The standards describe reference points or signposts of achievement at each year level. Assessing progress and achievement in relation to the standards will be an integral part of teaching and learning across the New Zealand Curriculum from 2010.

Teachers will:

• assess individual students’ progress and achievement in relation to the standards
• support students to use assessment information to inform their own learning goals and their next learning steps
• use a range of assessment information
• provide regular reports to parents in plain language about their children's progress in relation to National Standards, including twice a year in writing.
• provide clear information to parents, families and whanau so they can support their children's learning at home.

Assessment against the National Standards at Beachlands School

Because the National Standards are benchmarks of student achievement and not tests teachers are required to use a range of assessment data to make an Overall Teacher Judgement.

What is an Overall Teacher Judgement (OTJ)

An OTJ involves drawing on and applying the evidence gathered up to a particular point in time in order to make an overall judgement about a student’s progress and achievement.

 
Why use Overall Teacher Judgement?

No single source of information can accurately summarise a student’s achievement or progress.

Overall teacher judgements (OTJs) of achievement and progress involve combining information from a variety of sources, using a range of approaches. Evidence may be gathered through the following three ways:

Conversing with the student to find out what they know, understand and can do.

Observing the process a student uses.

Gathering results from formal assessments, including standardised tests.

This ‘triangulation’ of information increases the dependability of the OTJ. See diagram 1 for more detail:

Student Involvement

At Beachlands we firmly believe that students need to be actively involved in their own learning; using a range of approaches allows the student to participate throughout the assessment process.

Overall Teacher Judgements constructed with students are the basis of the reporting in relation to the National Standards.

Moderation
Moderation is a process where teachers compare judgements of students work to either confirm or adjust them. The process involves teachers working together to establish a shared understanding of what achievement of standards looks like and whether or not the student has demonstrated achievement of the standard. Teachers work towards making judgements that are consistent and comparable.