Assessment is the ongoing process of gathering, analysing and reflecting on evidence to make informed judgments about the achievement or capabilities of individuals and cohorts. Assessment plays an integral role in improving learning and informing teaching. Its fundamental purpose is to establish where learners are in an aspect of their learning at the time of assessment (Masters 2014). The literature uses different terms about assessment, including assessment for, as and of learning, diagnostic, formative and summative.
Assessment for learning, assessment as learning and assessment of learning (Earl 2013) are purposes for which evidence is gathered about student progression to improve teaching and learning. Assessment for these purposes can involve both teachers and students, providing opportunities for them to give and receive feedback and inform future planning. The principles and attributes described above should be considered when planning any assessment.
At Flagstone State School, staff teach and plan high quality assessments that are closely aligned with student's learning experiences. It includes a range and balance of assessments that offer students opportunities to demonstrate their learning.
Student Folio
Teachers collect a folio of student work that provides assessment evidence across the year for each student. Each folio of work contains a student’s responses to a range and balance of assessments, collected over time.
This folio allows students opportunities to become familiar with assessment techniques, and enables feedback and reflection in relation to the required achievement standard. All teacher participate in a moderation process when making decisions to ensure that all judgements are reflected across the cohort regarding benchmark achievement standards. These folios are used as evidence to make an on-balance judgement about the quality of students’ work for the purposes of twice-yearly reporting.