What might be CURRENT CONTEXTS surrounding educational assessment and

reporting?
What issues concerns & tensions will you, as a teacher, need to have an
awareness of, know and understand? Support your responses with some
research and references
CLASSROOM CONTEXT
Ensure learning is a social process
Ensure assessments are informal, teacher mandated, adapted to local context,
locally scored, sensitive to short-term change in students knowledge, and
meaningful to students
Changes taking place such as advanced in technology p 1 masters 2013)
Consider the impact of reporting e.g. ensure negative views are not developed
with current grading such as the a-d system p 4 masters 2013
Ensure assessment, feedback and reporting demonstrates show where learners
are in their learning at the time of assessment and what progress they have
made over time. p 8 masters 2013
As a teacher, use the info to ensure further learning opportunities are made
available to support students learning
Ensure assessment and reporting processes are consistent with what is knownp 1 masters 2013
rather than being a process that is separated from and comes after teaching and
learning, assessment becomes an essential component of effective pedagogy
and a vital part of successful learning p 51 masters 2013
Types of assessment used that may help or hinder students learning and cultures
Consider assessment and reporting in terms of the classroom contextthat
classroom assessment activities do not disadvantage students from cultural
backgrounds, are not offensive to particular religious groups and consider the
possible emotional reactions to situations p 41 Masters 2013
How assessments contribute to school environments that encourage creative
and critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, good interpersonal skills, and
literacy and numeracy (p 20) Brady
Make assessment meaningful for students and relating it to their interests and
cultural backgrounds p 20 Brady
the best preparation for understanding and delivering effective and authentic
assessment processes begins with designing high quality assessment tasks and
instruments (2011, p 4 AIS)

Student-centred assessment p 11 ensure constant conversation with

children ongoing assessment
Focus on the individual Different abilities of each child
Informal assessments
Tensions placed on a child to have to succeed against another student
Ensure
Types of assessment used standardised tests to accommodate different
backgrounds/abilities
Broadfoot in Brady, states the way assessment is conducted influences student
attitudes to learning and the strategies they use to further their own learning p
18
Authentic
The types of assessment used p 3
Social & equity
Ensure it is the crucial link between learning outcomes, content and teaching and
learning activities, used to help learners and the teacher to decide where the
learners are at in their learning where they need to go, and how best to get there
p 6 AIS)
Responsive to the needs of individual students being ever alert to where
children are, how they are responding to lessons and activities, and how they are
or are not progressing p 11
What might be CURRENT CONTEXTS surrounding educational
assessment and reporting
What issues concerns & tensions will you, as a teacher, need to have an
awareness of, know and understand? Support your responses with
some research and references

There are many implications on students surrounding educational assessment and reporting
within classroom contexts, that I feel are vital as a teacher to consider-in particular social and
equity issues.
Assessments need to be ongoing and may be informal, or formal through cloze activities,
whole group and small group activities that create opportunities for problem solving and
teamwork, as well as individual activities (Brady & Kennedy, 2012, p. 20). It is essential that
as a teacher I continually understand what level students are at, developed throughout
constant conversation with students (Brady & Kennedy, 2012, p 11).

I will also need to considersocial and equity issues when designing assessments within the
classroom context, so no student is disadvantaged due to their cultural backgrounds, gender,
religions, language, abilities, and to be mindful ofeliminating thepotential for possible
emotional reactions to situations (Masters, 2013, p. 41).
Within the classroom I will need to ensure assessments are designed to encourage students to
utilise critical and creative thinking skills, problem solving, teamwork, good interpersonal
skills, and literacy and numeracy (Brady& Kennedy, 2012, p. 20).
Understanding the needs, prior knowledge and skills of each student is essential before
designing any assessments which need to be relevant and responsive to students learning,
remembering to design effective and authentic assessment processesthat are also high
quality assessment tasks and instruments (AIS, 2011, p. 4).

Although there are many other elements to consider with assessment and reporting, in
conclusion it is essential to consider the impact of reporting when the current grading system
of A-D is used to ensure negative views are eliminated; student abilities are not assessed
against another student, and that results show where each individual learner is at the time of
assessment and what progress they have made over time (Masters, 2013, p. 8).
REFERENCES
AIS see Association of Independent Schools of the ACT
Association of Independent Schools of the ACT. (2011). Teachers Guide to Assessment.
Retrieved from
http://www.det.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/297182/Teachers_Guide_to_As
sessment_Web.pdf
Brady, L, & Kennedy, K. (2012).Assessment and reporting: celebrating student achievement.
4thed. NSW: Pearson Australia.
Masters, G.N. (2013). Reforming education assessment: imperatives, principles and
challenges.Australian education review; 57. Retrieved from
http://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=aer

SCHOOL & COMMUNITY

What might be CURRENT CONTEXTS surrounding educational
assessment and reporting

What issues concerns & tensions will you, as a teacher, need to have an
awareness of, know and understand? Support your responses with
some research and references

According to the NSW Department of Education & Communities schools and their
communities need to work in collaboration to build assessment and reporting systems and
policies, according to their local needs and expectations(2012).
Assessment and reporting development also needs to demonstrate clear goals, standards and
the purpose that schools and communities are expected to accomplish. As a teacher I would
need to ensure I am proficient in reporting systems and policies used, that will demonstrate to
the community and school, understand the needs and expectations of schools and the
community, and the benefits of each assessment according to current needs, such as enabling
parents to know how their children are performing at school (DEECD, 2005).
With such an increase in the demand for students to achieve higher than expected results in
their learning outcomes, I will need to be aware of the implications and extra pressures
assessments may also place on students, such as norm referenced assessments where results
may be positioned according to performance.
Schools and communities need to remember that not all schools or communitiesare the same
what works in the city, may not work as effectively as in the country, and comparing
schools from dissimilar areas; student populations; learning requirements and learning
outcomes may vary vastly, which also may impact on students involved in assessments such
as the NAPLAN test, where students may requireadditional teacher support(Brady &
Kennedy, 2012, p. 124).This includes the potential for negative impacts on teachers and
students when school/student performances are compared against other students/schools, as is
fails to consider the social and cultural backgrounds of students (Brady & Kennedy, 2012).
Assessment and reporting across schools, can however be used to improve school programs
and identify strengths and weaknesses in programs to enable learning opportunities that can
benefit students (Brady & Kennedy, 2012, p. 187). It also enables teachers to identify where
they might need to improve their own teaching.
All of these elements, across both school and community contexts require a teacher to
continually develop great relationships that are two way, open, honest and adaptable.
Brady, L, & Kennedy, K. (2012).Assessment and reporting: celebrating student achievement.
(4thed.). NSW: Pearson Australia.
DEECD see Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. (2005). Current
perspectives on assessment. Retrieved
fromhttps://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/public/teachlearn/student/assessment_
current_per.pdf