Your task is to demonstrate essential classroom assessment knowledge including the ways in which teachers use data and evidence to know and support students in the classroom. To do this you will prepare a written analysis informed by theory of the ways in which data and evidence would be collected and used to inform the teaching and learning cycle in a unit of work.

In preparation for the task you must:

Access an existing unit of work. This can be a unit that was designed and taught by you, or designed by your mentor teacher. Any existing work drawn upon MUST be acknowledged (eg. if you prepared this unit of work for another course, or the unit was designed by your mentor teacher). **Ensure that you understand the full range of requirements of Assessment Tasks 1 and 2 before choosing your unit**

You are required to collect an appropriate range of system and school data about a class to which this unit has been or could be delivered (this can be a class that you have taught or will be teaching in your next practicum). If you did not collect a range of such data during PP3, you will need to return to your school to access this data. PLEASE NOTE: YOU MUST USE PSEUDONYMS FOR THIS DATA BEFORE INCLUDING IT AS AN APPENDIX IN YOUR ASSIGNMENT.

1. Theoretical understandings and analysis of planning – 1600 words (excluding the matrix)

Begin your written assessment with a discussion of the purposes of assessment and your understanding of the roles of teachers and students in assessment in classrooms. Draw on key theories and use examples from the unit of work to illustrate your point.

Discuss how you would align curriculum, pedagogy and assessment with a focus on learning in the delivery of this unit of work. Discuss the process of front-ending assessment. Draw on key theories and use examples from the unit of work to illustrate your point.

Include a matrix of the different system and school data sets and methods of collecting evidence that would inform the teaching of this unit of work. Discuss the need to identify suitable data sets and methods to collect evidence of learning in order to establish students’ learning needs and current levels of performance. In your discussion draw on key theories and use examples of the data sets and the methods for collecting evidence of learning that you would use in this unit of work to meet the needs of all learners in your class.

Referring to the matrix, explain how you would support diverse learners in the unit by identifying 2 students of contrasting needs: 1 should be a high achieving student, the other should be a student who is not achieving at the required level. Describe how you would analyse the data sets and evidence about these 2 students to inform ‘in-the-moment’ decision-making.

2. Practical examples of assessment for learning strategies

Prepare a sample of selected formative assessment tools that you would use in this unit to engage students with understandings about quality and improvement and to gather evidence about student learning:

1. A section of an annotated exemplar of the final/culminating (summative task) the students are asked to complete. The exemplar is to be used to demonstrate features of quality performance.

Describe the differentiated pedagogical strategies you might use to engage the two focus learners with the exemplar and gather further evidence of learning. (300 words max, not including the exemplar)

2. A formative assessment instrument designed to find out about students’ understanding at a key point in the unit of work.

Describe your assumptions about how ready the students are to proceed in their learning at this point. Describe the next steps in teaching for the two focus learners if one demonstrates understanding and the other does not. (300 words max, not including the instrument)

3. A self-assessment or peer assessment tool designed for students to reflect/get feedback on their performance during preparation for their summative task.

Describe how this tool would be used to assist students’ working knowledge of quality criteria and inform next steps in individual improvement for the two focus students. (300 words max, not including the tool)

1. Critically evaluate how assessment can contribute to educational success for the diverse range of students in secondary schools;

2. Apply theory, principles and practice to design and critically evaluate assessment instruments and programs to ensure alignment between curriculum, assessment and learning experiences;

3. Use quality exemplars, feedback and reporting mechanisms to communicate student achievements, learning progress and future learning needs

Assessment and reporting package

Create an assessment and reporting package for the unit of work you referred to in Assessment Task 1.

The package will include two components: 1. Design of tasks; 2. Marking and moderation.

1. Design of tasks

Include the task sheet for the final or culminating (summative) task for the unit to be distributed to students. If this is an existing task sheet (i.e. you got it from a school site), you must ensure that the task sheet meets all of the requirements outlined on the Moodle site (assessment section). This means you may need to ‘improve’ the task sheet so that it meets requirements. You MUST acknowledge if this is a task sheet created by the school and modified by you.

Design an accompanying marking criteria and standards rubric for this task (based on the QCAA standards elaborations, or the Senior School syllabus exit criteria depending on the focus year level). If you base your criteria and standards rubric on an existing tool used by the school, you MUST acknowledge this.

Critically reflect on the validity of these assessment decisions, including the design of the final or culminating task that you have developed or modified, the design of formative tasks (mentioned in task 1) and the accompanying marking criteria and standards rubric. Draw on key theories and provide examples from the unit, the task sheet and marking criteria and standards rubric in your justification. You should also refer to the official curriculum in your discussion. (600 words, excluding task sheet and criteria and standards rubric)

2. Marking and Moderation

Create a full response to the final or culminating task (you may develop further the exemplar that you wrote for Assessment Task 1).

Using the marking criteria and standards rubric, you will mark the response to the task, applying the relevant standards and criteria to inform your judgement of the quality of the work and award a grade. Annotate the response with targeted feedback that is informed by the assessment criteria and which is aimed at informing student learning for further improvement.

Provide an explanation (think aloud, or cognitive commentary) in which you present how you arrived at the overall judgement of the quality of the student work. Discuss how you identified both strengths and limitations of the work in making your judgement. (300 words)

Engage in a moderation conversation with a small group of peers from the course in Week 12 of the term (identify these peers and the date of your moderation meeting). Referring to key theories, describe the process of moderation and discuss what you learned about professional judgement practice including the use of standards. Indicate whether your judgements made prior to moderation (as described in your cognitive commentary) remained the same or changed through moderation. (300 words)

Describe how this final or culminating task, the feedback and the grade would inform reporting to parents. (200 words)

1. Apply theory, principles and practice to design and critically evaluate assessment instruments and programs to ensure alignment between curriculum, assessment and learning experiences;

2. Use quality exemplars, feedback and reporting mechanisms to communicate student achievements, learning progress and future learning needs;

3. Recognise and respond to the accountability of teachers in assessment and reporting in secondary school contexts including moderation processes.