Module 4: Initial assessment
Overview of Module
Module 4 focuses on Assessment for learning and the initial
assessments used with students to determine their level of
understanding.
The purpose and validity of the assessments are important
considerations. For an assessment to be purposeful, the information
gained must be critical to the learning that follows.
Validity is a property of inferences, not of assessments.
“One validates, not a test, but an interpretation of data
arising from a specified procedure.”
(Cronbach, 1971; emphasis in original)
(Wiliam, D., The relationship between curriculum and assessment,
SSAT Conference on Principled curriculum design: Tools for schools)
http://www.redesigningschooling.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Dylan-Assessment-Presentation-Manchester.pdf
Assessment for learning and diagnostic
assessments
Assessment for learning
Assessment for learning involves teachers using evidence
about students' knowledge, understanding and skills to
inform their teaching.
Sometimes referred to as ‘formative assessment', it usually
occurs throughout the teaching and learning process to
clarify student learning and understanding.
BOSTES http://syllabus.bos.nsw.edu.au/support-materials/assessment-for-as-and-of-learning/
Assessment for learning
Assessment for learning:
•
reflects a view of learning in which assessment helps students learn
better, rather than just achieve a better mark
•
involves formal and informal assessment activities as part of learning
and informs the planning of future learning
•
provides effective feedback that motivates the learner and can lead
to improvement
•
reflects a belief that all students can improve
•
involves teachers, students and parents reflecting on evidence
•
is inclusive of all learners
BOSTES http://syllabus.bos.nsw.edu.au/support-materials/assessment-for-as-and-of-learning/
Source: Mathematics K-10 Syllabus
Assessment for learning
• Assessment is at the forefront of
programming
• Can begin the planning cycle at
any point
• When using assessment for
learning and diagnostic tasks, we
begin the cycle here
Programming flowchart from A process for programming a unit of learning Mathematics K-10 course
https://detwww.det.nsw.edu.au/australiancurriculuminnsw/professional-learning/curriculum
What the research says:
Assessment for learning is any assessment for which the first priority in its
design and practice is to serve the purpose of promoting students’ learning.
It thus differs from assessment designed primarily to serve the purposes of
accountability, or of ranking, or of certifying competence.
An assessment activity can help learning if it provides information that
teachers and their students can use as feedback in assessing themselves and
one another and in modifying the teaching and learning activities in which
they are engaged.
Such assessment becomes ‘‘formative assessment’’ when the evidence is
actually used to adapt the teaching work to meet learning needs.
Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, and Wiliam, Studies in Educational Evaluation 37 (2011) 3–14
http://www.udir.no/PageFiles/Vurdering%20for%20laring/Dokumenter/Bibliotek/2/What%20is%20a
ssessment%20for%20learning%5B1%5D.pdf
What the research says:
Videos to view on formative assessment (optional)
Formative assessment - Dylan Wiliam
http://www.journeytoexcellence.org.uk/videos/expertspeakers/
formativeassessmentdylanwiliam.asp
1 69 Assessment for learning Dylan Wiliam Learning and teaching
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOHhJorBjwU
Embedded Formative Assessment - Dylan Wiliam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3HRvFsZHoo
Diagnostic assessment:
Where are my students now?
Diagnostic assessment:
Where are my students now?
‘new thinking about assessment is focussing on understanding
where students are in their learning in order to identify
appropriate starting points for action
and evaluate the effectiveness of such action…’
‘…assessment is moving to a more continuous, personalised and
targeted process of identifying and addressing learning needs
with a focus on students’ ongoing growth.’
Geoff Masters AO, ACER Chief Executive Professor
Diagnostic assessment:
Where are my students now?
Diagnostic assessments that find starting points for action are
distinct from other forms of assessment as they happen prior
to instruction.
It is important that diagnostic assessments include notes and
annotations so they can be kept for later comparison and
reference.
Whole class assessments
In this module you will be completing tasks involving a one-onone interview style assessment (SENA). It is ideal to be able to
assess all of your students to learn more about what each of
your students already knows.
In cases where this is not possible. Teachers can utilise Stagebased whole-class written assessments that have been
developed to assist in determining target students to conduct
the individual assessment with. (These can be found in the
resource section of this module.)
Whole class assessment
Whole-class assessment can be used
for all students.
Analysis will show students that
teachers are uncertain about in terms
of skills and strategies, or who are
using inefficient strategies.
The individual SENA assessment
should then be conducted to gather
further information.
Further mathematics diagnostic tasks can also be access here
http://numeracyskills.com.au/assessment-resources and there are also a number of
other assessment tasks in the DENS books (Developing efficient numeracy strategies)
SENA: Schedule for Early Number
Assessment
SENA explained
View video SENA explained
Selecting the appropriate SENA
SENA 1
The Kindergarten Best Start
assessment includes most of the
SENA 1 tasks so SENA 1 is
recommended for students in
Early Stage 1.
Some Stage 1 students may also need to be assessed using SENA 1 as a
starting point along with other groups of students such as; refugee students,
new arrivals or students with additional needs.
Selecting the appropriate SENA
SENA 2
A "rule of thumb" for when
to use SENA 2
Once students are at the Counting-on-andback stage, it can be assumed that most
students would be better
assessed using SENA 2.
If a student counts-on or uses a facile counting strategy, then SENA 2 is the
appropriate assessment schedule for that particular student.
Selecting the appropriate SENA
SENA 3
In SENA 3 both fractions and
decimals and assessed, therefore this
assessment is mostly appropriate for
students in Stage 2 or beyond.
For SENA 3, students need to be
already using a variety of
non-count-by-one strategies for
place value tasks.
Students should already be able to mentally add and subtract two-digit and
three-digit numbers. Note that some of the initial place value, counting tasks
and fractions tasks may be able to be undertaken by later Stage 1 students.
Selecting the appropriate SENA
SENA 4
Is most appropriate for students
who are already using a range of strategies
to solve tasks with the four operations.
Students in later Stage 2, Stage 3 and Stage 4
are the focus for this assessment as it
addresses the latter part of Aspects 4, 5 and
6.
SENA 4 has a greater emphasis on decimal place value, multiplicative
thinking and multiplicative partitioning of fractions.
Activity 1: Viewing a SENA
Viewing a student completing a SENA (1,2,3 or 4)
• Choose one of the following students to view
SENA 1
SENA 2
SENA 3
SENA 4
End
Kindergarten
student
Eimi
End Year 2
student
Noah
End Year 6
student
Faraz
End Year 6
student
Bachio
• Download the appropriate SENA recording sheet to annotate as
you view the video
• There is a folder of additional videos you can access for future PL
Activity 1: Viewing a SENA
• Use the SENA recording sheet to record the strategies the
student is using while viewing student responses
• Analyse the student’s results and highlight the responses
and level the student is at for each task
• These levels link to the Numeracy continuum K-10, look at
the numeracy continuum from Module 3 (with levels
labelled) for reference while completing this activity
Reflection on Activity 1
For individuals
• Compare your SENA analysis with the annotated example
SENA recording sheets
For groups
• Discuss the analysis with colleagues, referencing the levels
of the Numeracy continuum K-10, for validity of teacher
judgement
Activity 2: Administering the SENA
• Decide which SENA to use to assess 2-3 students
• Print a copy of the SENA recording sheet for each student
and the blackline masters needed to administer the SENA
• It is recommended to read through the guidelines before
administering the SENA
• Practise the SENA with a student or colleague if possible
before administering the tasks to the students
Dos and Don’ts of administering
SENA
Do provide wait time
Do allow students to use their fingers
Do ask students to put their hands on the desk so that you can see how
they are working out the answers
Do prompt to clarify student’s thinking
Do adjust the language if necessary to ensure students are not disadvantaged
Do observe how the task is solved
Do move on when task is too difficult
Do look and listen for strategies that students use
Don’t teach during the assessment
Don’t indicate right or wrong answers
Don’t count the counters out in front of the students
Activity 2: Administering the SENA
• Administer the SENA assessment with your 2-3
students
• While asking the students the questions and they are
responding, take notes on the SENA recording sheet
Activity 2: Administering the SENA
• It is often helpful to be able to video or voice record the
students while completing the SENA
• Videos become an excellent resource for later professional
development and sharing sessions as they provide an
excellent way of identifying both the verbal and non-verbal
cues students use when solving problems
Activity 3: Analysing the SENA
After completing the SENA assessments with 2-3 students:
• highlight the students’ responses and levels (as before
with the SENA recording sheet while viewing the example
student)
• if a student gave a different response, reference back to
the Numeracy continuum K-10 to assist with levelling
Note: This information could be recorded in Planning for
Literacy And Numeracy PLAN Software (for DoE schools) or
on a numeracy class analysis sheet
Activity 3: Analysing the SENA
• Use the highlighted SENA recording sheet to assist in writing
one or two personal learning goals for the students assessed.
• Print the student learning goals
recording sheets to complete this activity
• Plan learning goals for Aspect 2 and/or 4*
• There is a SENA ‘Teaching Points’ sheet
that may assist in this activity
*This data will be used for the activity in Module 5
Notes on Analysing the SENA
• Students do not need to be able to do ‘all’ of the dot
points from a previous level to be placed on a higher level
• Once a student begins to show higher strategies, place
the student at their most efficient strategy and continue
to consolidate skills and strategies for both levels
The assessment data needs to guide the content now
planned in answering Where to next? in the teaching and
learning cycle for students.
Notes on Analysing the SENA
Often students are naturally more capable with addition than
subtraction. If a student is able to count-on but not count-back
from a number they would still be placed at Level 3 (EAS) and
activities would be planned to continue to develop their
counting-back strategies
• Think of it like other developmental progressions. When a child is
beginning to walk they stumble. They are not ‘left’ labelled as crawlers but
are referred to as walkers, possibly unsteady, but walkers
End of Module 4: Initial
assessment
For accreditation please ensure all activities for this module have been
completed.
All activities in Module 4 require participants to download additional
documents from the resource section and need to be attached as additional
documents as part of the course deliverables.
This is Module 4 of 5, all five modules must be completed to receive the 12
hours of registered professional learning.
Once all five modules are completed, the principal/delegate will sign off on the
deliverables and the participant’s completion in the MyPL@Edu event that was
scheduled by the school.