ASSIGNMENT BRIEF

You are to write a 3000-word essay to examine the role, practice and significance of assessment; data collection and interpretation, and feedback on reporting. Use the following prompts to guide your essay response:
• What are the types and purposes of assessment used by schools and broader educational bodies at a state, national and global level? Consider theoretical perspectives that underpin assessment.
• What are the benefits, limitations and implementation constraints of different assessment types? Consider contexts and influences (social, political, national and global).
• What are the principles and strategies for interpreting student assessment data to make informed judgements on student learning and well-being?
• What are some strategies for, and purposes of, providing purposeful feedback and reporting on student achievement?
The depth and breadth of your critical analysis are of high importance. Arguments need to be effectively communicated and well supported. Your essay must draw on course materials and other academic literature to support your arguments and should adhere to APA 7th Edition referencing.

This is an overview of Assignment 1, the essay which is 3000 words and worth 50% of your overall mark. There are two assessment tasks in this unit, each worth 50%. I will begin by just giving you an overview of the assessment, and then we’ll have a look at some of the assessment details and we’ll break down some of the particular elements that are required for you to respond to with relation to this assessment.
Within this assessment task, we’re going to be looking at a range of different assessment strategies and types and comparing their purpose and the policy that supports those, and the procedure for implementing different assessment tasks. We’re going to look at some of the contextual factors that impact upon assessment implementation and choice, things such as social, theoretical, and political factors, and we’re also going to consider some of the national and global impacts and implication of assessment. In comparing assessment styles, you will also be looking at limitations and constraints of different assessment tasks. You’re also going to look at ways in which we interpret assessment data and how this allows us, as teachers, to make informed judgements on student learning. Within the essay, you will be considering the role practice and significance of assessment data, collection, and interpretation, and also considering feedback and reporting strategies.
Now, within the assessment task we’ve included four prompts that are going to help you guide your response with relation to the assessment task. It’s very important that you review these four prompts and really use these as a roadmap for you completing your assessment. Begin by looking at the purposes of assessment and the types of assessment that not only schools use, but also broader educational bodies. You need to consider these at a state and a national level, and then also considering on an international level as well. We also want you to consider the theoretical perspectives that underpin assessment. As teachers, we know that our teaching practice is grounded in theory, and this also includes our assessment practices.
Once you’ve identified some of the different types of assessment, you’re going to compare and contrast the benefits, limitations, and implementation constraints of these different assessment types. Considering the ways in which we implement assessment, considering difficulties that might be related to assessment. Considering how social and political contexts might influence assessment choice. Thinking about the actual assessment that you choose, and the way in which the assessment aligns with learning intentions, the ways in which the assessment task allows the students to show you what you have learnt, or the ways in which the particular assessment may limit a student’s ability to demonstrate their learning.
We know that all different assessment types have different purposes. When we’re selecting the assessment type that we’re going to be using, we need to consider our student learning backgrounds, and we need to consider whether the assessment task that we select is going to allow our students to demonstrate their learning in the best way possible. Certain assessment tasks will be beneficial to student learning and others will include limitations. This is where we need to have a good understanding of our students’ backgrounds. We also need to consider constraints, and this might be with relation to time, it might be with relation to implementation on a school-based level, it may be with relation to access to too different of an assessment type, or comparability of assessment types.
Once you’ve considered those factors, we want you to then move to thinking about, once you have completed an assessment with your students, what do you then do with the data? An important part of collecting assessment data is interpreting this data. When we interpret student assessment data, we can make informed judgements on student learning. This helps guide our future practice. It also helps us to gauge whether or not students have met the learning outcomes that we set. Once we have interpreted our assessment data, we then need to consider ways that we’re going to use that data to report and provide feedback on student achievement. This can be by way of feedback to students, it can be through reporting to parents or carers, and it can be done in formal or informal ways. The importance with relation to feedback and reporting is that the feedback and reporting is relevant to the learning outcomes that you are assessing. In doing so, we can then provide students with an indication of their progress towards learning outcomes, and we can provide parents, carers, with an indication of student achievement as well, relevant to curriculum development.
There are quite a few different elements to this assessment task, so in order for you to satisfactorily meet the requirements of the assessment task, it is very important that you review the assignment criteria. This is included in the assignment rubric. When you’re completing your assignment, it is very important that you use the assignment criteria to guide your response. It sets out very clearly in the marking guide what we require from you for each criterion, in order for you to receive a pass all the way through to a high distinction. When you are completing your assignment, do go back in and check that you are on track with the criteria. That you’re addressing all the elements for each criterion. Have a look at the high distinction column. See what’s required of you in order for you to receive a high distinction, for each part of the criteria. Things like making sure you are using scholarly literature to support your discussion point. Making sure that you are drawing on theoretical perspectives to inform your discussions. Using the rubric as a guide to help form your responses, using the assessment criteria as a guide, is going to make sure that you’re going to cover all of the elements of the assessment task that are required of you.