Unit rationale, description and aim
Pre–service teachers must develop assessment literacy as integral to effective curriculum decision–making.
This unit builds on pre–service teachers’ knowledges and understandings about the nature and purposes of assessment, and the roles assessment plays in teaching and learning. Students examine theories, policies, practices and technologies related to educational assessment, and apply these to understand and implement assessment strategies that meet the learning and development needs of diverse children, families and communities. Pre–service teachers are provided with opportunities to form advanced understandings about educational assessment, including what constitutes relevant and effective data. They gather, analyse, interpret and moderate relevant and effective data to arrive at credible conclusions and to make recommendations for the improvement of children’s learning. Students will draw on understandings about diversity and partnership to identify strategies that engage parents/carers in the educative process, and ways to report meaningfully to parents/carers and other significant stakeholders.
This unit aims to develop pre–service teachers’ understanding and skills for designing effective assessments and gathering, interpreting and reporting assessment data in order to improve learning outcomes.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Describe purposes and forms of educational assessm...
Learning Outcome 01
Apply theorised strategies for a range of assessme...
Learning Outcome 02
Evaluate processes for documenting, analysing and ...
Learning Outcome 03
Explain a range of strategies for reporting to par...
Learning Outcome 04
Complete a successful professional experience in a...
Learning Outcome 05
Content
Topics will include:
- The role of assessment in curriculum decision-making
- The purposeful nature of assessment and major concepts, approaches and purposes related to areas of specialisation, including assessment for, of and as learning; formal, informal, diagnostic assessment, formative and summative assessment, authentic assessment; alignment; folio-based assessment, performance assessment, )
- The role of assessment in the continual evaluation and improvement of teaching and learning and the challenges associated with this process
- The use of assessment to monitor and improve children’s learning and development
- Construction of quality and diverse assessment tasks informed by assessment theories, policies, approaches and curriculum
- Differentiating assessment tasks to meet the specific needs of diverse learners
- Approaches for providing timely, focused and constructive feedback to learners
- Documentation of children’s learning and the roles documentation plays in making children’s thinking visible.
- Processes for gathering, organising and interpreting evidence of learning and development, and provision of feedback
- The information processing cycle in the school context: acquisition, validation, processing, storage, output and archiving/deletion
- Documentation, data storage and ethical practice related to storage and communication of assessment information and data
- The use of relevant technologies to document, record, access, aggregate and evaluate assessment information and data
- What constitutes relevant and effective data in the area of specialisation
- How the interpretation of assessment data informs the construction of quality learning sequences
- The affects assessment data may have on children, families and the broader community.
- A range of communication strategies to engage sensitively and confidentially with parents/ carers and involve them in the educative process
- Reporting student learning to learners, colleagues, parents/carers and other significant stakeholders
- Understanding the role of formal and informal external and commercially prepared assessment programs.
Assessment strategy and rationale
This unit’s assessment tasks and weightings are designed to help pre-service teachers progressively demonstrate achievement of course learning outcomes, aligned with academic and professional standards. The Effective Teaching sequence develops skills in professional knowledge, practice, and engagement to meet ACECQA criteria and the APST: Graduate level. Assessments focus on constructing informed procedures that integrate contemporary educational theory, learning psychology, and modern technologies. Teachers will collect, analyse, interpret, and apply both quantitative and qualitative student data to evaluate learning.
The three tasks are sequenced to support feedback and growth in assessment knowledge and communication with parents/carers. Task 1, a low-weighted early assessment, evaluates understanding of assessment concepts and identifies students needing support. Task 2 builds on this by requiring an assessment portfolio with quality teaching resources. Task 3 encourages creativity in designing parent/carer communication strategies and is the sole assessment for Learning Outcome 4.
To pass the unit, students must complete all tasks, meet learning outcomes, and achieve a minimum grade of 50%. EDET460 includes two Critical Tasks essential for demonstrating the Australian Professional Teacher Standards. A minimum score of 50% in each Critical Task is required. Additionally, passing Task 3 is mandatory for successful completion of the unit.
Overview of assessments
Assessment Task 1: Test Demonstrate understandin...
Assessment Task 1: Test
Demonstrate understanding of assessment concepts including:
- Principles of effective assessment
- Purpose of assessment
- Forms of assessment
- Quality assessment
- Criteria, standards, rubrics and moderation for making judgements
- Feedback
- Ethics of assessment
20%
Assessment Task 2: Assessment Plan and Portfolio ...
Assessment Task 2: Assessment Plan and Portfolio
Critical Task
Develop an assessment portfolio, corresponding to a unit of work or learning context, that includes the following:
addressing specific curriculum content;
- Pre-learning readiness assessment/ process for establishing what children know in relation to identified curriculum;
- Formative assessment strategies; strategies for monitoring and documenting ongoing learning
- Strategies for providing timely and appropriate feedback to learners;
- Summative assessment; strategies for making judgments about what children know in relation to identified curriculum
- Modified tasks to meet specific needs of diverse learners; strategies for individualising assessment plans
- Criteria and rubrics; develop a resource which can be used to documented and monitor learning
- Reflection on the planning and the construction of the readiness and formative tasks with regards to how they will inform learning practice; a reflection about how information will inform curriculum decision-making
- Strategies for analysis and interpretation of student assessment data
- Systems for moderation for consistent and comparable judgements
- Systems for record-keeping for reporting purposes; systems for documenting and reporting purposes
50%
Assessment Task 3: Parent/Carer Communication Pla...
Assessment Task 3: Parent/Carer Communication Plan
Critical Task
Design a plan and associated resources for involving parents/carers in the educative process. Include a broad range of communication and reporting strategies, and demonstrate understanding of strategies for working effectively, sensitively and confidentially with parents/carers.
30%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit applies a social constructivist approach to develop pre-service teachers’ understanding of principles and practices of assessment and their skills in developing assessment tasks. They will have the opportunity to build on their understanding of assessment concepts and strategies through critical reading, lecturer modelling, active engagement and rehearsing in tutorials. Teaching skills of professional communication will be developed through class discussions and the construction of a parent/carer communication plan. Understanding of assessment, and the ability to locate and synthesise information, will be developed through designing assessment plans for a specific group of learners. Placement in a school/centre will enable preservice teachers to engage with experienced practitioners and to make links between theory and its application to primary/secondary/early childhood settings. Pre-service teachers will continue to gather and reflect upon evidence of their attainment of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers: Graduate, in the Digital Portfolio.
The unit will involve lectures and tutorials with discussion, written activities and on-going assessment tasks. Teaching strategies may include:
- Formal online weekly input by the teaching team
- Hands-on tutorials and discussion sessions that promote peer learning; and
- Online activities.
Representative texts and references
Required text(s)
Australian Curriculum https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/
Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority. Early Years Learning Framework https://www.acecqa.gov.au/acecqa-approved-learning-frameworks-version-2.0-communications-toolkit
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) www.acara.edu.au
Relevant State and Territory curriculum documents.
Recommended references
Cameron, M., McLachlan, C., Rawlins, P., & McLaughlin, T. (2018). Assessment of, as and for learning: The challenges of assessment terminology. Early Education. 64, 18-23.
Ewing, R., Kervin, L., Glass, C., Gobby, B., Le Cornu, R., & Groundwater-Smith, S. (2019). Teaching : Dilemmas, challenges and opportunities (6th ed.). Cengage Learning Australia.
Fleer, M. (2017). Play in the early years (2nd ed). Cambridge University Press
Fleet, A., Patterson, C., & Robertson, J. (2017). Pedagogical documentation in early years practice seeing through multiple perspectives. Sage.
McLachlan, C. (2018). Te Whariki revisited: How approaches to assessment can make valued learning visible. He Kupu The Word, 5, 45-56.
McLachlan, C., Fleer, M., & Edwards, S. (2018). Early childhood curriculum: Planning, assessment and implementation (3rd ed). Cambridge University Press.
Shearer, A., & Klenowski, V. (2019). Assessment as Discursive Practice in the Early Years. In A. Woods & B. Exley (Eds.) Literacies in Early Childhood: Foundations for Equity and Quality (pp. 273–289). Oxford University Press.
South Australian Government Department for Education. (2020). Respect, reflect, relate: Assessing for learning and development in the early years using observation scales. Author.
Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. (2019). Assessment of children as confident and involved learners in early childhood education and care: Literature review. Author.