ASSESSMENT TASK 2: PART

2
ETP401

Molly Marshall
213087861

Molly Marshall 213087861

Assessment Design and Development

Rationale for pre-test:
I believe that pre-tests can be an extremely powerful tool when teaching mathematics as it
shows the students prior knowledge and can therefor help a teacher in determining how to
teach a topic before summative testing students. My placement school uses the Envision
program therefor I needed to as well. The program provides a pre-test and a differing posttest. I believed that this could skew the students final growth percentage by asking different
questions in the post and pre-test so I decided to give students the post-test as both the pre
and post-test. This would ensure that the students had a fair chance to show the growth of
their understanding. Students never received their pre-test back, only their mark and
feedback therefor they cannot cheat on the post-test. The objectives of this topic were in line
with the Victorian Curriculum and required students to meet the standards of grade 5
mathematics: fractions and decimals. The diagnostic testing was beneficial as it provided me
with a clear understanding of what elements of the standards needed to be focused on to give
the students the best chance of meeting them. This type of assessment only works in a
sequence of assessments to meet the intended outcome. In this case it was followed up by
informal feedback throughout mathematics lessons and then a summative assessment posttest. Comparing the pre-test with the post-test shows student growth and comparing the posttest with the curriculum standards shows whether students met the objectives of the topic
and what will still need to be practised.
Table 1
Assessm

Type of

ent Task

Assessm

When

Links to

Assessme

Feedback

Support

Curriculum

nt

to

Material

The outcomes

Criteria
The pre-

are to determine

test

what the

questions

students already

will be

-Envision

know to inform

marked as

pre-test.

the teacher

correct or

what to focus on

incorrect

in the following

and

Students
Students
receive a
mark out of
27 and
written
feedback
on what
areas of
the topic to
work on.

lessons. The

entered

objectives of

into the

this unit are to

SPA data

meet the

program.

ent
Pre-test

Start

Diagnostic

of

assessme

week

nt

curriculum

-Envision
pre-test
print out.

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standards under
grade 5
mathematics:
fractions and
Maths

-Informal

Week

decimals.
These lessons

fractions

assessme

1, 2

work towards

questions

receive

student has

meeting the

in the

written

their own

and

nt

and 3

The

Students

-Each

decimals

-Working

standards in the

workbook

informal

envision

activities

through

Victorian

will be

feedback

workbook.

Envison

curriculum

marked as

on sticky

-MAB blocks

workbook

grade 5

a class.

notes as

and

mathematics:

The

well as

modelling

fractions and

teacher

verbal

activities

decimals.

will give

informal

to practice

informal

feedback.

skills.

feedback
to students
throughout
the

Post-test

End of

Students will be

activities.
The post-

Students

-Envision

Summativ

Week

tested whether

test

receive a

post-test

they have met

questions

mark out of

print out.

assessme

the standards as

will be

27 as well

-SPA data

nt

set by the

marked as

as a

program.

-Envision

Victorian

correct or

percentage

post-test.

Curriculum Level

incorrect

of growth.

5 mathematics.

and

These are the

entered

fraction and

into the

decimals codes

SPA data

being focused

program.

on:

The

(VCMNA187)

program

(VCMNA188)

also

(VCMNA189)

calculates

(VCMNA190)

student

growth by
comparing

Molly Marshall 213087861

the pretest with

the posttest.
See appendix 2 for assessment strategy in full.

Implementation of Assessment Strategy

Whole Class Assessment Data:

Table 2: Whole Class Results

Student
PrePostStudent
Initials

Test

Test

Growth

E.A
J.C
B.D
A.H
J.H
H.H
C.L
D.L
A.L
C.Ma
T.M
C.Mi
G.O
L.P
L.S
K. S
N.S
J.V

23/27
11/27
9/27
7/27
15/27
24/27
11/27
4/27
5/27
18/27
21/27
3/27
22/27
15/27
4/27
4/27
10/27
7/27

24/27
17/27
18/27
20/27
23/27
26/27
20/27
10/27
18/27
25/27
23/27
17/27
27/27
24/27
12/27
14/27
23/27
18/27

3.7%
22.2%
33.3%
48.1%
29.6%
7.4%
33.3%
22.2%
4.1%
25.9%
7.4%
51.9%
18.5%
33.3%
29.6%
37%
48.1%
40.7%

Molly Marshall 213087861

The above table is a refined version of the data entered on the SPA program. Figure 1 and 2
below shows us specifically which areas of fractions and decimals the students easily work
through and which areas they found harder. The questions on the Envision tests are
separated into categories and questions within each category get increasingly more difficult.
This explains the patterns in Figure 1. The harder questions contained worded problems that
required good comprehension skills so this could attribute to the bulk of students still getting
the harder questions incorrect as seen in figure 2.
Looking at table 2 all student growth increased although the handful of students who only
experienced a small increase can be attributed to already receiving a high mark on the pretest. These students need to be challenged further by possibly sitting the level 6 envision
tests.
Looking at table 1 and figures 1 and 2 it is evident that all students experienced growth in
relation to their knowledge of fractions and decimals. It is school policy that the Envision
program be used to teach mathematics therefor I could only make a few modifications in the
way I teach mathematics at this school. To challenging excelling grade 5 students I would give
them the level 6 content and possibly level 7. This includes the pre-test, workbook and posttest. I would also use more hands on and interactive activities when teaching the
mathematical content to help students work through the workbook. This would include ICT
and relating maths to their real world experience Critical Reflection and Stance on Assessment Practice

Reflection on Assessment Design and Teaching:

This assessment design was guided by mentor as the school I was at for placement has a very
rigid maths program that must be followed school wide. This allowed me to plan ahead but
did not allow me very much flexibility on how I assessed students or delivered the
mathematical lessons. This had to comprise of a pre-test, students working through the
exercise book and a post-test. I was told how the school assesses mathematics and that I
should follow this process, however I could do my own informal assessment when teaching
the content (see appendix 3). The type of formal assessment used in both the pre and posttest are suitable for this maths topic but I would not like to use it other subject areas as I feel
it is very finite and doesnt allow students to show their understanding. Norton (2011, p.211)
mentions that teachers should reflect on whether they are constraining student creativity and
understanding by using certain materials. If I had more freedom in this unit I would have
liked to measure the students understanding in a variety of ways such as oral, hands on and
written.
Focusing on assessment design was beneficial as it gave me a clear understanding of what I
wanted my students to learn and kept me from straying off track. The learning intentions
became clear and drove my lessons. This was a success as you can see in table 2 that the
entire class experienced growth in their knowledge of fractions and decimals. In mathematics

Molly Marshall 213087861

the questions and either right or wrong and my assessment design was suitable for measuring
this. It was further beneficial as it measured the individual growth, so even if a student got
answers wrong it shows how much they improved and that they are moving forward. The SPA
data system helped to pin point what concepts students struggled with, which allows the
teacher to further teach.

Molly Marshall 213087861

References
Earl, L 2003, Assessment as Learning: Using Classroom Assessment to Maximize
Student Learning, Thousand Oaks, California,
Norton, S, Ritchie, S & Ginns, I 2011, Design Projects that Integrate Science and
Technology, The Art of Teaching Primary Science, Allen and Unwin, pp 202-215
Use data to build better schools 2013, YouTube, TED, February 21st,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xmr87nsl74

Molly Marshall 213087861

Appendices
Appendix 1: Lesson Sequence with Assessment Strategy

Molly Marshall 213087861

Simple Lesson Plan:

Appendix 2: Actual Assessment Strategy

Molly Marshall 213087861

Assessment in relation to Victorian Curriculum:

Pre-Test (1st of 4 pages):

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Sample pages of Envision workbook:

Molly Marshall 213087861

Molly Marshall 213087861

Post-test (1st of 4 pages):

Molly Marshall 213087861