Cambridge International Diploma for Teachers and Trainers ... · Cambridge International Diploma...

Assignment template for 5293 Assessment: assessing progress and achievement For examination 2011

© CIE 2010

Cambridge International Diploma for

Teachers and Trainers

Module 5293

Assessment: Assessing progress and achievement

Assignment Template for examination in 2011

By completing this form and submitting the assignment for assessment by CIE I confirm that the assignment is all my

own work. I have appropriately referenced and acknowledged any work taken from another source.

Date of Submission

CIE Unique Candidate Identifier

Centre number Year Candidate number Check digit

Candidate Name

Assignment Template for 5293 Assessment: Assessing progress and achievement. For examination 2011.

2

Your context

(approximately 300 words)

Please give brief information about your context:

Your professional background

I graduated as a teacher of Business Education in 2006 and started my first role as a teacher in High Storrs School, Sheffield – teaching GCSE Business & Communication Systems, GCSE Business Studies and A-Level Applied Business, alongside this I also taught ICT at key stage 3.

At the end of my NQT year, I applied and was promoted to coordinate and embed Student Voice throughout the school. This involved working to develop teaching and learning with the aid of students. Student council was only a very small part of my role; the aim was to get students to feedback on different elements of their learning and classroom experience. Students would discuss lesson plans and programmes of study as well as having discussions with teachers about teaching styles.

In September 2009 I was promoted to Deputy Head of Faculty for Maths, Computing and Enterprise faculty. This role included co-running a faculty of three subjects, managing a team a staff of twenty, and running the Business & Economics department. The Business department at the time wasn’t particularly successful; therefore my role was to turn this around.

In January 2010, due to the unfortunate long term illness of the Head of Faculty – I was promoted to Head of Faculty. This role lasted till the end of the year. This was an excellent opportunity for me to work strategically within the school and I was able to work on may transdisciplinary projects with other faculties. Upon the return of the Head of Faculty, I was then able to then return to my focus of improving the Business department with a clearer vision of the bigger picture.

Your role and responsibilities

Since starting at Fairview, I have been responsible for three different classes on different courses. I currently teach CIE iGCSE Business Studies and International Baacalaureate Middle Years Programme in Business Studies (who are also expected to sit the iGCSE exam). I also teach the International Baacalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) in Economics to DP1.

Your institution

Fairview International School, Wangsa Maju, Kuala Lumpur is an IB-approved school. It is the only educational institution in Malaysia to offer the full International Baccalaureate Programme from Primary Years to Diploma level, in addition to its comprehensive international syllabus. There are approximately 120


3

teachers at the school, with nearly 2,000 students

Your learners

The students that I will be focusing this dipoma are a group of 13 IBDP Economics students – All students are aged between 16 and 19. Some of the students are here on a scholarship, and demonstrate an excellent work ethic and interest in the subject. Most of the students graduated from their GCSE (or equivalent courses) with grades A and above. They are a very high achieving group, made up of seven boys and six girls.

There are no specific learning difficulties, and the range of ability is consistant, however I have identified one student is identified as requiring additional support, as his level of achievement at GCSE level was considerably lower.

Your professional development during the Diploma


What do you expect to learn from this Module about assessment which will help you in the next Module, which

focuses on evaluation?

My main learning aim within this module will be to conduct assessments that are in line with what I planned for the programme in the last module. I hope to ensure that I keep as close to the planned programme as possible, and give feedback to the students that will be constructive to allow them to develop and progress at a pace that they are comfortable with which allows them to develop as young people and to meet the learning objectives set by the IBDP.

I expect to learn through practice and reflection how to effectively assess my students with a view to get the students to improve on their learning. This will allow me to truly evaluate my ability as a teaching practitioner in the next module.


4

Part A: Assessment of progress and achievement

3.1.1 Preparing formative assessments


For one of the methods of formative assessment you have used in your programme plan for Module 1, how

was the assessment material linked to the content of your programme plan?

Formative assessment tests the current level of understanding and progress at any point in a learning programme and provides feedback information to teacher and learner, to guide the next phase of learning. It is assessment for learning. The objectives for the lesson were

Explain, with reference to the concepts of leakages (withdrawals) and injections, the nature and importance of the Keynesian multiplier.

Calculate the multiplier using either of the formulae.

Use the multiplier to calculate the effect on GDP of a change in an injection in investment, government spending or exports.

Draw a Keynesian AD/AS diagram to show the impact of the multiplier. The formative assessment was a homework piece based on questions given in the Higher Level paper. Students were asked to use their knowledge from the lesson, along with independent reading to complete the task by a certain date.

For the formative assessment you have devised, how have you designed the tasks and the marking

scheme?

The task was designed using some past paper questions from a previous exam. The marking scheme is the IBDP Economics rubric along with the answers to the paper.

How have you ensured that the formative assessment you have designed is valid, realistic and workable?

I have ensured that all assessments are in line with the requirements of the assessment outcomes given by the IBDP Economics course guide. This ensures that students are consistently practising their skills when it comes to exam technique, and can use the feedback that I give them to progress to the next level of the course.


5

3.1.2 Interpreting and using formative assessment data

(approx 500 words)

How have you interpreted the data from the formative assessment task you have discussed in 3.1.1?

Of the 10 assessment submitted, the marks ranged between 25 and 16 – therefore a difference of 9marks. This means that all students within the class were quite close together. 25 was the highest available mark. The lowest mark was 16, which equates to a Level 5 at IBDP. The average score was 20.8 with the average IBDP grade being 6.5. As mentioned previously it’s now obvious that the class are high performing. Overall I was very happy with the results of this formative assessment, it was due to three students missing out the final question that meant their mark suffered, otherwise everyone would have got above 20.

How have you provided feedback about the formative assessment results to the learners and other interested parties?

Students were given written feedback which identified what level they were working on and what they needed to do to improve. This information was put on the school management to show progress, which will feed into their end of semester result.

How did the outcomes of formative assessment enable you to help learners develop their learning?

This formative assessment was key to see whether the students were able to understand a very important concept involved in Macro economics. All students demonstrated that they had clear understanding of the concept, but there were small errors that unfortunately stopped students from fully achieving their potential, therefore when I did the feedback session, I made a point of explaining that they must be more careful in checking their work before they submit as well as answering every question fully. This is evident in my written feedback also.


6

Sample formative assessment task and marking scheme Insert samples


7


8

Mark scheme


9


10

Examples of work in response to this formative assessment task, which you have assessed and

which show your feedback to the learners. Insert examples (of high, mid and low performance)

LOWEST PERFORMANCE


11


12

HIGHEST PERFORMANCE


13


14


15

MEDIUM PERFORMANCE


16


17

3.2.1 Preparing and using summative assessments


How have you designed the summative assessment tasks and marking scheme, and why?

The summative assessment used in this case was a commentary that the students had to make on an article of their choice, using the Macroeconomic concepts that they had learnt. This

assessment allows students to put their knowledge and understanding to good use, as well as

allowing them to apply it to a real life news story.

Ultimately the aim here is for the students to submit this work as an official assessment for their final grade. In order to help the students I provided them with a pack of resources that

would help them with their planning.

The mark scheme therefore takes on the same format as the student are familiar with for their official internal assessment – This is made up in the format of a rubric, that allows students to

see exactly what it is that they need to do to get the best possible grade.

How have you ensured that these summative assessment tasks are valid, realistic and workable?

As before, I believe that it’s very important to have an assessment plan that’s in line with the

expectation and assessment outcomes of the IBDP Economics subject guide. This gives the

students the best opportunity to revisit the expectations required for them to be successful in

this course.

The summative assessment task is valid, realistic and workable because the expectation is in

line with what the students are used to and will have to produce to complete the course

successfully. I also gave the students a over a week to do the task themselves, which allows

differentiation in terms of timing for those students who want to do it quickly against those who need to revisit some of the concepts to ensure that they are successful in the assessment.

How are the tasks related to the aims and objectives of the programme plan?

The task is linked directly to the aims and objectives of the programme plan, as it assesses the student’s ability to recall their knowledge of the economic concepts and apply it to a real life

situation that they have read in a newspaper or on an economic website.

This links directly to each of the objectives stated in the programme plan, as students have to use diagrams and theory to comment on the outcome of their chosen article.

The students has free reign to focus on which ever economic concept they want, this helps

differentiate the outcome as various students will be challenged by choosing a concept that they are a little more unfamiliar with, but will allow others to revise their knowledge of a

particular concept. It will also allow those students with a lower level of understanding to focus

entirely on one concept and write a good quality assessment based on a concept that they are

comfortable with.


18

3.2.2 Interpreting and using summative assessment data

(approx 500 words)

How have you analysed and interpreted the data gathered from the summative assessment in 3.2.1?

Of the 13 assessment submitted, the marks ranged between 14 and 7 – therefore a difference of 7marks. This means that all students were once again were quite close together. 14 was the highest available mark. The lowest mark was 7, which equates to a Level 4 at IBDP. The average score was 11 with the average IBDP grade being 6. Overall I was very happy with the results of this formative assessment; however I must now work with the students that got a level 4 to help them improve to at least a level 5. I will ensure that I hold an intervention meeting with these two students to help them achieve at a higher level.

How have you provided feedback about the results to the learners and other interested parties?

Due to the importance of this task, there were many ways in which I fed back the results.

- I held a class session looking at common areas of improvement.

- Students were given written feedback which identified what level they were working on and what they needed to do to improve.

- Their progress was used in the whole school reporting system to allow parents to see what progress the students made.

- I also did a breakdown of the results for the school management to show progress, in an answer analysis document.

What issues did you experience in communicating this information, and how did you deal with them?

There were no issues with this system. Having delivered a similar assessment previously, all parties involved were used to the format in which I delivered the feedback, and all parties were satisfied.


19

Part B: Reflective report

In your report you should reflect on your overall experience of assessment learners’ progress and

achievement. Among your reflections on this stage of the teaching and learning cycle and your Diploma

project, you should include the following themes:

(a) The steps you have taken to research and develop the methods of formative assessment you have

chosen to use in your programme plan.

(b) The highlights of your formative assessment which you think have particularly motivated and encouraged

your learners.

(c) Given the feedback from your learners to the formative assessment, how are you going to approach

designing your formative assessments in the future?


Given my six years of teaching experience and my exposure to many of the training sessions on assessment for learning and assessment of learning I would say that I was generally quite understanding of the requirements of this module. I was very lucky a few years ago to attend a session that was conducted by Mr Paul Black (the author of “Inside the black box”), what I learnt at this session has always stuck with me when creating assessments, feeding-back and evaluating progress with students. I also had access to the materials I used during my PGCE assessments in 2005 to assist in my research. Since becoming a teacher I’ve been able to reflect to the effectiveness of many formative and summative assessments that I have given to students of many different ages and abilities. I’ve been able to establish those that work and others that don’t deliver results or demonstrate any progress. It was important for me not to just rely on the above information when I was planning the assessments for this programme. As an International Baccalaureate (IB) school, I am expected to meet the requirements given by the IB. As well as my prior knowledge I needed to utilise the subject specific information given to me within the Economics subject guide. Another important document to consider was the “Putting principles into practice” to ensure that the assessment requirements were in line with the IB ethos. I have learnt that whilst it’s very important to assess students in many different ways, targeting each learning style equally to give every student the opportunity to progress; it’s very important (especially when students are at a specific stage in their education, i.e. GCSE, A-Level) that they become very familiar with the format and expectations of their final assessments. Therefore I believe that throughout the learning programme, the students need to be given plenty of opportunity to access and understand what it is that they are expected to achieve by the end of their course. Only this way can the students be truly ready and comfortable to sit or complete the final assessments requirement by the exam board. For this programme plan, I planned many assessments that helped students familiarise themselves with the assessment rubric that they would be using for their Internal Assessments and the External assessment at the end of the year. All of the assessment activities were linked to these, but allowed the students to also vary in their presentation style – newsroom role play, essay, discussion, exam style questions, mind mapping etc. The main highlight from the formative assessment that I used in this module was that all students demonstrated progress and that they were all able to understand what was expected by the task given. This demonstrated that students had both understanding of the expected format of the answers as well as the content that I had previously


20

taught them. “We must constantly remind ourselves that the ultimate purpose of evaluation is to enable students to evaluate themselves” (Costa, A. “Reassessing Assessment.” Educational Leadership 20.1 1989) Given the feedback given by my students and in moving forward with future planning of my assessments, I have reflected on what I could do to help students appreciate what they were learning even more. Being an IBO school I really want them to start taking a more independent role when it comes to their learning, especially their assessments. I read a document called “Rethinking Classroom Assessment with Purpose in Mind” by Lorna M Earl (2006) – This document looked at both Assessment of Learning and Assessment for Learning, but introduced a new concept of Assessment as Learning – which helps students develop self-monitoring processes during their learning and encourages them to foster ongoing learning. It defines Assessment as learning as

“ a process of developing and supporting metacognition for students. Assessment as learning focuses on the role of the student as the critical connector between assessment and learning. When students are active, engaged, and critical assessors, they make sense of information, relate it to prior knowledge, and use it for new learning. This is the regulatory process in metacognition. It occurs when students monitor their own learning and use the feedback from this monitoring to make adjustments, adaptations, and even major changes in what they understand. It requires teachers to help students develop, practise, and become comfortable with reflection, and with a critical analysis of their own learning.” I personally believe that in order to promote the profile of IB learners, the above model would fit perfectly into the school ethos, the IB Diploma programme ethos as well as develop students that are inquirers, reflective and critical thinkers. My aim from now on will be to promote student independence and help them develop the tools to develop a capacity to monitor the quality of their own work, and an appreciation of what high-quality work is. This in turn will be able to make adjustments in their understanding of what their learning and allowing them to challenge and advance their learning. In conclusion, I believe that both the formative and summative assessments that I carried out proved useful to me as the teacher, but also to the students as they were able to be satisfied with the fact that they had learnt and understood many aspects of the IBDP Economics curriculum. I demonstrated the use of Assessment of Learning with satisfactory results, this was probably as a result of consistent Assessment for Learning in the classroom. However, as mentioned above, given the age of my students and the IB learner profiles that we try to encourage here at Fairview, I now aim to take it one step further by embedding Assessment as Learning – which I’m hoping will have an even better effect on the student’s achievement and progress levels.

Cambridge International Diploma for Teachers and Trainers ... · Cambridge International Diploma...

Documents

Transcript of Cambridge International Diploma for Teachers and Trainers ... · Cambridge International Diploma...