Implementation Process
Purpose of the Research
Our purpose, in line with the planned PLLT goal to ‘create, deliver and refine assessment tasks allowing students to demonstrate the higher order skills, capabilities and dispositions for Year 12 and beyond’, was to ensure senior English students understood both the assessment outline and marking criteria on a specific task.
Previously, assessment notifications were uploaded onto Google Classroom and supported by individual teacher explanation. However, there were inconsistencies in the information delivered. There was no clear indication that students who were present understood the assessment requirements and absent students did not receive the explanation in the same level of depth.
During the 2020 period of at-home learning, Year 11 students were provided with a copy of the assessment notification accompanied by a video of a member of the English faculty explaining the assessment task and the marking criteria. The video also included advice on how to plan and work towards completing the task.
By adding this assessment video to the materials provided to students, the English faculty hoped students would gain clearer understanding of the task and marking criteria, including expectations of work at the higher levels. Also, this would ensure consistency of information for all students, minimising potential impact of student or teacher absence, or lack of experience or knowledge of the teacher.
Survey and Analysis
After viewing an assessment video Year 11 students were asked to complete a voluntary survey to share their impressions and evaluate its effectiveness. 74 students responded of whom:
17 students stated they had always found the marking criteria for English assessments difficult to understand;
50 students stated they sometimes found marking criteria for English assessments difficult to understand.
The reasoning provided by students indicated that this was due to comprehension difficulties when they approached the task unaided by their teacher because of complex language.
According to the surveyed students,
17 found the suggestions on how to get started to be the most helpful.
23 found the question breakdown to be the most helpful.
34 found the explanation of the marking criteria to be the most helpful.
Students indicated viewing the video allowed for a better understanding of the main idea and purpose of the task. They also indicated that it was helpful in beginning the task at home rather than waiting for direct teacher instruction. After viewing the video, 45 students indicated that they felt confident in starting the task. Students appreciated the depth of information provided on the video with 1 person stating that this was the first time they had understood the marking criteria.
Results and Ongoing Recommendations
87.8% of the respondents would like to see the information video become a permanent accompaniment to future assessment tasks. 78.4% indicated that they would prefer to have a number of videos separated into focus areas (eg. question breakdown) to make it easier to find specific information.
It is our recommendation that this practice be adopted more broadly by the English faculty and later school-wide to ensure consistency and to provide students with necessary resources to independently begin summative assessments.