Assessment & Reporting

Assessment

At St Michael’s, we believe that assessment is a vital part of any teaching and learning process. We use the Australian Curriculum Achievement Standards to make a professional judgement about the quality of learning demonstrated by the student. This is a continuous process that takes place throughout a teaching cycle. It is critical for teachers to ask themselves;

  • What do we want our students to learn?
  • How will we know if each student has learnt it?
  • How will we respond if some students don’t learn it?
  • How can we extend and enrich the learning for students who have demonstrated proficiency?

 

The purpose of Assessment at St Michael’s is to play an integral role in improving learning and informing teaching. Its fundamental purpose is to establish where learners are in an aspect of their learning at the time of the assessment.

At St Michael’s assessment is:

  • Aligned with curriculum and pedagogy
  • Equitable for all students
  • Evidence-based, using achievement standards to make defensible and comparable judgments about student learning
  • Ongoing, with a range and balance of evidence complied over time to reflect the depth and breadth of students’ learning
  • Transparent, to enhance professional and public confidence in the processes used, the information obtained and the decisions made
  • Informative of where students are in their learning

 

Moderation

Moderation of assessment is a process in which teachers engage in focused dialogue to share their observations and judgments in order to:

  • improve the consistency of their decisions
  • ensure their judgements are as valid, reliable and fair as possible

 

Feedback

The purpose of feedback at St Michael’s is to provide meaningful information about a student’s strengths and areas for improvement to support them to progress their learning. To support evaluation, self-reflection and improved understanding, feedback should be;

  • Ongoing
  • Individualised
  • Specific to the teaching, learning and assessment related to the achievement standards
  • Clear, and in language that is readily interpreted by the intended audience
  • Timely, so that students can act on it and adjust their learning
  • Collaborative, so that students, teachers and parents/carers all support and participate in the students’ learning
  • Delivered in a way to support their learner to reflect, act on the feedback and build capacity for self-assessment

Reporting

The purpose of reporting at St Michael’s is to communicate assessment information, formally and informally, to help students, parents/carers, teachers and education authorities make decisions about what students know and can do, including recommendations for future learning.

The format for St Michael’s reports are based on the ‘On Track’ data base established by the Catholic Education and a common grade scale used to report against. To support the effective communication of achievement, areas for improvement, and actions that the student, school and parents/carers might take, reports/statements will be;

  • aligned with curriculum and assessment
  • defensible, comparable and based on clearly defined achievement standards
  • accurate
  • individualised
  • meaningful