Testing and assessment

Assessment is a tool to improve students learning and as a way of systematically gathering evidence to make reliable and consistent judgments about students learning and reporting this to parents.

At Delaneys Creek teachers use assessments that are designed to meet three main purposes:

1. Assessment for learning – This is monitoring and diagnostic assessments designed to monitor and identify areas for target teaching to support student’s progress to meet learning expectations.
2. Assessment as learning – This includes self-reflection and self-tracking so students can monitor their own progress and achievement of learning goals.
3. Assessment of learning – This assists teachers at the end of a unit or set of learning experiences to gather evidence of student knowledge, understanding and skills as described in the year level curriculum.

Assessment ‘for’ and ‘as’ learning

At Delaneys Creek State School we use a range of tools and assessment tasks to continually monitor student learning. These include diagnostic testing and formative assessment tasks. Ongoing feedback and clear expectations through learning goals, and criteria sheets, and the ability to track these goals, enable students to reflect on and monitor their progress. Teachers provide timely and ongoing feedback that enables each student to monitor their own learning and develop achievable learning goals and task based criteria. Feedback is a central part of the assessment for and as learning and:

• is specific to the individual student.
• focuses on the quality of the student response and how to improve it.
• is directly relevant to the learning intention of the lesson.
• is reflective of unit and lesson learning goals.
  
• encourages self-regulation,
• prepares students as assessment capable learners.

Student progress is monitored using a variety of assessments and leads to a data informed classroom through:

• Triangulation of data - including NAPLAN, PAT R, PAT M, NCR Diagnostic
• Standardised assessment tools including PAT R and PAT M
• Diagnostic assessments – NCR diagnostics, Spelling Inventories, PM Benchmark and Probe, letter/sound inventories through our SSP program and Early start performance activities
• Check in tasks in the unit – We use check in tasks throughout the unit to monitor student understanding and progress and to design next learning steps.
• Teacher and student conferences.

Assessment of learning

Assessment of learning or summative assessments helps to provide evidence of student learning against curriculum descriptors and achievement standards for each learning area. It provides evidence for teachers to make reliable judgments about student achievement. This includes:

• Unit/work program based assessment tasks.
• End of term and semester exams.
• Portfolios of student work.

Student progress in units of work include key assessment tasks that:

• Are collaboratively developed in term planning sessions.
• Are sometimes adopted or adapted from C2C assessments.
• Enable students to demonstrate a depth of knowledge, understanding and skills from each learning area.
• Can include more than one Learning Area to create richer tasks.
• Are marked on a 5 point scale.
  
• Assess what has been taught.
  
• Include a criteria sheet or guide to making judgments to support teachers to make standard-based decisions about student work. Teacher​s award students an overall grade by identifying the evidence for each assessment element on the guide.