How I Assess and Report to Improve Student Learning Outcomes
Located below are student examples of FOR, AS and OF learning.
Getting to Know My Students
Year Level: 8
Curriculum Area: Humanities- History
Topic: The Middle Ages
Assessment: Diagnostic FOR learning
Task: Students had just completed a unit of work on the Vikings and were to begin a new unit on Medieval Europe. During their final lesson on the Vikings, in which they presenting their final assessment tasks to their fellow classmates, I provided students with a simple questionnaire to complete for homework.
Why did I use this form of assessment?
This assessment activity provided me with a means to gain evidence and an understanding of the prior knowledge of my students and content areas they were interested in learning about. It also enabled me to determine the range of individual differences amongst my students and identify the learning needs of my students. Finally, this assessment activity assisted me in my lesson planning; informing my instructional and teaching practise.
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Keeping Track of Progress
Year Level: 6
Curriculum Area: General Studies Topic: Term Performance Review Assessment: Diagnostic AS Learning Task: As the school term drew to a close, students begun a performance review on their learning throughout the term. Comprising of a number of tasks spread out over the school year that were to be collated in a booklet form, this assessment activity comprised of a SWOT analysis and a series of questions. Why did I use this form of assessment? This activity involved students reflecting on their learning; analysing their strengths and weakness to identify future learning goals. This task encouraged students to begin to take responsibility for their learning and to understand the learning process. It was an effective means for students to reflect on and begin to monitor their progress to inform future learning goals. |
What Progress Have We Made?
Year Level: 8
Curriculum Area: English-Travel Writing
Topic: Travel Writing
Assessment: Summative OF Learning
Task: After completing a sequence of lessons on travel writing, the final assessment task required students to create a comprehensive travel brochure on a fictional city or country and allowed them to demonstrate their knowledge and understandings of travel writing in a creative and meaningful task. This was indicative in the students enthusiasm and creative approaches to the project. To assess and record student understandings and learning outcomes, rubric assessment was used.
Why did I use this form of assessment?
This assessment activity was used to assess where students were sitting against the goals and standards of the unit. This activity addressed students knowledge of content taught and also acted as a learning outcome which emphasised creativity. It was a great way for students to demonstrate their understanding of the topic and provided a platform that engaged students and encouraged enthusiasm for the topic and assessment task.
I used Rubrics as a form of assessment and three posters were displayed in the room which set the expected, good and outstanding outcomes of the task. This was a great way for the students to understand the grounds on which their assignment was marked, and it showed them what the teacher expected of an outstanding product. This method was useful for students who find project work difficult, as it stated the expectations of various achieving levels. There are some limitations with this assessment in terms of content and structure. However, I believe assessment should be varied, and this is an excellent use of dynamic assessing.
Curriculum Area: English-Travel Writing
Topic: Travel Writing
Assessment: Summative OF Learning
Task: After completing a sequence of lessons on travel writing, the final assessment task required students to create a comprehensive travel brochure on a fictional city or country and allowed them to demonstrate their knowledge and understandings of travel writing in a creative and meaningful task. This was indicative in the students enthusiasm and creative approaches to the project. To assess and record student understandings and learning outcomes, rubric assessment was used.
Why did I use this form of assessment?
This assessment activity was used to assess where students were sitting against the goals and standards of the unit. This activity addressed students knowledge of content taught and also acted as a learning outcome which emphasised creativity. It was a great way for students to demonstrate their understanding of the topic and provided a platform that engaged students and encouraged enthusiasm for the topic and assessment task.
I used Rubrics as a form of assessment and three posters were displayed in the room which set the expected, good and outstanding outcomes of the task. This was a great way for the students to understand the grounds on which their assignment was marked, and it showed them what the teacher expected of an outstanding product. This method was useful for students who find project work difficult, as it stated the expectations of various achieving levels. There are some limitations with this assessment in terms of content and structure. However, I believe assessment should be varied, and this is an excellent use of dynamic assessing.
Student project samples from this assessment task can be found under the Extended Learning Sequence and then clicking on the Secondary banner.