A Whole School Approach to
Assessing Personal and
Interdisciplinary Learning
Let’s Get Essential Conference
School Library Association of Victoria
Jennifer Bryce
VICTORIAN ESSENTIAL LEARNING
STANDARDS
Discipline based
eg:
English
LOTE
Mathematics
Science
Humanities
Arts
Interdisciplinary and
Social/ Personal
eg:
Communication
Thinking processes
Interpersonal
Development
Personal Learning
CROSS-CURRICULAR
What do we mean by ‘cross-curricular
skills’?
• Context independent
– not tied to a particular domain of knowledge;
– independent of particular curriculum boundaries;
– independent of skills specific to particular occupations or
industries
• Learned and practised within particular contexts,
but transferable from one context to another
• Complex combinations of cognitive and affective
elements
– Mayer Committee: ‘combination of knowledge, skills and
understanding’;
– not ‘atomistic behaviours’
Example from the National Goals
of Schooling:
Schooling should develop fully the talents
and capacities of all students. In particular,
when students leave schools they should:
have the capacity for, and skills in, analysis
and problem solving and the ability to
communicate ideas and information, to plan
and organise activities and to collaborate
with others
Why is ‘cross-curricular’ important these
days?
Economic: work-related
(eg Mayer Key Competencies)
Information age:
knowledge-related
(eg National Goals of Schooling)
VELS (Interdisciplinary/ Social &Personal)
What are the main challenges posed by a
cross-curricular approach to learning?
 Secondary school
teachers are not
used to working
outside their
curriculum areas;
 Interfaculty
communication
 ‘It makes you think
about students in a
different way.’
Some benefits mentioned by teachers:
 Helps students with
‘special learning needs’
to become independent
learners;
 It creates an
opportunity ‘to move in
what is otherwise a
very static picture’
 Provides possibility of
recognition for
students regarded as
‘failures’ in discipline
areas.
Development of cross-curricular skills
encourages a focus on the ‘whole’ student
(often lost in secondary schools)
 a means of drawing
together people with
significant roles in
students’ education
 a means of putting
into practice some
current beliefs about
pedagogy – eg the
learning that takes
place outside the
classroom should be
valued
What is a ‘whole school’ approach to
assessment?
 Aims to produce a whole school or common
view of a student in a single, integrated report
 Combines the views of teachers and, if
appropriate, other personnel who are in a
position to judge a student’s performance
 People other than classroom teachers may
contribute to the assessment – eg librarians,
sports coaches, the school principal,
employers
 May include student self assessment.
Assessment for ‘Working with Others’:
Music teacher: A
Maths teacher: B
SOSE teacher: D
Assessment for ‘Working with Others’:
(using the Whole School Assessment package)
Music
9
Maths
6
SOSE
5
Art
4
Employer
5
What teachers have said about ‘Whole
School Assessment’:
 It acknowledges
teachers’ professional
judgment;
 Teachers make
judgments most of the
time they teach;
 Know students – have
a ‘gut feeling’;
 Contributing to an
overall judgment – not
assessing in isolation
OVERVIEW OF THE WHOLE SCHOOL
ASSESSMENT PROCESS [ACER Software]
Professional Development
Set up software – Excel files to teachers
Teachers assess
Overall assessor
Reporting
The program manager:
• Sets up the data base
and enters the main
details
• Integrates teachers’
assessments (Excel
files) into the data
base
• Prints students’ reports
• Extracts analyses of
the assessments to
provide appropriate
whole school data.
The teachers:
Have a shared
understanding of the crosscurricular skills to be
assessed.
Enter their assessments
into an excel file with the
names of students they are
to assess, produced by the
program manager.
Assess each student on
the agreed cross-curricular
skills using a
9-point scale, making a
global impression
judgement, assisted, if they
wish, by level descriptors.
The overall assessor(s):
• Reviews the
assessments of
teachers, using the
software.
• Establishes the
final assessment
for each student on
each crosscurricular skill.
Students’ reports:
• provide a synthesis of teachers’
judgments
• indicate the amount of agreement
about a student’s cross-curricular
skills
• can show the group average and
range of scores (but this is
optional)
Generic Skills
Level 4
Codes
1
Level 5
2
3
4
5
Level 6
6
7
8
Written
communication
Mean & Range
I
[]
I
I
[]
I
Oral
communication
Mean & Range
Logical reasoning
[]
I
Mean & Range
I
Interpretive
reasoning
Planning
organising
Mean & Range
[]
I
Mean & Range
I
&
I
[]
I
9
How might this process be applied to
assessing the VELS?
Assume that we have a Year 9 class and that we are looking at
‘Thinking Processes’
Standards :
1.
2.
3.
Reasoning, processing and inquiry, concerned with
framing questions, gathering information and
making judgements about the worth of the
information;
Creativity, concerned with generating imaginative
solutions to problems; and
Reflection, evaluation and metacognition which is
concerned with thinking processes and tools.
Start with professional development:
Shared understanding
of ‘standards’?
Teachers might look at an
example of a Yr 9
student’s ‘imaginative
solution’ to a problem and
consider whether that
student would be graded
Level 4/5, 5/6 or 6.
Teachers could use a schema like this
(Thinking Processes, Year 9) : [hypothetical]
Standard
Codes
Reasoning,
processing
& inquiry
Level 4/ 5
Level 5/6
Level 6
Below expected achievement
Expected achievement of Year 9
students
Above expected achievement
1 low
4 low
7 low
2 med
3high
5 med
6 high
8 med
9 high
The student
The student
The student
is aware of different question types
and can use a limited range of
them
uses a range of question types
generates questions that explore a
variety of perspectives
locates and selects information from a
range of sources with guidance
locates and selects relevant information
from varied sources
discriminates in the way they use a
variety of sources
can distinguish fact from opinion and
develop reasoned arguments
supported by evidence
can evaluate evidence, taking into
account a range of points of view
can make informed decisions based
on their analysis of various
perspectives and sometimes
contradictory information
Personal Learning, Year 6: [hypothetical]
Standard
Codes
The
individual
learner
Level 3/4
Level 4
Level 4/5
Below expected
achievement
Expected achievement of
Year 9 students
Above expected
achievement
4
low
7
low
1
low
2
med
3
high
5
med
6
high
8
med
9
high
The student
The student
The student
can identify strategies that
will enhance their own
learning
has preferred learning styles
and uses strategies that will
promote their learning.
uses an expanded
repertoire of learning
strategies appropriate to
particular tasks
is aware of their learning
strengths and weaknesses
can monitor and describe
their progress in learning
can identify their strengths
and weaknesses and take
action to address
weaknesses.
with assistance can set own
learning goals
can negotiate learning
improvement goals and
justify learning choices that
they make
seeks and responds to
feedback from peers,
teachers and other adults.
A ‘Whole School’ approach to assessment:
IT teacher
Librarian
Maths
teacher
STUDENT
English
teacher
Employer
Self
assessment