Consistent Teacher Judgement

Key Messages of Reporting

The following information is relevant for all NSW Department schools. Systemic schools can access their diocesan websites through the Catholic Education Commission, NSW site: http://www.cecnsw.catholic.edu.au

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 A-E 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.

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

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 Curriculum planning and programming, assessing and reporting to parents K-12 policy
Other resources are available on the Time to Teach 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 student’s 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.