Peta Colbert

A Systems-Level Approach to Building Sustainable Assessment Cultures: moderation, quality task design and dependability of judgement

This article considers the conditions that are necessary at system and local levels for teacher assessment to be valid, reliable and rigorous. With sustainable assessment cultures as a goal, the article examines how education systems can support local-level efforts for quality learning and dependable teacher assessment. This is achieved through discussion of relevant research and consideration of a case study involving an evaluation of a cross-sectoral approach to promoting confidence in school-based assessment in Queensland, Australia. Building on the reported case study, essential characteristics for developing sustainable assessment cultures are presented, including: leadership in learning; alignment of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment; the design of quality assessment tasks and accompanying standards; and evidence-based judgement and moderation. Taken together, these elements constitute a new framework for building assessment capabilities and promoting quality assurance.

Designing assessment for quality learning

This chapter explores the context, challenges and priorities for design- ing a robust, school-based, next-generation assessment system—one with the power to enable learning in a networked, digital world. The next-generation assessment envisaged here does not run counter to any national or state-based assessment sys- tem. Nor does it seek to compete with those next-generation, highly technologized assessment instruments developed by multinational business and educational part- nerships. Rather, this next-generation assessment is envisioned as a complementary assessment system suited to the unique profile of individual schools, developed by those particular communities, with modest funding. It positions schools as catalysts for extending their networks of mentors and partners in purposeful, inclusive yet accountable ways. Central to its design is the desire to engage and channel young people towards their best performances and future potential, while building their social and civic consciences as tomorrows citizens. To this end, we identify es- sential learnings for effectively navigating those interconnected spaces inhabited by young people, superimpose an axis of assessment options and propose an interweav- ing with relational and communication cables, or purposeful connections. We offer suggestions for design priorities for next-generation assessment.

Assessment Understood as Enabling

This chapter outlines a perspective of educational assessment as enabling, whereby the learner is central and assessment is focused on supporting the knowledge, skills and dispositions necessary for lifelong learning. It argues that better education for young people is achievable when educational policy and practice give priority to learning improvement, thereby making assessment for accountability a related, though secondary, concern. The chapter describes how this work of internationally recognized scholars brings together diverse perspectives and theoretical frameworks and, in so doing, provides readers with a range of ways to consider their pathway through the book. A ‘map’ and summaries of chapters suggest a reading according to a thematic approach, geographical setting, author/s profile or content purposes depending on the reader’s own priorities. A section on assessment past, present, and futures calls for a rebalancing of improvement and accountability goals, and for countries to be careful to avoid privileging large-scale testing over other forms of data about learning and achievement.

Enabling All Students to Learn Through Assessment

The overall focus of this chapter is on how assessment may be used to improve the learning of all children, based on the premise that all children are able to learn and all children’s learning can be improved. The context for our discussion is classroom-based assessment with judgment of student learning by teachers, and the use of criteria and standards to guide student performance and self-improvement. We demonstrate that the underlying rationale for this discussion is located at the convergence of five theoretical or paradigmatic approaches in assessment and learning. As an exemplar we provide the discourse of a student with a history of learning difficulties as he engages with and constructs meaning within the criteria and standards of a performance assessment task, in order to examine his own performance and how to improve.

Assessment understood as enabling: A time to rebalance improvement and accountability goals

This chapter explores the context, challenges and priorities for design- ing a robust, school-based, next-generation assessment system—one with the power to enable learning in a networked, digital world. The next-generation assessment envisaged here does not run counter to any national or state-based assessment sys- tem. Nor does it seek to compete with those next-generation, highly technologized assessment instruments developed by multinational business and educational part- nerships. Rather, this next-generation assessment is envisioned as a complementary assessment system suited to the unique profile of individual schools, developed by those particular communities, with modest funding. It positions schools as catalysts for extending their networks of mentors and partners in purposeful, inclusive yet accountable ways. Central to its design is the desire to engage and channel young people towards their best performances and future potential, while building their social and civic consciences as tomorrows citizens. To this end, we identify es- sential learnings for effectively navigating those interconnected spaces inhabited by young people, superimpose an axis of assessment options and propose an interweav- ing with relational and communication cables, or purposeful connections. We offer suggestions for design priorities for next-generation assessment.

Designing Assessment for Quality Learning (The enabling Power of Assessment 1)

This chapter explores the context, challenges and priorities for design- ing a robust, school-based, next-generation assessment system—one with the power to enable learning in a networked, digital world. The next-generation assessment envisaged here does not run counter to any national or state-based assessment sys- tem. Nor does it seek to compete with those next-generation, highly technologized assessment instruments developed by multinational business and educational part- nerships. Rather, this next-generation assessment is envisioned as a complementary assessment system suited to the unique profile of individual schools, developed by those particular communities, with modest funding. It positions schools as catalysts for extending their networks of mentors and partners in purposeful, inclusive yet accountable ways. Central to its design is the desire to engage and channel young people towards their best performances and future potential, while building their social and civic consciences as tomorrows citizens. To this end, we identify es- sential learnings for effectively navigating those interconnected spaces inhabited by young people, superimpose an axis of assessment options and propose an interweav- ing with relational and communication cables, or purposeful connections. We offer suggestions for design priorities for next-generation assessment.

Essential Provisions for Quality Learning Support: Connecting Literacy, Numeracy and Learning Needs

Recently, the Australian Government has moved to consider the approaches used to support students with learning difficulties in schools. As each school system and sector again employs a combination of augmented programs targeting different student groups, the government moved not to regulate this delicate type of literacy and numeracy support, but rather to build a strong evidence base from which to promote informed teacher and school choice of program that would make a difference for students with learning difficulties. Through the national program, titled Effective Teaching and Learning Practices for Students with Learning Difficulties Initiative, government funding was provided in order to build a picture of available support provisions at classroom and school level in the states and territories, and to determine the effectiveness of those practices. This funding was allocated to strategic projects designed to increase knowledge and understanding of how to enhance the literacy and numeracy development of students with difficulties in learning in the early and middle years of schooling. One such project was the Interventions in Literacy and Numeracy (InLaN) project designed by Griffith University researchers to identify those effective teaching and learning practices that led to measurably improved outcomes in literacy and numeracy for students experiencing difficulties in learning in the primary and middle years of schooling in Queensland schools. In this chapter I present the key features of effective learning support provision, as demonstrated in 14 case-study schools, and identify the importance of these to supporting the literacy and numeracy development of all students, particularly those with difficulties in learning.