Assessment for Teaching

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2015:

85 hours

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

In this subject teacher candidates will link assessment to teaching and classroom learning. Links between assessment and the primary school curriculum are examined and connected to evidence-based decision making and developmental frameworks. Candidates will develop an understanding of both objective and subjective assessment strategies suitable for primary school-aged students. The importance and use of various approaches to gathering evidence, interpretation of hierarchies and developmental frameworks, and reporting will be examined and several will be practised. Both informal and formal methods of assessment will be considered. Candidates will develop skills in evaluating assessment and reporting. Skills in combining evidence of learning to form assessment for teaching, recording and reporting purposes will be developed.

Upon completion of this subject, teacher candidates will be able to:

• Practise different approaches to collecting evidence of learning and development;
• Construct assessment procedures that yield a developmental learning continuum;
• Interpret assessment data using formal interpretative frameworks;
• Locate students on the continuum;
• Identify, design and defend differentiated and focussed intervention strategies for each student;
• Link teaching and learning resources to intervention strategies;
• Monitor student development on the continuum;
• Combine development continua for overall assessments from unit or module to subject and year levels;
• Report to stakeholders about student learning and make recommendations for support and intervention.

There are 3 assessment tasks:

• A test (250 words equivalent) due early/mid semester, 25%
• An analytical task (1000 words equivalent) due mid semester, 50%
• A planning task (750 words equivalent) due end of semester, 25%

Attendance at all classes (tutorial/seminars/practical classes/lectures/labs) is obligatory. Failure to attend 80% of classes will normally result in failure in the subject.

Patrick Griffin (Ed) (2014) Assessment for Teaching ISBN 978-1-107-63609-5

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completion of this subject, teacher candidates will have the knowledge, skills and understanding to enable them to:

• Be skilled communicators who can effectively articulate and justify their practices as knowledgeable agents of change.
• Work in teams with skills in cooperation, communication and negotiation;
• Be independent of mind, responsible, resilient, self-regulating;
• Have a conscious personal and social values base.