Recommendation 2
The Board specify that the number of tasks to be used in a school's HSC Assessment program for 2 Unit courses be no less than 4 and no greater than 7 tasks, (including Trial HSC and other major school examinations where schools decide to use these).
Recommendation 3
The Board specify that the weighting of individual Assessment tasks be set between 10% (minimum) and 40% (maximum).
Degree of Prescription
Although a move to more prescription by the Board was favoured by many teachers, the current flexibility of the HSC Assessment program received considerable support. It would appear.that a desire for parity of processes across schools underpins the view of more prescription but should not be in a way that will result in the schools losing the flexibility to assess in a way that best meets, the needs of their students. The key issue to be addressed, therefore, is balancing the requirement for some more prescription with a desire for some flexibility to meet needs of students in particular schools.
The issue of using non-test type Assessment tasks and, in particular, home assignments, proved to be a vexed question. Although the potential of such instruments was acknowledged as providing valid assessment in areas where traditional test-based tasks are limited, the matter of authenticity of the students' work was seen by many as a barrier to the use of "non-test" type tasks. On balance, the use of the tasks was favoured but only if these authenticity issues are properly addressed. In this regard, teachers considered that specific advice from the Board about authenticity of students' work was much needed and essential if the use of home assignments were to be prescribed.
Recommendation 4
Schools should have a much flexibility as possible in deciding the nature of their total assessment program. However, the Board requires at least one "non-test" task within each course.
Recommendation 5
The Board provide advice and guidance on the issue of the authenticity of students' work when they undertake home assignments.
Advice and Support for Schools
The provision of advice and support to schools in implementing their HSC Assessment programs was seen as an area of high priority for many teachers. Given the commonly held view that it is desirable for schools to have some flexibility in implementing their HSC Assessment programs, such support is considered to include:
• the provision of examples of "best practice" of various aspects of the assessment processes (these could be taken up by individual schools if considered appropriate for their context); and
providing sample assessment tasks using a variety of formats, structures and response requirements (these could be used to provide "assessment ideas" for schools to incorporate into their individual programs).
In addition, it was also suggested that there would be value in the Assessment Issues pamphlets, produced in earlier times and referred to previously in this report (see page 5), being revised and reissued to schools. Furthermore, the provision of computer software such as the Motorised Markbook and the Principal's Analysis Package would provide much needed support to schools and facilitate the efficient collection, storage and processing of student achievement data. This would reduce at least to some extent, the significant pressures on teacher time that characterise the Assessment program. A view commonly expressed by teachers, particularly in the feedback seminar phase of the review, was their concern that there was not enough time to undertake all HSC Assessment activities with the care and attention to detail they would wish. It was considered, therefore, that in any program of support the Board might wish to initiate, attention be given to these problems of time and the streamlining of processes for Assessment.
Recommendation 6
The Board endorse a program of support to schools in the area of HSC Assessment with such support to include
• the provision of examples of "best practice" within various aspects of the HSC Assessment processes
• the provision of a range of sample assessment tasks for in- school use and to generate "assessment ideas"
the revision and re-issue of the Assessment Issues pamphlets, as appropriate, and the preparation of additional pamphlets relevant to the changing assessment context
• investigation of the feasibility of enhancing available computer software, such as the Motorised Markbook and Principal's Analysis Package, to assist teachers with the collection and processing of student assessment data
Relationship Between A s s e s s m e n t and Examination S c o r e s
As noted in the responses to the school survey there were, very strong responses from teachers regarding the school assessment/examination mark correlation and the
"mirroring" of the external examination in the assessment tasks. The issue of the nature of this correlation was raised at a number of the feedback seminars with teachers requesting early clarification of a number of matters including:
• what is the optimal value of the school assessment/examination mark correlation?
• are teachers penalising their students by including "non-exam" type items in their assessment program?
Given the present definition of the school assessment and differing scope of the external examinations in the various subjects, there is not a simple answer to or explanation of the matters raised by the teachers. It needs to be recognised that the attainment of a perfect correlation of +1.0 is not what schools should be seeking to achieve. It should be noted, however, that since the universities aggregate the school assessment and examination mark components in each subject in calculating the UAI1 7, the higher the correlation between these measures in any particular school the greater will be the impact of each in this composite mark for that school.
It may be that a correlation in the range +0.7 to + 0:9 could be suggested to schools, viz., somewhere between 50% and 80% of shared variance of the examination mark and school assessment components in a subject. In presenting such a proposal it will need to re-affirm that this will cater for the differing coverage of the syllabus objectives by the external examinations1 8. It is considered essential that the Board address this issue of correlation and provide early clarification to schools.
Recommendation 7
The Board seek expert statistical advice on the effects of examination mark/school assessment correlations on students' HSC results, including the UAI.
Recommendation 8
On the basis of this expert advice the Board provide definite advice to schools, on the appropriate relationship between the school assessment and external examination marks.
1 7 Universities Admission Index.
1 8 As noted in Chapter 4, the highest exam mark/school assessment correlations are obtained in the LOTE subjects, Drama, Mathematics and the TAS subjects. In each case it is seen that the scope of the external examination incorporates most of the syllabus objectives and results in the high correlations. In English, the scope of the external examination is less comprehensive resulting in lower correlations.
The Change to Standards Based A s s e s s m e n t
Finally, although not raised in either the focus groups or in the survey responses, the implications of the move to Standards Based Assessment in the HSC program was raised as a major issue in the Phase 3 Feedback Seminars. Teachers indicated their concern that the Board had yet to clarify for schools the likely impact of the proposed standards based assessment and reporting on their in-school processes. In this regard, it was suggested that early advice to schools was required and this advice should include:
what changes are likely to be needed in the planning of assessment tasks?
are changes required in the conduct of the various assessment tasks?
what use will be made of the performance scales in the marking of the assessment tasks?
how are the performance scales to be used in the reporting of student achievement on the various assessment tasks?
It is acknowledged that definitive advice on these and related matters is essential if schools are to implement effectively the new assessment model within the HSC system. It is suggested that this will be best achieved by including consideration of these issues as part of a comprehensive training and development package for teachers, developed in cooperation with the various educational systems. Such a package would use parameters established by the Board for Standards Based Assessment and should be widely available throughout the state to all secondary school teachers.
Recommendation 9
The Board develop a set of guidelines for the implementation of standards based assessment and reporting within schools.
Recommendation 10
These guidelines serve as the basis for a statewide training and development program for teachers developed in cooperation with the educational systems.