PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT (ASSESSMENT LITERACY)

Effective assessment informs learning and teaching by ensuring that appropriate scaffolding and support is provided to students to allow them to demonstrate to the highest level what they have learned. Alignment with the curriculum, the achievement standards and how to report against them is crucial. The QCAA expresses simply and effectively the objectives of good assessment and how this is aligned with the general objectives and standards that are expressed in the subject syllabus in the video below.

Video 1: QCAA Video on Designing Assessment.

You cannot therefore have effective assessment without ensuring alignment with the general objectives of the syllabus. In respect of the Year 12 subject of Legal Studies the dimensions and objectives are stated in the Syllabus as follows:

• Dimension 1: Knowing and understanding the law

• Dimension 2: Investigating legal issues

• Dimension 3: Responding to the law (QSA, 2013).

The subject syllabus then goes further to explain in detail the requirements of these areas. Teachers should become familiar with the Assessment Design Templates on the QCAA website that provide the required format for assessments for their respective subjects. There must be a reflection of the dimensions and objectives in the design of your assessment and this is reflected in the reporting standards matrix which is used for reporting purposes. For Legal Studies the Reporting Matrix is detailed below:

Figure 1: Legal Studies Assessment Standards matrix

 There must be a clear understanding in the teachers mind of what is required to be taught in terms of the dimensions and objectives so that the assessment is reflective of what students know and can do (Masters, 2013). As indicated by David Austin, Chair of the State Panel Review Board for Physics, students need to know the course structure and key objectives from which they have been taught and assimilated the key concepts, then they are able to apply these concepts to a particular task set for assessment (QCAA, 2014 g). 

Teachers must also use this knowledge of course structure and key objectives to not only inform their assessment task but also use the results that students obtain to inform future learning for their students (QCAA, 2014 g). A familiarity with assessment data can inform and drive student learning not only in terms of the content of the unit of work to be taught but also aligned with knowledge from previous assessment data of areas of weakness for individual students and the cohort as a whole (UQ, 2013).

Data analysis at a regional high school based on examination results for Legal Studies indicated areas for improvement in student knowledge particularly in respect of the areas analysis, application and evaluation of legal issues, stakeholder perspectives and generally of how to write an analytical response including how to analyse legal cases.  Using the data achieved as a result of the assessment, these particular weakness were targeted on multiple levels:

1. Confirm student understanding of the  content (in this case contract law) with a FLOWCHART that student could use to get an 'overall' idea of what they are learning;

2. Model case analysis using a analysing format with which students were familiar. This approach is consistent with the views of Sadler’s concept of structuring students towards the 'goal knowledge' whilst also incorporating examples of work to ensure that students knew what could be classified as appropriate responses (Sadler, 2014);

3. Model Analytical Writing extended responses (though PowerPoint presentation) is simply extending upon the idea initialing incorporated a modelling of the case analysis into the format of a full extended writing response. It was anticipated they by provided appropriate modeled and scaffolded example the student would then be able to take this idea and use it as a base to inform their knowledge.

PowerPoint 1: click image to play

Directly as a result of this data learning experiences were created for implementation in Year 11. As a direct result of these targeted learning experiences there was a 95% take up in learning by students with an average increase in results in end of term assessment.  

This approach has been so successful that it will be duplicated for the Year 12 class to inform their student learning to complete their final independent study oral assessment. This is a result of an evaluation of students extended response independent study assessment results from first Semester that indicated that, for some students there was still a weakness in the construction and formatting of an analytical response. The utilization of an example from previous years student that achieved the A standard the current students are allowed to ‘peer assess’ the quality of the response of that level. It is then demonstrated using explicit teaching how even that A level response could be improved to make it an A+ level response. 

It could be argued that this is consistent with Sadler’s view that we are letting them in on the secret of learning and appraising their own work being able to judge quality not only in others work but their own as well (Sadler, 2013). By using the data obtained as a result of the assessments and using this in a collaborative manner we have been able to create learning experiences that will scaffold and support the students further learning by analysing where in the assessment the students were falling down. Without a clear understanding of how to structure appropriate assessment and consideration of how those results could be used these learning experiences may not have been implemented and student learning would have remained impeded which is the essence of Standard 5.4 (ATSIL, 2014).