At Sherwood State School, teachers plan, design and implement assessment to monitor and gather evidence of student learning and achievement against the relevant achievement standards. They use assessment and reporting data to provide the curriculum in a way that supports continuous improvement in student learning and achievement.
Formative assessment, including monitoring tasks, diagnostic tools, observation and standardised assessment, is used to monitor and provide feedback on student learning, as well as inform differentiation of teaching and learning.
Summative assessment provides evidence of student learning against the achievement standard for each learning area. Summative assessment provides opportunities for students to:
- interrelate understandings and skills derived from aspects of the achievement standard being assessed
- demonstrate a range of performance against each aspect of the achievement standard being assessed (using the appropriate five-point scale).
Academic reporting involves communicating information to parents, carers and students about student achievement and progress for each learning area/subject undertaken, at a point in time. Reporting builds the school-parent partnership to improve student learning. In addition to providing written reports twice a year, Sherwood State School offers parents opportunities to discuss their child's educational performance at the school with their child's teacher.
Written report cards report student achievement for each learning area/subject studied in the reporting period, against the relevant achievement standard. Student effort and behaviour is also reported. At the end of the semester in which the achievement standard is completed, the teacher makes an on-balance judgement about the student's overall level of achievement for the achievement standard. This judgement is based on the evidence of student performance in the assessment folio.
Teachers make judgments about the quality of student work in the assessment folio or individual assessment instruments, that is, how well the student has met those elements of the standards that have been taught and assessed during the reporting period. A level of achievement is then awarded using a five-point scale.
