Tas Curriculum K-10 - Languages - Italian - Department of Education

Assessment principles and practice
The main purpose of assessment is to improve student learning. Assessment is an ongoing process of
gathering and using evidence of student achievement.
Effective assessment enables:
• students to better understand their progress towards goals and become more knowledgeable and
self-directed in their learning
• teachers to make more informed judgements about student progress and design more effective
teaching programs
• parents and carers to better understand and support students’ learning and achievement.
Effective assessment emphasises:
• assessment for learning—teachers using evidence of student progress to inform their teaching
• assessment as learning—students reflecting on and evaluating their progress to inform future
learning goals
• assessment of learning—teachers using evidence of student learning to make individual and
collective judgements on student achievement against specific curriculum goals and standards.
Methods of assessment
Languages (LOTE) teachers provide a broad range of opportunities for students to show what they know
and can do. They enable students to have input into different ways of providing evidence of their learning.
Effective assessment methods include:
• informal assessment: students and teachers making incidental judgements about what they have
learned on a day-to-day basis
• formal assessment tasks: students demonstrating achievement against criteria that are known prior
to undertaking a learning task
• observations or anecdotal records: teachers taking informal notes while working with students
• checklists: teachers developing snapshots of the students’ knowledge and skills
• portfolios: students building up carefully selected collections of their work over time.
On-balance judgement
Teachers weigh up evidence of students’ performances on different aspects of the Languages (LOTE)
curriculum area. They keep records of students’ progress. A final decision about a student’s achievement is
made using an on-balance judgement. An accurate on-balance judgement considers:
• the consistency of the student’s performance over a period of time
• clear indications of progress from first attempts to current performance
• demonstration of knowledge, processes and skills in different contexts
• the validity of the assessment task in relation to what it is intended to test
• whether there is sufficient evidence of achievement to assign a standard
• relative performance on similar tasks by the student’s peers
• teacher reflection and collaboration with their peers to increase consistency and validity.
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