What is assessment? Assessment is the process of identifying, gathering and interpreting information about students' learning.

The central purpose of assessment is to provide information on student achievement and progress and set the direction for ongoing teaching and learning. Schools are to undertake assessment to collect information about students learning. This will occur through both formal and informal activities. Key messages of reporting A E grades or the equivalent word descriptions is a common grading scale which is based on clearly defined state-wide syllabus standards drawn from the Board of Studies syllabuses. The Common Grade Scale developed with the Board of Studies contains descriptions and associated grades A-E or equivalent words, which can be used to report student achievement in Years 1-10. This link offers support material for teachers to assist with reporting student achievement. The Mathematics Proramming Support website provides a continuum of learning in Mathematics for each sub strand of the Mathematics K-6 Syllabus. Outcomes and key ideas are listed alongside some suggested teaching ideas with links to available resources. Planned assessment tasks accompanied by student work samples incorporate assessment as part of teaching and learning. To access the assessment support materials, select the link below. To Mathematics Programming Support (Further substrands available on DET intranet only)

The following information is relevant for all NSW Department schools. Systemic schools can access their diocesan websites through the Catholic Education Commission, NSW site: h t t p : / / w w w . c e c n s w . c a t h o l i c . e d u . a u

What are the A-E grades or equivalent word descriptions (outstanding, high, sound, basic, limited)?
A E grades or the equivalent word descriptions is a common grading scale which is based on clearly defined state-wide syllabus standards drawn from the Board of Studies syllabuses. The Common Grade Scale developed with the Board of Studies contains descriptions and associated grades AE or equivalent words, which can be used to report student achievement in Years 1-10. The five point achievement scale summarises the standard (or quality) of achievement associated with each grade/word description. The scale describes:

The depth of knowledge and understanding and The range of skills that students working at that standard typically show.

Grades/word descriptions are given for individual achievement. Students will get the grade/word description that best matches the standard of their achievement. Teachers are not limited to set numbers of each grade/word within their class or school. The five point achievement scale is one aspect of school reporting to parents. Other important tools include:

Teacher comments Parent teacher interviews and Information about student effort.

Allocating A-E or equivalent word descriptions

The allocating of the A-E grades/word descriptions is a holistic judgement based on a range of assessment information up to that point in time. A-E grades/word descriptions on reports are one element of the written report which is part of the overall assessment and reporting process. The professional judgement of teachers continues to be central to this process data supports the validity and reliability of teacher judgements.

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Policy

The process of grading student achievement should be based on syllabus standards within year/stage groups; within and between schools. There should be consistent use of plain, clear language.

Policy Standards reporting

3.2.2 Years 1 10

Schools will use the following achievement scale to report to parents for students in Years 1 10. The achievement of students is to be assessed in relation to syllabus standards. A and / or Outstanding The student has an extensive knowledge and understanding of the content and can readily apply this knowledge. In addition, the student has achieved a very high level of competence in the processes and skills and can apply these skills to new situations. B and/or High The student has a thorough knowledge and understanding of the content and a high level of competence in the processes and skills. In addition, the student is able to apply this knowledge and these skills to most situations. C and/or Sound The student has a sound knowledge and understanding of the main areas of content and has achieved an adequate level of competence in the processes and skills. D and/or Basic The student has a basic knowledge and understanding of the content and has achieved a limited level of competence in the processes and skills. E and/or Limited The student has an elementary knowledge and understanding in few areas of the content and has achieved very limited competence in some of the processes and skills.

Understanding standards
Achievement standards have two important components. These can be thought of in terms of what and how well. Consider:

What students have had the opportunity to learn spelt out in syllabuses and school teaching / learning programs How well students have achieved what they have had opportunity to learn

The NSW syllabuses state what students at each stage are expected to learn. The A E grade scale describes how well students achieve. To the C u r r i c u l u m p l a n n i n g a n d p r o g r a m m i n g , a s s e s s i n g a n d r e p o r t i n g t o p a r e n t s K - 1 2 p o l i c y Other resources are available on the T i m e t o T e a c h site

Choosing the achievement level

Reporting with grades requires that you use your on-balance judgement in relation to standards. This is a key professional skill. An on-balance judgement does not just focus on a single piece of work. Weigh up the assessment information you have collected for a student up to that point in time. This information will come from both formal activities and informal observations and will be built up over time and in different situations.

The Board of Studies supports the Assessment for Learning approach. Information on a students achievement that is collected during the course of learning and used as part of an Assessment for Learning strategy can also be used to allocate grades.