Managing National Assessment Report 2012 Whangamata Area School

Managing National
  Assessment
    Report

      2012

Whangamata Area
    School

Managing National Assessment Report

Whangamata Area School

31 May 2012

Introduction
The purpose of the Managing National Assessment (MNA) external review is:
•    to help schools achieve valid, fair, accurate and consistent internal assessment
     according to the requirements of the Assessment and Examination Rules for
     Schools with Consent to Assess 2012 (Assessment Rules); and
•    in combination with the most recent Education Review Office report, to ensure
     that schools are meeting the requirements of the Consent to Assess Against
     Standards on the Directory of Assessment Standards Rules 2011 and its
     Guidelines (CAAS Guidelines) in order to maintain their consent to assess.
This process is a partnership between schools and the New Zealand Qualifications
Authority (NZQA) to ensure that assessment systems remain effective and internal
assessment decisions are valid.

The MNA review has two components:
    1. The annual external moderation of assessment materials and assessor
       decisions for an NZQA-selected sample of internally assessed standards and
       randomly selected samples of student work across curriculum areas selected
       according to the school’s random-selection process.
    2. An external review of each school’s assessment systems at least once every
       four years.

This report summarises NZQA’s evaluation of how effectively:
•    senior management has addressed issues identified during the previous MNA
     review on 2 July 2009
•    the school manages assessment for national qualifications
•    the school manages internal and external moderation
•    the school manages and makes use of assessment-related data
•    the school maintains the currency of assessment policy and procedures, and
     communicates them to staff, students and families.

In preparing this report, the School Relationship Manager met with the Principal and
the Principal’s Nominee (PN) and Heads of Department (HODs) or teachers in
charge of (TICs) for Biology, English, Mathematics and Physics and Science and
Chemistry. The school also provided the SRM with the staff and student assessment
procedures guides and pre-review information.

There was a report-back session with the Principal and the PN at the at the end of
the visit to highlight strengths and weaknesses, with suggested strategies for good
practice and to agree on recommended actions.

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May 2012

2009 Managing National Assessment Report (CAAS Guidelines 3v)
Evidence was sought that action items in the previous MNA report have been
effectively addressed.

All of the items from the previous report have been actioned.

Assessment Practice (CAAS Guidelines 2.5v-vii, 2.6, 3v)
How does the school’s assessment practice allow for the effective management of
assessment for national qualifications?

Meeting students’ assessment needs The school meets the assessment needs of
its students in a variety of ways. These include:
    •   students being offered individualised courses in a way that is consistent with
        management’s focus of ‘differentiation’ in teaching and learning to meet
        student needs
    •   shared teaching programmes and video conferencing through the CORONET
        group of schools
    •   dual enrolment with Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu for some students to access
        learning and assessment which is not available at Whangamata Area School.

Gathering evidence of achievement Staff are provided with good practice
guidelines about the use of further assessment and resubmission when gathering
evidence of achievement. As an outcome of discussion one HOD interviewed felt
more informed and confident about the use of further assessment and resubmission
and not all HODs were confident that a consistent understanding of assessment
procedures is embedded. Management agreed to review its strategies so it can be
confident that all teachers share a common understanding of assessment
procedures, including those for further assessment and resubmission. Methods to be
considered for this review were discussed during the visit.
Students are informed verbally or in their course outlines about the availability of a
further assessment opportunity. This information is to be included in assessment
statements for each subject as an outcome of the proposed changes as discussed
later in this report.
A section in staff handbook, “Evidence of achievement”, encourages teachers to
gather evidence of achievement over time where students demonstrate skills or
knowledge over the course of their normal class work or outside the classroom. Valid
evidence need not be restricted to that acquired from formal, discreet assessment
events and this broader approach is used in some subjects to gather valid, authentic
evidence during the teaching and learning process. As an example, the HOD English
reported the use of naturally occurring evidence in managing assessment for the
recently introduced functional literacy standards.

Literacy and numeracy The progress of each student toward achieving numeracy
and literacy is closely tracked and those at risk of not attaining the credits needed are
identified and provided with additional teaching. The school identifies that the
difficulty some students have in attaining numeracy as a challenge, and strategies to
meet this are part of the school’s ongoing review.

Authenticity Students are required to submit work that is original and to sign an
authenticity statement to this effect. Teachers are provided with good practice
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May 2012

guidelines which appear to be well-understood and are used in conjunction with the
close knowledge they have of their students so that authenticity is well-managed in
the school.

Derived grades It was apparent from interviews that staff understand the process
and use appropriate assessment tools to gather evidence for externally assessed
standards.

Breaches of the rules The school uses fair processes for investigating breaches of
assessment rules and Not Achieved is the result for a proven breach.

Identified action
NZQA and senior management agree on the following action to improve the
management of assessment for national qualifications. Senior management
undertakes to:
  •   review strategies to ensure that all teachers share a common understanding of
      assessment procedures, including those for further assessment and
      resubmission.

Moderation (CAAS Guidelines 2.6, 3v)
How effectively does the school manage internal and external moderation?

Internal moderation Teachers are well informed about the school’s requirements
for internal moderation and are required to document their internal moderation
practice using an Internal Moderation Cover Sheet. It was evident from discussion
and documents seen during interviews that sound internal moderation practice is now
well-embedded and that meaningful processes underpin this practice. These include
robust procedures for checking assessment material prior to use and for verifying
grades in a timely manner before they are awarded to students. All teachers
interviewed described having collegial support for verifying grades. If a subject expert
is not available in the school there is collaboration with a colleague outside the
school, commonly through CORONET.

Audit of internal moderation processes Teachers are required to submit a
completed internal moderation cover sheet to the PN as evidence that internal
moderation has taken place. As an outcome of a review, the PN has introduced a
form for teachers to record the location of assessed work and the name of the check
marker. Information about assessment and moderation procedures is also acquired
through regular informal contact with teachers and through Curriculum Committee
meetings which are a forum for discussion about quality assurance for internal
assessment. In these ways the PN acquires a close knowledge of internal
assessment practice in the school and considers that teachers appear to be following
procedures at all times. However, the school agreed that a formal cycle of audit
checks will:
  •   give further assurances that meaningful moderation practices underpin
      information recorded on the cover sheet and assist in identifying
  •   provide additional and timely information about of the strengths and areas for
      improvement in assessment practice
  •   assist in succession planning with regard to quality assurance procedures for
      internal assessment.

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May 2012

Administratively sensible options to achieve this were discussed during the visit and
management is also considering how this audit process could be incorporated as part
of its review cycle for teachers.

External moderation The most recently completed round of external moderation
for the school was November 2011 and 52 standards were selected. All assessment
materials requested were submitted and the majority of these were approved and did
not require any modification. Materials for all standards were deemed to be valid. The
rate at which moderators agree with assessor judgments has become established at
a level which indicates that teachers have become confident in assessing students at
the national standard. The history of improved results for external moderation serves
as confirmation that the school’s moderation processes have improved assessment
quality.

Response to external moderation The PN manages a clear response procedure
that requires teachers to address any issues raised by moderators before an
assessment is used again. Evidence seen during interviews with teachers indicated
that this process is understood and followed. The outcomes of external moderation
are discussed at Curriculum Committee meetings and the Principal confers with the
PN to identify any issues and to plan appropriate follow-up and professional support.
This is good practice.

Identified action
NZQA and senior management agree on the following action to improve the
management of internal and external moderation. Senior management undertakes to:
  •   incorporate a formal audit cycle into the school’s procedure for the monitoring of
      internal moderation and document this for staff.

Data (CAAS Guidelines 2.6, 2.7)
How effectively does the school manage and make use of assessment-related data?

Accuracy of assessment-related data There are effective procedures in place to
ensure that entries for both internally and externally assessed standards are
accurate. Subject teachers are responsible for entering results for internally assessed
standards on the student management system and one staff member has the
designated responsibility to train and support them in this process. The PN checks
entries and results before submitting these monthly to NZQA. As a final check,
students are required to sign-off their grades at the end of the year.

Monitoring student progress The school actively manages courses for individual
students and closely monitors their progress through the year towards meeting
numeracy and literacy, University Entrance, and attaining national qualifications. In
their fortnightly meetings, year-level Deans plan mentoring and support strategies for
students. The Principal closely engages with the parents and caregivers of at-risk
students in an individualised, structured mentoring and monitoring programme during
the second half year. Management reports that offering flexible programmes and
closely monitoring student progress toward their goals have been factors in
improving retention rates in the senior school and in the achievement of students.

Learner login assists students to track their own progress toward qualifications and in
2011, approximately two-thirds of senior students registered for this. The school
intends to further encourage participation so more students can view results that
have been reported to NZQA.
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May 2012

Analysis of results The Board of Trustees is provided with a results analysis from
each department and with school-wide statistics for achievement for NCEA
qualifications, course endorsement, certificate endorsement, University Entrance and
numeracy and literacy. Staff use results to review their teaching and assessment
programmes. It is acknowledged that with small numbers in many classes, the
usefulness of year on year comparisons and comparisons to national statistics can
be limited. The focus, driven by the Principal, emphasises professional responsibility
in improving the effectiveness of teaching and assessment practice with the aim to
improve outcomes for individual students.

Identified action
No actions were identified as needed to improve the management and use of
assessment-related data.

Communication (CAAS Guidelines 2.4i, 2.6, 3v)
How effectively does the school maintain the currency of assessment policy and
procedures, and communicate them to staff, students and families?

Communication of policies and procedures to staff, students and their families
The following documents were provided for this visit:
•   NCEA Student information 2012
•   Staff Guidelines 2012 - Assessment Procedures for the National Qualifications
    Framework
•   Course outlines

Procedures are reviewed annually by the Principal and the PN and these are
contained in documents provided for staff and students. Documents are well-
formatted and contain most of the information needed. To assist with the next review
of these, items requiring clarification or inclusion were identified during the visit.

The school conducts an annual NCEA parent/caregiver information evening and
progress and results are regularly reported to parents. Other forms of communication
include a regular newsletter and the school website.

Assessment statements When next reviewed, the staff guidelines information is to
be included in subject assessment statements about standards to be assessed i.e.
the standard number, version, title, credit value, internal or external, the mode and
timing of assessment and the availability further assessment.

Formats used to present this information vary and the school has agreed that the use
of a common template will provide a consistent format which is recognisable across
subjects and assist in management their monitoring the assessment programme for
each subject.

Memoranda of understanding The school uses a range of outside providers and
arrangements managed mainly through the STAR and GATEWAY coordinator, who
retains copies of current memoranda of understanding. It remains for information
about engaging with outside providers to be included in the staff guide.

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May 2012

Identified action
NZQA and senior management agree on the following action to maintain the
currency of assessment policy and procedures, and communicate them to staff,
students and families. Senior management undertakes to:
  •   develop an assessment statement template for school-wide use.

Summary
Whangamata Area School is commended for its commitment to ongoing review to
ensure quality assessment for its students. The school is demonstrating the ability to
respond in an appropriate and timely manner to address any issues identified from its
own review process, which revealed no significant issues which prevent it from
meeting NZQA requirements for managing assessment for national qualifications.

Teachers engage in sound assessment practice and students are individually
supported to attain appropriate qualifications. The Principal’s Nominee is effective in
his role and staff work collaboratively to support the learning and assessment goals
of the school.

Based on the outcome of this assessment systems check, it is anticipated that the
next Managing National Assessment review will be conducted within three years.

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May 2012