TC

Week 3 Notes – Summative & Authentic Assessment, SCASA Judging Standards

Administrative Overview

  • Part A = focus on summative & authentic assessment.

  • Part B = deep dive into SCASA (School Curriculum and Standards Authority) judging standards to prepare for:

    • This week’s tutorial brainstorming activity.

    • Forth-coming moderation assignment.

  • Tutorials this week replace the usual lecture review with a “reading challenge.”

  • Tutorial time also used to apply judging-standard knowledge to design assessment ideas.

Summative Assessment ("Assessment of Learning")

  • Definition: Determines what students know/ can do after the teaching–learning cycle has paused.

  • Tends to be formal & structured (e.g., topic tests, end-of-unit quizzes, standardised tests, prepared presentations).

  • Directly linked to mandatory reporting (twice a year).

  • The same dataset can later be used diagnostically to plan new learning—even though feedback is no longer immediate.

  • Classification (diagnostic / formative / summative) depends not on the task but on what the teacher subsequently does with the data.

Key Assessment Principles (apply equally to summative)

  • Four universal principles to uphold:

    • Reliability

    • Validity

    • Fairness

    • Flexibility

  • Authenticity deserves special emphasis when a task is summative.

Authentic Assessment

  • Task mirrors the real-world application of the targeted skills/knowledge (“situated” tasks).

  • Connects to the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration goals:

    • Goal 1 – promote excellence & equity.

    • Goal 2 – ensure all Australians become confident, creative individuals; successful, lifelong learners; active & informed citizens.

  • Implication: Assessment should prepare students for life beyond school; therefore tasks must be situated and meaningful outside the classroom.

Rich, Integrated, Real-World Task Example (Year 5)

  • Objective: Assess speaking & listening (English curriculum) authentically.

  • Task: Students write, record & publish a podcast episode.

  • Why “rich”? Combines multiple curricula & skills:

    • HASS – research content, e.g.

    • Swan River Colony development.

    • English – draft, edit, refine informative script (structure & language features).

    • Oral language – practise pace, tone, inflection, volume.

    • Digital Technologies – storyboard, record, edit using audio software.

  • Benefits:

    • Higher engagement → truer evidence of capability (greater reliability).

    • Students experience a contemporary, real-world text form (podcasts are ubiquitous).

  • Planning implications:

    • Requires early, detailed planning (could span ≈ 5 weeks).

    • Teaching & learning activities must align with final product.

Workload & Planning Considerations

  • Authentic summative tasks are time-consuming to design but yield richer data.

  • Teachers can “think outside the box” yet remain tightly grounded in curriculum descriptors.

SCASA Judging Standards – Navigation Guide

  • Website path: K–10 > Assessing > Judging Standards.

  • Requires Extranet login.

  • Two main resources on each learning-area page:

    1. Assessment Pointers (PDF/Word)

    2. Annotated Work Samples

Assessment Pointers

  • Break down entire curriculum into strands/sub-strands (Math) or modes (English).

  • Provide descriptors for grades A → E.

  • Function:

    • Clarify what typical C (“satisfactory”) performance looks like.

    • Show progression to B & A as well as down to D & E.

  • Important note: Pointers “exemplify” possibilities; not a checklist of everything a student must do.

Annotated Work Samples

  • Located under “Work Samples” tabs.

  • Features:

    • Black annotations = direct quote from an assessment pointer.

    • Blue annotations = teacher-added evidence specific to that work.

    • Brief task context (e.g., “students researched Rottnest Island”).

    • Related content descriptors listed.

  • Use-cases:

    • Establish benchmark of each grade.

    • Support moderation discussions.

    • Inspire new authentic tasks.

Designing Summative Tasks that Cater for All Achievement Levels

  • Start planning around the C-grade (satisfactory) expectations.

  • BUT: Build scope for students to display higher achievement:

    • Incorporate open-ended questions/problems.

    • Require application of knowledge in new contexts.

    • Allow creative representations of understanding.

  • Otherwise high-achieving students may appear only “C” because the task forbids them demonstrating more.

Reading Challenge (Tutorial Preparation)

  • Article: Earl (2013) – Summative Assessment in Primary Science.

  • Recognised as a classic academic journal article; denser language/structure.

  • Suggested reading strategy:

    • Print, highlight, annotate.

    • Pay attention to context & literature review first, then discussion.

    • Methods/results may be heavy in quantitative data.

  • Tutorial expectation: Arrive with 3 talking points, e.g.

    • Insight, question, critique, key takeaway, or method observation.

  • Rationale: Builds capacity for evidence-based practice & familiarity with academic texts.

Tutorial & Logistics

  • Week 3 tutorial = device-friendly; small-group work on SCASA navigation & assessment design.

  • Provide hard copies for those without Extranet access, but online navigation is preferable.

  • Team meeting time example: Tue 5th, 9 AM (check your timetable).