Assessment refers to the purposeful, systematic and ongoing collection of information that is used as evidence in making reliable and consistent judgements about student learning.
At Wellcamp State School, teachers use assessment that is designed to meet three broad purposes:
Assessment for learning — enables teachers to monitor student knowledge, understanding and skills development so as to target their teaching to support students’ progress to meet learning goals.
Assessment as learning — enables students to reflect on and monitor their own progress to inform their future learning goals.
Assessment of learning — assists teachers at the end of learning experiences to gather evidence of student knowledge, understanding and skills as described in the relevant achievement standards for the year level.
Students may be assessed in a variety of ways and a number of times throughout any unit of work. It is therefore very important that students attend school regularly and avoid extended periods of absence. This is particularly important in Weeks 8 to 10 of each term as diagnostic assessments in English, Mathematics and Science are generally scheduled for these periods.
Naplan
Statewide point-in-time testing also provides reliable and comparable information about student achievement across schools.
NAPLAN (National Assessment Program-Literacy And Numeracy) is an annual assessment of all students in Years 3 and 5 across Australia in literacy and numeracy. This assessment usually occurs in the month of May.
Reporting
Research indicates that parents want to be:
kept well informed about their children's progress and achievement in both academic and non-academic areas of learning
informed of their children's strengths and weaknesses
given constructive advice about how they can support their children's learning.
At Wellcamp State School, formal Report Cards are issued twice per year, at the end of each semester. These student reports are generated using a statewide reporting system called OneSchool.
An opportunity to formally meet with the teachers to discuss a child’s achievements is offered towards the end of each semester. Further, an open invitation to arrange a time to talk with teachers is in place throughout the year.
Parents wishing to arrange interviews with teachers may do so before or after school, by personal contact with the teacher, or by ringing the school office to arrange a time.
Remember…it encourages children when they know their parents are interested in how they are going at school!