judgements formed through observation, discussions, shared answers with
classmates – hint, as teachers, we do this all the time!

Question 7

Formative assessment (assessment for learning)

Answer 7

Undertaken throughout instruction, and is largely process-based i.e. ongoing
smaller assessment activities

Question 8

Summative assessment (assessment of learning)

Answer 8

Undertaken at the end of a series of lessons as a summary of the total effect i.e. exam

Question 9

Diagnostic assessment – checking what students already know

Answer 9

This is usually done at the start of a scheme of work or topic, and can be done
formally (i.e. a worksheet) or informally (i.e. asking questions / brainstorm) – you will
need to do this on prac

Question 10

Fine-grained assessment – checking for specifics

Answer 10

Breaking assessment down into smaller chunks which are targeted at specific
knowledge or skills, or small learning steps – can be quite quick and targeted
(remember Vygotsky and ZPD???)

Question 11

Student self-assessment

Answer 11

Metacognition
“Who learned something today, and what have you learned?” (students telling you or
each other something they have learned)
Students assessing own learning
For example, students complete self-reflective journals

Question 12

Essential choices

Answer 12

Will I run a formative assessment program? (lots of small formal assessments)
Will I run a summative assessment program? (larger assessments at the end of topics)
Will I run a mixture of both formative and summative

Question 13

Criterion referenced

Answer 13

Students are assessed against a set measure (set of criteria), and are not
compared against each other (potentially all students could get an ‘A’.
Alternatively, all students could fail if the assessment criteria are not realistic)

Question 14

Norm referenced

Answer 14

Students are measured in comparison with other students, as a ranking,
moderation or standardisation (only the top 10% can get an ‘A’ regardless of
their ‘raw score’ based upon their comparative ranking)

Question 15

Reliability (in written testing)

Answer 15

Will the assessment generate the same answers from the same students
over time?
Simple tests are generally more reliable than essays because they are less
prone to interpretation

Question 16

How to ensure reliability

Answer 16

1. Pilot the assessment first (get someone else to read it through)
2. Swap assessments with colleagues and make mutual adjustments (a
   form of moderation) – you can do this with your EDU1010 assignments!
3. Make sure the assessment contains another question on the same topic
   reworded as a cross-check
   Reliability
   © Edith Cowan University

Question 17

Validity

Answer 17

Validity is concerned with whether a test measures what it is supposed to.
Thus, a music teacher setting students an essay on Beethoven may receive a
series of biographies, whereas the teacher really wanted information on his
music

Question 18

Construct validity

Answer 18

Is the assessment type the teacher has selected the most appropriate for this
situation? i.e. An essay on Beethoven. Is this the best way of assessing what
students ‘know’ about Beethoven’s music?

Question 19

Content validity

Answer 19

Ensuring the assessment task measures what it is intended to measure. Thus,
it can be whether the assessment is worded appropriately? This is where
having someone else read your assessment task can be valuableValidity

Question 20

Assessment principle 1

Answer 20

Assessing should be an integral part of teaching & learning
“Assessment should arise naturally out of the teaching and intended learning…..to
enable judgments to be made about student progress in ways that contribute to
ongoing learning”

Question 21

Assessment principle 2

Answer 21

Assessments should be educative
“assessments should provide feedback that assists students in learning and informs
teachers planning….and should be made explicit to students”

Question 22

Assessment principle 3

Answer 22

Assessments should be fair
“Assessment needs to take into 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”

Question 23

Assessment principle 4

Answer 23

Assessments should be designed to meet their specific
purpose
“Information collected to establish where students are in their learning for summative
purposes (assessment of learning) and for formative purposes (assessment for
learning)…..to inform subsequent teaching. The principles of assessment apply to all
forms of assessment.”

Question 24

Assessment principle 5

Answer 24

Assessments 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”

Question 25

Assessment principle 6

Answer 25

Assessment should lead to school-wide evaluation
processes
“Teachers and schools….need to be explicit about targets for improvement, and be
explicit about how progress towards those targets will be monitored”.

Question 26

Personal

Answer 26

Beliefs can be shaped from your personal perspective, are subjective and often
coloured by direct experience

Question 27

Anachronistic

Answer 27

Sometimes, our beliefs can be unknowingly old fashioned, and potentially outdated

Question 28

Implicit

Answer 28

Beliefs can be ‘assumed’ and hidden – they are often inherited from family and friends

Question 29

Naïve

Answer 29

Beliefs can be framed from only one perspective. Do you necessarily have the full
story?

Question 30

Durable

Answer 30

Beliefs can be powerful and difficult to change

Question 31

Filtering

Answer 31

we accept some of what is new which
conforms to what we already know

Question 32

Blocking

Answer 32

we block or disregard what we don’t want to hear

Question 33

Observation

Answer 33

The act of taking in what has happened, taking a mental note - what

Question 34

Reflection

Answer 34

The act of observing, but then analyzing what happened – how and why

Question 35

Anticipatory reflection can be thought of as reflection for action.
It takes place before teaching, and includes such things as:

Answer 35

• lesson planning (systematic anticipatory thinking),
• organization and preparedness, and
• deciding on a course of action after deliberating about
  possible alternatives

Question 36

Critical reflection

Answer 36

Digging deep to uncover strengths, enabling conditions and benefits, as well as
shortcomings, barriers and disadvantages

Question 37

Inner foci

Answer 37

• Attention turned inwardly at our own practice (What did I do?)

Question 38

Outer foci

Answer 38

• Attention turned outward at the social conditions in which these practices are
  situated (how did the students react?)

Question 39

See (technical information)

Answer 39

1. Describe what I did (just the facts - a couple of dot points is
   generally sufficient)

Question 40

Think (exploration of self and context)

Answer 40

2. What do I think about how I taught? (what I did well and not so well) – inner foci
3. How did the students react to my lesson? (what engaged them and what didn’t)
   - outward foci

Question 41

Wonder (moving forward)*

Answer 41

4. What do I wonder about (change) for next time? (how might I improve?)

Question 42

What is AITSL and how can it guide me?

Answer 42

AITSL is the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership

They are a public statement of what constitutes high-quality effective teaching, and
cover three teaching domains: professional knowledge (1 / 2), professional practice
(3 / 4 / 5) and professional engagement (6 / 7)
They aim to set out what a teacher should know and be able to do, and are written
at four levels of proficiency: graduate, proficient, highly accomplished and lead.