Aberrant Portfolios
Remember: be circumspect
The teacher who generated the aberrant portfolio might be in the room with you and they may not wish to hear you loudly proclaiming "what were they thinking?!"
- Check it's actually aberrant
ACT Senior Secondary Courses are deliberately written to allow a multiplicity of approaches. Go back to the course and framework to see if the abberance is within guidelines or not. Remember that there are schools in the system using trimesters, and overseas schools with different schooling year structures, and these may initially seem "aberrant" if you work in a quadrimester school.
- Yes, it's aberrant. How?
Make clear comments on the pink and green forms that explain what's wrong with the portfolio. As with any feedback, focus on growth. Things that might be aberrant:
The assessments don't work with the assessment task type table from the course
The coursework doesn't cover the unit goals
There's an unethical or otherwise problematic assessment or assessment response
There is something inexplicable and/or completely irrelevant included
The work has been egregiously over- or under- marked
These are all areas worth commenting on. From 2023, the Moderation Risk Matrix will be keeping track of these kinds of issues, and repeated issues will be brought up with the school and, in some cases, sector involved.
- Can you affirm the grade?
Remember that the grade affirmation isn't about what the student "had a chance" to show, it's about whether the teacher has accurately measured student achievement against the Achievement Standards. It's okay to recommend a grade change if the assessments did not actually allow the student to show their understanding of the course content and Achievement Standards. Remember that you are not changing the student's actual grade! The student has already had their grade, and in some cases, been certificated and left school.
- There's not enough evidence here
If there's not enough evidence, you can mark the grade agreement as "IE". This will automatically flag it for a secondary review. Fill in as much as you can in the rest of the form to provide feedback to the school and the teacher as to how to improve their portfolios to be less aberrant!