Assessment

I was privileged to attend the National Assessment Conference 2021 and the Gifted NEX Online Symposium to start the holidays. Below are my key takeaways and provocations for my practice moving forward. 

I shared this with staff during term three at a leadership meeting.

If I have an apprehension in New Zealand at the moment, it's not because we're not smart enough. It's because we're not courageous enough. - Pat Sneeden 2017

This quote is an excellent thought to hold onto as I look into the assessment of ākonga. Changing our students, whanau, and community thinking on assessment will require courage.

Over and over again, we hear that the knowledge of the learner is most critical. Do we know our students at a deep level? How do they learn, what stops them from learning, what frustrates them? Who do they think are the champions that support them and want to help them?

Any assessment needs to build the mana and connectedness of students and be a partnership between the student and teachers.

Webber and Macfarlane 2018 unpack what mana is for gifted Maori students.

• Mana Tangatarua: being confident and open to appreciating differences. 
• Mana Tū: being persistent and determined
• Mana Motuhake: having a positive self-concept concerning learning and success.
• Mana Ūkaipo: understanding they belong and have connections to places and spaces.
• Mana Whānau: are connected to whānau and aware of collective agency.

Can these also be utilised with all students to support their learning? How does assessment look if we are considering mana enhancement?

Suppose we are talking about the learner's knowledge. Could a learner profile support both the learner and their supports to deepen the understanding of the individual? 

• Could this learner profile help them realise they have things to teach others and have something they can learn from them?
• Understand they are connected, and their culture is valued.
• Support who they are and from where they come.
• Identify positive role models that they can aspire to mirror.
• Show that many people from their cultural group have achieved success.
• Identify what they are good at and help them know what areas they need to develop.
• Support them to understand their family, peers, teachers, and members of the wider school community care about them.
• Support them to know what their gifts, academic strengths and interests are.

We must always keep asking the questions of why are we testing? What is the purpose? Do our assessments ensure the realisation of the Learning Support Action Plan vision?

A vision for an inclusive education system where every child feels a sense of belonging, is present, makes progress, where their wellbeing is safeguarded and promoted, where learning is a lifelong journey, and where children and young people with learning support needs get the right support at the right time.

This Learning Support Action Plan vision caters for the students on the edges however if we plan and prepare to those edges we get benefits for all students.

A Conversation with Leslee Allen - Junior Assessment and Play Based Learning

Dr Sarah Aiono has a conversation with Leslee Allen, teaching principal of Kaurihohore School (Whangarei), and creator of Number Agents.

Leslee is a passionate advocate of developmentally responsive teaching, including the value of both explicit instruction and child-led learning through play. The conversation also discusses some misconceptions around school reporting, MoE requirements and systemic responsibilities schools have.

Takeaways from the podcast

• The school has no reporting to Board for Years 1-3. No benchmarks as markers for where they should be for Year 1-3. No recording of data anywhere except for the target students. 
• The school believes it is utterly unfair to use benchmarks for students in these early years because each child's developmental progress is so different. For example, girls develop cognitively earlier than boys, yet boys develop movement skills earlier than girls. Do we measure girls movement skills and then call them below if they have not developed their movement skills yet? If a child is cognitively at two years, why compare them to a five-year-old benchmark?
• Since the changes, teachers are now asking how cognitively developed the students were when they started school. 
• Benchmarks are false as not a marker to progress and do not consider the variability of factors that could impact a child's development. 
• A teacher who understands the child well will know when they are ready for the next part of their learning journey and show us they are prepared for the next step. For example, children will start to ask how to spell words when they are ready. 
• Still share a lot with parents about their learning, especially why they are doing something. For example, they are learning to hop because it supports their balance and strength development. 
• Reporting to the Board is done by curriculum levels from Year 4-6. There is no mandate from the MOE or ERO, reporting to Boards on which learners are above, below etc. The only things needing reporting are how schools are doing on their goals at the start of the year.
• The MOE policy states that schools have autonomy, meaning we can create our curriculum and make our own decisions around assessment and reporting. 
• The school utilises data to unlock student and teacher needs and the new learning as part of an inquiry by teachers and leaders. Data is helpful from Year 4-8 as it is helpful to see patterns in cohorts, e.g. gender, years, ethnicity etc. The annual report is written for the leadership team in the school, not the Ministry of Education.
• The Principal reports on the targets set in the annual targets around well-being, writes a narrative for the MOE about well-being, how they have developed trauma-informed practice, and what processes and procedures are in place to support well-being. The targets help ensure we make sure the children are happy and doing well.
• The National Education Learning Priorities (NELP's) are excellent and will drive the school's targets into the future. 
• The MOE wants assessments that are useful and dynamic and paint a good picture of the child. MOE wants our children to be happy and ensure they are doing well. 
• Robust systems are in place to identify and track target students throughout their school years. 

Thoughts and More Questions than Answers

What does success look like at Years 1-3, so we know play-based learning, structured literacy and individual interventions meet our learners' needs? Do we need to know?

How do we measure success, engagement and well-being through the school? 

Why should we not just trust

• The students will be getting all they need in the first three years at school based on the developmentally appropriate practice in the community.
• The teachers know their learners and are inquiring into their practice as part of a professional growth cycle, ensuring meeting the needs of their learners.
• Our assessment for learning is utilising the most appropriate information?

Where does Hero fit? Do we

• Use Hero in place of multiple Google files or link these in Hero to the students? 
• Student feed for communicating with student and caregiver.
• Using tracking flags to keep target students at the front of mind.
• ensure goals are shared with students and caregivers so that there is a partnership for the students learning.
• ensure our Hero Milestones/Expectations fit our expectations for Year 1-3 if we follow Kaurihohore School lead?

How does assessment at Year 4-8 look?

• Are the assessments functional for teachers and leaders and designed to improve both teaching and learning?
• Are the assessments dynamic, mana enhancing for the learner and teacher and paint a good picture of the child?
• Is the assessment a partnership between the learner and teacher