Assessment for Teaching

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2015:

170 hours

Admission to the Master of Teaching (Secondary)

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 students will link assessment to teaching and classroom learning. Links between assessment and curriculum are examined and connected to evidence-based decision making and developmental frameworks. Students will develop an understanding of both objective and subjective assessment strategies. 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. Students 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.

The subject covers a range of the National Professional Standards for Teachers (for Graduate Teachers). In particular, the subject will contribute to students attaining the following standards:

1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities

2.3 Curriculum, assessment and reporting

3.1 Establish challenging learning goals

3.6 Evaluate and improve teaching programs

5.1 Assess student learning

5.2 Provide feedback to students on their learning

5.3 Make consistent and comparable judgments

5.4 Interpret student data

6.1 Identify and plan professional learning needs

6.4 Apply professional learning and improve student learning

• Test (60 minutes, 1000 words equivalent) beginning of semester, 20%
• Assessment writing task (1250 equivalent) mid-semester, 35%
• Data analysis task (1250 words equivalent) mid-semester, 35%
• Professional learning task (500 words) end of semester, 10%

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.

Griffin, P. (Ed). (2014). Assessment for Teaching. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.

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 highly-skilled teachers who demonstrate the professional capabilities to meet the individual needs of diverse learners using interventionist practice.
• Generate and analyse diverse sources of data that can effectively assess student learning and development, and inform teaching.
• Use evidence to make sound clinical judgments about the nature and implementation of teaching interventions.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the way in which theory and research informs practice.
• Effectively engage students, parents, community members, and professional colleagues to support student learning and development.
• Demonstrate a capacity for leadership and advocacy in education.