Education - ACER

Linking Assessment to Teaching and Learning
Two principal objectives of assessment are
…to enable a teacher to evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching program and then to make any
necessary modifications to method of delivery, learning activities or resources [and] to identify any
students who are having difficulties mastering the course content, and thus need additional help.
A good starting point is to conduct a School Assessment Audit to
identify the different assessments being used at different year levels and
in different subjects. It is useful to record who is responsible for each
assessment, how often it is conducted and its purpose.
16
Identify students who require
further diagnostic testing
Administer further diagnostic testing:
• PROBE 2 (see p.18) or
• Neale Analysis of Reading Ability
A000RNA
Peter Westwood, What Teachers Need to Know About Teaching Methods, ACER Press, 2008, page 72
PAT-R Comprehension assessment used to assess students’ comprehension skills
Source appropriate resources for use in
the classroom:
• KEY comprehension series
(see p.20)
• ACTION series (see p.22)
Other useful resources
Identify learning needs
of students
Re-test using PAT-R Comprehension assessment to check effectiveness of
teaching program and improvement in students’ skills
Once a decision has been made about which assessment to employ, it is
useful to plan how the results will be used. Here is an example of how
the results of PAT-R Comprehension could be used to inform teaching
and learning.
Assessment Resource Kit (ARK)
Margaret Forster and Geoff Masters
http://shop.acer.edu.au/acer-shop/group/ARK
Source professional reading to inform
teaching practice:
• What Teachers Need to
Know About series (see p.33)
Working Together: Linking skills and curriculum for
adolescents with a language learning disability
Mandy Brent and Chris Millgate-Smith
http://shop.acer.edu.au/acer-shop/product/A4057BK
One in Eleven: Practical strategies for teaching adolescents
with a language learning disability
Florence Gough, Mandy Brent and Susan Robinson
http://shop.acer.edu.au/acer-shop/product/A949BK