Confirmation 2021 — Event 3

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10 August 2021 Senior secondary Number: 037/21

Confirmation 2021 — Event 3

Purpose

To outline for schools, the key dates and critical activities for the third confirmation event in 2021.

Background

Confirmation is a quality assurance process that ensures the comparability of results for summative internal assessment in General and General (Extension) subjects. It involves QCAA-trained assessors who review a selected sample of student responses to summative internal assessments to check that schools’ application of the instrument-specific marking guide (ISMG) was accurate and consistent.

In 2021, confirmation of a school’s remaining summative internal assessment for Units 3 and 4 in General and General (Extension) subjects will occur from August, when schools upload

provisional results. For schools offering a compressed curriculum, the first and/or second internal assessment is reviewed during this event.

Information

Schools are reminded that all staff involved in the confirmation process should be familiar with the following advice.

Student responses: Gathering, storing and submitting evidence

• Section 9.6 of the QCE and QCIA policy and procedures handbook

www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/senior/certificates-and-qualifications/qce-qcia-handbook

• the Confirmation submission information available in the QCAA Portal Noticeboard on the Internal assessment and certification resources for schools tile, and in the Syllabuses application (app) resources.

Provisional marks: Submitting to the QCAA

Confirmation relies on schools accurately recording assessment marks in the Student Management app. Schools must indicate to QCAA that provisional results have been:

• entered into the Student Management app

• checked against original instrument-specific marking guides (ISMGs)

• finalised, by pressing the Submit for confirmation button. (Note: Schools cannot change results in Student Management after this button has been pressed.)

Memo

Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority

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Memo

Confirmation 2021 — Event 3 Queensland Curriculum & Assessment Authority

10 August 2021 Page 2 of 3

Schools that are unaffected by COVID-19 public health directives must press the Submit for confirmation button on the Multiple Students results screen for each subject cohort by 11:59 pm on Wednesday 18 August 2021.

Where possible, schools affected by public health directives are requested to Submit for confirmation available cohort results by 11:59 pm on Friday 20 August 2021. The QCAA will continue to work with schools affected by COVID-19 public health directives to adjust the confirmation schedule as required for any cohorts not able to be submitted by that date.

Other crucial information is included in the attached Preparing for confirmation event three, 2021 factsheet.

Review meeting schedule

Review meetings for confirmation event three will be conducted from Friday 3 September to Sunday 5 September.

Confirmation event three, 2021 — review meeting schedule Day 1

Friday 3 September Day 2

Saturday 4 September Day 3

Sunday 5 September

All subjects All subjects If required, only some

subjects will continue reviewing on Day 3.

Assessors will be notified where this is required.

To support the confirmation of results for cohorts impacted by COVID-19 public health directives, additional review meetings may be scheduled during the September school holidays and early in Term 4. Assessors will be contacted separately about their availability to support these meetings.

Assessor arrangements and attendance

The Queensland Government has made Friday 3 September a student-free day to support senior secondary quality assurance, specifically confirmation. Therefore, schools are not eligible for TRS payments for staff who are assessors for confirmation on this day. Individual schools who have made local decisions not to have a student-free day make arrangements to support the release of assessors for the confirmation review meeting.

The QCAA has communicated directly with each assessor about their attendance and arrangements for their work at the review meetings.

Chief confirmers, lead confirmers and confirmers

All confirmers will participate in the review meetings remotely, working at an appropriate location of their choice (such as a school or a home office).

Assessor training

Further information about required assessor training for newly recruited confirmers will continue to be communicated to principal’s delegates and assessors over coming days.

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Memo

Confirmation 2021 — Event 3 Queensland Curriculum & Assessment Authority

10 August 2021 Page 3 of 3

What you need to do

Principals should bring the attached factsheet, Section 9.6 of the QCE and QCIA policy and procedures handbook and the Confirmation submission information to the attention of all staff at their school. They should also monitor progress to meet confirmation timelines.

Finding out more

For general questions about the confirmation process, email [email protected] or phone (07) 3864 0491. For subject-specific inquiries, contact the relevant QCAA learning area (www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/about/contact/syllabus-contacts).

For questions about submitting results via the Student Management app, email [email protected] or phone (07) 3864 0425.

Jacqueline Wilton

Director, Curriculum Services Division

Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 | Copyright notice: www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/copyright — lists the full terms and conditions, which specify certain exceptions to the licence. |

Attribution: ‘© State of Queensland (QCAA) 2021’ — please include the link to our copyright notice.

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Confirmation is a quality assurance process that examines the accuracy and consistency of teachers’ judgments about students’ responses to summative internal assessment instruments.

Both General and General (Extension) subjects require confirmation to ensure comparability across Queensland. Confirmation aims to ensure fair and reliable results for students.

Key dates

Key dates for the confirmation of the remaining implemented summative internal assessment for Units 3 and 4 of General and General (Extension) subjects in 2021 are listed below.

The QCAA will continue to work with schools affected by the COVID-19 public health directives to adjust the confirmation schedule as required. The timelines for confirmation of results for these cohorts will be communicated to affected schools separately.

Compressed curriculum schools are able to submit the first and/or second implemented summative internal assessment for confirmation event three. The third summative internal assessment for these cohorts has a separate confirmation schedule.

Key dates for confirmation event three, 2021

Term Week Date Activity

3 6 Monday 16 August Schools impacted by public health directives notify the QCAA of cohorts that will be unable to submit

provisional marks by criteria for the second and/or third summative internal assessment for General and General (Extension) subjects by 20 August.

3 6 Wednesday 18 August Final date for schools unaffected by public health directives to submit provisional marks by criteria for the second and/or third summative internal assessment for General and General (Extension) subjects.

3 6 Friday 20 August Interim date for schools impacted by public health directives to submit provisional marks by criteria for the second and/or third summative internal assessment for General and General (extension) subjects, where possible.

3 7 Monday 23 August The QCAA notifies schools who submitted results by 20 August of the summative internal assessment samples required for confirmation via the Confirmation application (app).

3 7–8 Monday 23 August –

Monday 30 August Schools upload required student samples for required summative internal assessment via the Confirmation app.

3 8–9 Friday 3 September –

Sunday 5 September Confirmation Event 3 review meetings — QCAA assessors review samples and teacher judgments.

3 10 Monday 13 September The QCAA notifies schools of required supplementary samples via the Confirmation app*.

Preparing for confirmation 2021 — Event 3

Important information for schools

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Preparing for confirmation 2021 — Event 3

Important information for schools Queensland Curriculum & Assessment Authority

August 2021 Page 2 of 4

Term Week Date Activity

3 10 Monday 13 September –

Thursday 16 September Schools upload required supplementary student samples via the Confirmation app.*

4 1 From Tuesday 5 October The QCAA publishes finalised confirmed results for second and/or third summative internal assessment via the Confirmation app.

* Supplementary samples are only requested where more information is required to finalise a confirmation decision.

Gathering and storing evidence of student responses

Schools administer the endorsed summative internal assessment, or a comparable assessment.

This includes gathering and storing evidence of the student response for confirmation. For each summative internal assessment administered, schools must be prepared to electronically submit:

• requested samples of student responses (final response, or evidence from the preparation of the response used to make provisional mark judgments)

• the marked instrument-specific marking guide (ISMG) for each requested sample student indicating the match of characteristics to the evidence in the student response, and the criteria or criterion mark determined by the school.

Spoken or performance responses must be filmed for purposes of confirmation.

Further advice on collecting and storing student responses is provided in the QCE and QCIA policy and procedures handbook (Section 9.6.1) and the Confirmation submission information published in the QCAA Portal Noticeboard on the Internal assessment and certification resources for schools tile, and in the Syllabuses app resources.

Submitting provisional marks to the QCAA

Schools must submit students’ provisional marks for the second and/or third summative internal assessment for General and General (Extension) subjects to the QCAA via the Student

Management app in the QCAA Portal by Wednesday 18 August.

Students with extensions of time due to principal-approved AARA (excluding public health directives)

Schools with students whose provisional marks have not been submitted by the due date because of principal-approved access arrangements and reasonable adjustments (AARA) or illness and misadventure for a reason other than the public health directives must enter a ‘did not administer’ (DNA) result by Wednesday 18 August.

Once these students' responses are submitted and marked, schools must hold these provisional marks until the QCAA has released all other confirmed results for the cohort in the Student Management app. At that time, schools must email [email protected] with a copy of the marked ISMG as evidence of the results so the QCAA can enter them on the school’s behalf.

Any advice provided to the school as part of the confirmation process must have been applied to the students' provisional marks before submission to QCAA.

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Students who have completed comparable assessment tasks

Where students have completed comparable assessment tasks, this must be indicated in the Student Management app. To do this:

1. search for the student, then select View 2. select Subject enrolments > Edit results

3. open the subject and check the Comparable assessment box.

Checking provisional marks are correct

Provisional marks entered in the Student Management app must be accurate. Schools should allow enough time to conduct rigorous internal checking of the accuracy of all results before the due date. Provisional marks for each student must be consistent across the Student Management app, teacher mark books and the marked ISMG.

Complete the following to ensure results are entered correctly in the Student Management app:

• Enter results for each subject cohort via file import or directly into the Multiple Students results screen: Enrolments & results > Results.

• Check for missing results using the exception report: Reports > Results reports > Result item exception reports. This report shows students with no marks entered, as well as those with DNA or NR. All students with a Unit 3 enrolment must have marks, NR or DNA recorded for the second internal assessment (IA). All students with a Unit 4 enrolment must have marks, NR or DNA recorded for the third IA. Note that if students completed the first IA then left the subject or school, DNA must be recorded for the second IA.

• Download the result item report for each subject and each IA: Reports > Results reports >

Result item report. Provide this report to teachers/subject leaders to check all marks in Student Management against original student responses and ISMGs that will be used for confirmation. Amend marks in the Student Management app if required.

• Once thorough checking of marks, DNA and NR has been completed for each subject, press the Submit for confirmation button (on the Multiple Students results screen) before 11:59 pm on Wednesday 18 August (or Friday 20 August for cohorts affected by public health directives).

Schools cannot amend or add results for the second and/or third implemented summative internal assessment in the Student Management app after pressing the Submit for confirmation button.

This button must be pressed on or before Wednesday 18 August (or on or before Friday 20 August for those cohorts affected by public health directives that are able to do so). Any inaccuracies in provisional mark data may delay review of samples and release of the

confirmation decision. If an error is identified after results are submitted for confirmation, school principal delegates must contact QCAA Certification Unit via [email protected].

Submitting required samples to the QCAA

On Monday 23 August, the QCAA will notify schools of the samples required for confirmation via the Confirmation app. Schools must upload files for the required samples via the Confirmation app in the QCAA Portal from Monday 23 August to Monday 30 August.

Applications for variation to confirmation submission should be lodged by Thursday 26 August to allow replacement samples to be identified and published to schools before the due date for confirmation submission (see Section 9.6.2,QCE and QCIA policy and procedures handbook).

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Any sample student response that exceeds syllabus conditions must be clearly annotated on the response and/or ISMG to show the application of the school’s assessment policy. Responses that are not annotated may delay review of samples and release of the confirmation decision.

Further information to support schools to upload files and submit each confirmation submission is accessible via the Help menu in the Confirmation app.

Support resources for schools

The QCAA has developed a range of resources to help schools prepare, upload and submit required samples for confirmation. They include:

• QCE and QCIA policy and procedures handbook, Section 6

• Internal Assessment and Certification resources for schools on the Noticeboard tile in the QCAA Portal, including the Preparing for confirmation and Understanding the confirmation decision resources

• Confirmation submission information accessible via the Noticeboard and the Syllabuses app resources in the QCAA Portal

• key dates for confirmation and answers to frequently asked questions, published on the QCAA website at www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/senior/assessment/quality-assurance/confirmation.

Information

If you would like more information, please visit the QCAA website at www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/senior/assessment/quality-assurance/confirmation.

Alternatively, phone (07) 3864 0491 or email the Quality Assurance Unit at [email protected]@qcaa.qld.edu.au.

For questions about submitting marks via the Student Management app, email [email protected] or phone (07) 3864 0425.

Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 | Copyright notice: www.qcaa.qld.edu.au/copyright — lists the full terms and conditions, which specify certain exceptions to the licence. |