Curriculum: Learning, Teaching and Assessment > QCAR > Implementing QCAR > Assessment >

Assessment strategies and techniques

Assessment is a key aspect of the teaching and learning process.

Assessment builds from the curriculum: assessment tasks come from, or are embedded in, curriculum tasks.

High-quality assessment involves:

a range of task formats
a range of response modes (providing opportunities for learners to show what they know, understand and can do in different ways - an equity issue)
clear criteria for assessment which are shared with the learner
constructive (and realistic) feedback to the learner

Not all assessment is for reporting, or even recording. Where assessment is for reporting, however, there needs to be both a sound evidential base and comparability of judgment (across teachers and schools) to ensure confidence in the judgment.

The process of assessment has five elements:

the assessment task (derived from the curriculum)
student performance (which is not always written)
a judgment of the performance with reference to a standard
feedback to the learner and the teacher/curriculum
moderation

(refer to REPORTING, Moderation Protocols, Moderation Models)

The Report of the Assessment and Reporting Taskforce, Education Queensland 2002 (new window) [an error occurred while processing this directive]

Comparability - Consistency - Continuity

Informed teacher judgment is at the heart of assessment:

judgments about students' achievements should be based on explicit assessment criteria and established standards
criteria are fundamental to appraising student work
standards underlie judgments about the quality of performance: not only what students know and can do but also how well they know it and can do it
reported judgments of student achievement should be defensible, comparable, and based on sound evidence and a shared understanding of standards

The function of criteria is to:

declare broad performance dimensions on which a range of student performances can be represented
embody curriculum intent
reflect what is valued by the assessment task

The design of standards based criteria should be:

identifiable / observable in student work
manageable / workable in number and grain size
sufficiently different from, and independent of, each other
easily interpretable for use by teacher-assessor

Assessment and Reporting: Resources

^ Top of page