Australian Catholic University

Assessment Task Two

Assessment Learning Plans

English

EDLA539

Rationale……………………………………………………………………………………………..…2

Assessments in Senior English…………………………………………………………………………2

Diagnostic Assessment –Writing Journal ……………………………………………………….…..…3

Formative Assessment – Quiz 5…………………………………………………………………..…5

Summative Assessment – Online Essay……………………….……………………………………5

Moderation ……………………………………………………………...…………………………….6

Higher Order Thinking ………………………………………………………………………………7

Differentiation ……………………………………………………………………………..…………8

Data ……………………………………………………………………………………………………9

Feedback……………………………………………………………………….…………………… 11

Interventionist Strategies …………………………..………………………………………………12

References ………………………………………………………………...…………………………13

Appendix…………………………………………………………………….……………………… 14

Rationale
Assessments in Senior English

Assessments should be aligned with curriculum, pedagogy and reporting where assessments

and their delivery should be equitable and evidence-based. Assessments should be ongoing to

monitor student progression whilst ensuring transparency that enhances the wider

community’s confidence in the process of assessment. Diagnostic, formative and summative

assessments are the three key approaches to evaluating student content knowledge and

achievement within education. These assessments inform reporting and student data,

providing a breadth of information to the school and wider community to the depth of

student’s conceptual knowledge which thereby, informs future planning.

The QCAA’s senior course of English is structured into four segments, referred to as Units,

these Units increase in difficulty as students continue to develop their critical thinking,

creative skills and subject knowledge. Units 1-4 develop student’s ability to be innovative,

analytical and appreciate the aesthetic use of language where students will effectively

accomplish all syllabus objectives. (QCAA, 2019) The Units have three essential skill sets of;

literacy, numeracy and 21st century skills which form the underpinning factors of the unit and

its subject matter. Furthermore, the Units syllabus objectives require “comprehension which

requires retrieval, and knowledge utilisation requires retrieval, comprehension and analytical

processes.” (QCAA,2019, pg. 4)

The QCAA senior syllabus is composed of four units, of which only the assessment

associated with Units 3 and 4 are summative (QCAA, 2019). QCAA states that, in Units 1

and 2, students should have the opportunity to “experience and respond to the types of

assessment they will encounter in Units 3 and 4” (QCAA, 2019, pg. 19) As a result the final

assessment piece of this unit corresponds to the summative piece within Units 3 and 4. The

first two Units provide students the experience and knowledge necessary for Units 3 and 4.
Thus, the first two units do not contribute to an individual’s summative assessments and

consequential ATAR marks as Units 1 and 2 consist of formative and diagnostic assessments.

Diagnostic assessments typically take place at the beginning of a unit of learning and identify

individual students’ capabilities, understanding and skill set. As aforementioned, formative

assessments are a type of assessment utilized within the English curriculum, these

assessments “provide feedback to both students and teachers about each student’s progress in

the course of study,” (QCAA, 2019, pg. 13) where the teacher can further analyse students’

progress and depth of knowledge. The final level of assessment is summative assessment,

where the student is provided a formal outline and marking rubric (ISMG – see Appendix)

that indicates their total outcome for that sequence of learning. These summative

assessments are what students are to complete within Units 3 and 4 where students will

effectively finish a “total of four summative assessments — three internal and one external —

that count towards their final mark in each subject.” (QCAA, 2019, pg. 13) These summative

assessments occur solely in Year 12, thus, within the context of this unit the assessment piece

(online essay) will only contribute to the students Year 11 grades and will not contribute to

their final ATAR mark. Therefore, within the context of this assessment outline the (online

essay) assessment will be considered summative as it provides a quantifiable mark within the

students Year 11 marks. The Assessment plans outlined within this Rationale are catered for

Unit 1: Perspectives and texts, where the students will particularly explore Language and

Textual features of the selected novel. The novel is the American classic, The Great Gatsby

where students will formulate an online literary essay for their summative assessment.

Diagnostic Assessment – writing journal

The Diagnostic Assessment is an informal task occurring within the first week of the unit

where students will respond to a question and have ten minutes to construct an answer within

their writing journal. This diagnostic task will highlight student’s ability to critically process

information in a short amount of time and will also depict their writing style and capability,

as well as their ability to structure a formal response. Whilst this writing journal is not graded

it will display to the teacher the student’s ability to think originally and creatively and will

guide the lessons and their focus, particularly in regard to sentence construction, vocabulary,

and modality. Whilst this particular writing journal is scheduled for Week 1, the teacher is

encouraged to continue to use the journal weekly and provide a range of thought-provoking

questions that students will interact with weekly and improve their Higher Order thinking

skills and writing capabilities. Students will write their journal entries either in the back of

their school book or in a smaller book utilized just for this weekly task. It will be a

handwritten exercise to help students on their writing speed and fluency as well as depicting

their punctuation and spelling capabilities. This diagnostic assessment will as aforementioned

continue throughout the unit, thus students will have a clear display of their literacy and

writing improvement across the unit. The topics suggested are below, however, it resides with

the teacher to choose a question, it can range from current topics to a self-analysis question or

a pre-emptive question regarding the novel.

Suggestions include:

You can save one object before your house burns down. What is it? What makes that object

important to you?

What do you think the Australian dream is? Do you have that dream?

Can objects be representative of something greater?

Is it important to have empathy?

What does the cover of the novel tell you about its content?

Formative Assessment – Quiz

The Formative assessment for this Unit is a short answer quiz which will occur as students’

progress through the novel. The Quiz is situated to occur after students read up to Chapter 3

of The Great Gatsby. The Quiz enacts as formative assessment detailing student’s contextual

understanding and content knowledge and their ability to recall information. The Quiz is

closed-book and will thus, highlight any students with learning gaps which the teacher can

then address within their subsequent lessons. The Quiz will also ensure that the teacher can

effectively differentiate for high-achieving students who have retained a higher level of

content knowledge. Thus, the teacher can effectively differentiate for all students and

effectively plan and implement learning sequence and activities that are needed. The

questions vary in difficulty, regardless all students should be able to answer all questions with

sound knowledge. The questions are short response, thus there is no answer key as the

teacher will have to mark accordingly to each student’s answer.

Summative Assessment – Online Essay

Summative assessments form the central focus of a Unit as the lesson sequences and learning

intentions must effectively prepare students for the assessment. The Summative Assessment

for this Unit is a written response for a public audience in the form of an Online literary essay

within Unit 1 Perspectives and texts. The students will receive the task in Week 5 and will be

expected to hand in a draft in Week 8, the final due date will reside within Week 10 of a

semester ensuring that students have sufficient time to complete the task.
The central purpose of an analytical essay is to “inform the reader of an interpretation of a

literary text, it is written in a formal tone and is structured around a thesis. This thesis

presents an interpretation of a literary text or texts. It is supported by arguments and

substantiated by relevant evidence. As the focus of an analytical essay is an interpretation of a

literary text, the majority of supporting evidence is comprised of references to this text.”

(QCAA ,2019, pg. 12)

The aim of the summative task is to examine student’s knowledge of the novel and their

ability to synthesise information in the form off an academic essay. The assessment will

display students’ progress and will depict the cohort’s strengths and weaknesses. The task

will ensure students are utilising their critical and creative thinking skills whilst utilising their

Higher Order thinking skills to effectively write a satisfactory essay. The task is aligned with

the ISMG’s which the students will be given and have the opportunity to analyse within class.

The summative task will also display the student’s depth and breadth of knowledge and

literary capabilities; thus, the school will be able to collate effective data on their practices.

Moderation

The practice of moderation “serves to achieve reliable and valid judgements with high levels

of inter-rater reliability,” (Klenowski, 2014, pg. 72) thus, it is a necessary component of

effective teaching practices. Within the senior curriculum, thorough and rigorous moderation

is necessary to ensure equity amongst the year’s cohort. The moderation process also “assists

teachers to improve their teaching of the curriculum and informs their assessment practices.”

(Klenowski, 2014, pg. 72) Moderation process will occur throughout the duration of the Unit,

as first teachers will discuss their expectations of the assessment before the unit commences

in order for all staff to be effectively informed and aware of the standards. The moderation
process will then occur during the drafting stage of the summative assessment where teachers

will utilise a sample of drafts to assess student’s progress and discuss amongst their

colleagues in an informal setting. The drafting moderation should focus upon overall

structure of the student’s assessments and where further focus upon subject matter and essay

structure must occur within the proceeding lessons. After the task has been submitted a cross-

marking process shall occur amongst the senior English teachers to ensure the marking is

consistent and fair and that all teachers are marking reliably within the ISMG standards.

Higher Order Thinking

Throughout the learning sequence within the unit the students can engage in a variety of

effective strategies to assist in their development of Higher Order thinking strategies. The

assessments outlined will thus, further promote the development and use of a student’s

Higher Order thinking skills. The skills centre around Bloom’s taxonomy as his model has

“conceptualized both content and cognitive processes in a manner that spanned a broad

spectrum of sophisticated skills,” (Schraw, 2011) ensuring that teachers across all disciplines

can interact with the taxonomy effectively. Higher Order thinking skills are thus engrained

within the lesson sequence and the assessments therefore, requiring a high level of cognitive

skill to effectively complete the assessments.

The students will continuously engage in structured activities that will enhance their learning

and stimulate their skills. Students will predict outcomes, collate and evaluate information

and textual evidence whilst classifying themes, concepts and ideas. Finally, students will

synthesis their content knowledge and literacy knowledge into a cohesive and coherent

argument. The lesson sequence (Appendix) is organised to effectively promote student

Higher Order thinking skills, especially through inquiry methods of learning combined with
mixed-grouped abilities and a peer editing exercise. These learning activities will improve

student’s capacity to excel within the summative assessment. Furthermore, the formative

assessment and lesson sequences enact as a “powerful instructional tool because it allows

students to observe their own progress.” (Marzano, 2007, pg. 24)

The summative assessment demonstrates students’ knowledge of the content, their ability to

effectively comprehend and apply their knowledge of the novel and their ability to succinctly

evaluate and form coherent arguments. Thus, the summative assessment clearly utilises all of

Bloom’s taxonomy of Higher Order Thinking Skills. The diagnostic and formative

assessment also ensures the development of these skills as aspects of the taxonomy are

required for the students to effectively complete these tasks.

Furthermore, the assessments and lesson sequences presented correlate with the concept of

critical literacy as students must recognise and evaluate how “texts are made and read in

particular cultural, historical, and political contexts that condition what meanings can be

made.” (Mission & Morgan, 2006, pg. 15) Students will also interact with the multiliteracies

theory as they must engage with ‘meaning making’ within the context of the Unit. Students

will also develop ICT skills as they are engaged with multimodal activities and assessment

task.

Differentiation

Effective differentiation must occur throughout the lesson sequences and Unit as a whole to

ensure all students are sufficiently prepared for the summative assessment and are critically

engaged with the content. Designing effective lessons that use an array of differentiation

strategies can prove to be a difficult task for teachers, however, this task is imperative to

ensure that all students are included and have every opportunity to succeed. Teachers should
be “prepared to differentiate literacy instruction via content, process and/or product to create

engaging, motivating lessons that honour students as complex individual identities.”

(Fitzgerald, 2016, pg. 17) The lesson sequences outlined (Appendix) utilise an array of

differentiation strategies, particularly as there is paired and grouped strategies, where mixed-

ability students can work together. This approach is an example of Vygotsky’s theory of

proximal development where “if at least one student in the group has a deeper understanding

than others then he/she has the potential to scaffold the learning of other group members and

deepen their understanding. (Killen, 2013, pg. 229) This is one approach to scaffolding, the

teacher however, should always implement effective scaffolding strategies throughout their

lessons to engage all students.

Data

Under the Schools Performance and Assessment Framework, Queensland schools are

required to maintain data that relates to student outcomes; including academic information.

(Queensland Teachers Union. Position Statement) Data can inform pedagogy, unit plans and

lesson sequences and can highlight any areas that need specific improvement and attention.

Within the context of this Unit, data is used in a three-tiered model. Firstly, data from QCAA

will assist in the implementation of this unit plan and subsequent assessments.

In Semester 1, 2017 the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) trialled

external assessment in Year 11 English, one of the novels and relating essay question was

The Great Gatsby. Therefore, the data presented below can be utilised to improve the Unit’s

focus and approach. The QCAA trial found that:

 o Students would benefit from greater emphasis on and development of the capacity to

think flexibly, using their knowledge of the novel and genre to develop answers to

questions

o Students would benefit from more practice analysing ideas, attitudes and values that

underpin texts (QCAA, 2017)

(QCAA, 2017)

This data can greatly assist the teachers in ascertaining focus areas and providing sufficient

assistance and information for students to succeed in their assessments.

Data is also procured internally from the diagnostic, formative and summative assessments.

First the diagnostic assessment of a writing journal depicts students writing capabilities. The

teacher can analyse the students work and ascertain students writing levels, from there the

teacher can cluster students in mix-ability grouping and implement specific learning activities

to develop student’s literacy needs. The formative quiz will then provide a second layer of

data analysis for the teacher, as an analysis of student understanding and ability to critically
answer questions will occur. The task occurs after the first three chapters; thus, the teacher

can analyse if there are any large gaps in learning and content knowledge early into the Unit.

Finally, the summative assessment of online essay will provide the final layer of data for the

teacher and senior advisors. After the moderating process and marks are finalised, teachers

can evaluate the data provided by student’s collective marks within the final assessment.

Teachers can track how students scored within the three domains of the ISMG and can look

for specific trends. Teachers can consider what strategies, differentiation and content

knowledge may need to be altered or improved in order to assist students achieving in the

future.

Feedback

Hattie (2012) states that one of the most influential aspects of teaching and student learning is

feedback as it is a necessary component for student growth and further success. Within the

new requirements of QCAA’s syllabus feedback in relation to assessments is restricted,

nevertheless it is a inevitable and necessary part of the learning process. Feedback can occur

in a variety of mediums throughout this Unit. For example:

o Class observational statements, as student’s progress throughout the unit, the teacher

can provide feedback of in-class work and ideas

o The weekly journal will provide minimal feedback as it is a self-directed task mainly

for the students, the teacher however, can offer brief verbal or written feedback on

this diagnostic assessment

o The quiz can also be a way for the teacher to provide feedback, through marking the

quiz and providing a brief annotation

o The summative assessment draft can have limited feedback where the student can

ascertain the key components that need improving

o The summative final assessment piece will also receive critical feedback for the

student to reflect upon