ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES (BOT ENDORSED AUG 2012)
Assessment Procedures: Junior School
1. Assessments require a Cover Sheet to show links to the curriculum and departmental
assessment procedures. Specific Learning Outcomes (S.L.O.’s) or Achievement
Objectives should be detailed here.
2. Each department makes judgements on existing assessments or develops new ones
that meet the criteria above. Departments need to ensure that appropriate assessments
are used for particular groups of students. Mid-band classes in Year 9 would be
expected to mostly receive assessments at nominal curriculum level four. Upper band
students should get a mixture of level four and five, with possibly the occasional
extremely challenging assessment at level six presented to very able students.
(Generally Year 10 is at level 5 of the Curriculum)
3. Assessments may be marked in any fashion as determined by departmental
procedures. All marked work then needs to be assigned a grade, the basis for which
should be determined by prior agreement using a standards based approach. For
example a test may be marked out of 27 with 20/27 given a Merit grade and a practical
activity graded directly using an ABA style of marking.
4. The use of School-wide Achievement Grades for all student work is mandatory. The
grades to be used and their relationship to the NCEA is set out in the table below;
ACHIEVEMENT Points
Distinction
10
Commendation
8
6
Graduate
Progress towards
4
Not Achieved
0-2
No work
W
NCEA AWARDS
Excellence
Merit
Achieved
Achieved
Not Achieved
5. Wherever practicable, departments/teachers will keep individual portfolios of student
assessments.
6. Recording should be as simple and manageable as possible and not too time
consuming. All formal data will be stored using Classroom Manager program. Methods
of recording will be appropriate to the particular skill assessed.
General Reporting Procedures and Responsibilities:
Feedback to Individual students is;
1. The most important reporting channel
2. Regular, ongoing, positive frequently informal feedback by the teacher, which clearly
indicated what has to be done to improve achievement.
3. By verbal and written means.
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NQF
SENIOR SCHOOL ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES FOR NQF
Contents
GENERAL
Information that will be made available to students
Attendance and Course Completion Requirements
Notice of Assessment Timings
Missed Assessments
Extensions for Assessments
Absences or Part-absences from assessments
Student misconduct during an Assessment
Authenticity of Assessments
Quality Assurance
Recording Procedures for the Senior School
The return of work to Students
Reassessment
Student Appeal Procedure
Special Assessment Conditions
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GENERAL:
The Assessment Council (which will consist of the NZQA Liaison Teacher, the senior
management team and if necessary, a co-opted member of staff) will be the body governing
assessment in the Senior School. They will receive and respond to all assessment
concerns and have responsibility for overseeing that sound assessment practices are
implemented.
INFORMATION THAT WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE TO STUDENTS:
A course assessment programme is to be issued to each student at the beginning of the
year. The programme must include details of:
 Full Names, levels, 90--- or other numbers and versions of all NQF standards being
assessed
 Timings of the assessments (to the week)
 Nature of the assessment (internal, practice for external, in class, out of class,
project, test, open book, closed book etc)
 Any further assessment opportunities
A copy of each subject’s course assessment programme must be lodged on G drive by the
end of Week Three Term One each year.
All students will have access to the assessment criteria for an appropriate length of time
prior to the assessment being conducted. For each standard, class teachers may provide
further clarification of exactly what is expected of students to reach each of achieved, merit
and excellence levels.
NOTICE OF ASSESSMENT TIMINGS:
Details of the specific day(s) within the intended week are to be given to students for an
appropriate length of time prior to the assessment starting.
Any timing change outside the notified week is to be given to students for an appropriate
length of time prior to the assessment starting. Students are to be told to amend the dates
on their assessment programme.
If students have missed a class it is their responsibility to check the specific timing of
assessments. Where possible it is recommended that changes to the scheduled dates be
written on class noticeboards.
ENTRY OF STUDENTS INTO INTERNAL STANDARDS
Once the pre-moderation checks have been completed and prior to the unit being
commenced, staff should enter students into the standard by ticking the first column in
KAMAR.
PUBLISHING RESULTS TO NZQA
Once all moderation procedures have been completed, and the Cover Sheet has been
given to the Principal’s Nominee, staff can then tick the Publish to NZQA column in
KAMAR.
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NO RESULTS SHOULD BE PUBLISHED TO NZQA UNTIL ALL INTERNAL MODERATION
HAS TAKEN PLACE AND COVER SHEET COMPLETED
REPORTING OF NOT ACHIEVED INTERNAL GRADES
Assessment schedules should be explicit in stating which standards are compulsory and
which standards are optional.
Students who opt not to complete / attempt a compulsory standard should received a “Not
Achieved Grade”
All “Not Achieved” internal assessment grades must be reported to NZQA
MISSED ASSESSMENTS
1
Late assessments will not be accepted nor marked other than in exceptional
circumstances.

If assessments have been left at home then students can negotiate with their teacher
to hand in the assessment before 4.30 pm that day, providing they have had full
attendance at school during that day. If 4.30pm is not possible then by 8.30 am the
next day with parent verification. All such arrangements must be recorded and
lodged with the NZQA Liaison Teacher.

If there were a repetition of handing assessments in late then the NZQA Liaison
Teacher would inform the parents/care-givers and the Deans.

If a pattern of handing in assessments late is detected then the Assessment Council
would need to decide whether any other late assessments would be accepted for
marking.
2
Students must make all applications for extensions or impaired performance,
immediately a problem has been identified, by filling in the missed assessment form and
giving it to the class teacher. The class teacher will sign the form and give it back to the
student who will hand the form to the NZQA Liaison Teacher. The NZQA Liaison Teacher
will either accept the application or investigate. The class teacher and the student will be
notified of the final decision as soon as possible.

Extensions may be granted in the following circumstances:
 Illness verified a medical professional in writing Sports or cultural representative
commitments at a regional or higher level, verified by parent note AND
manager/coach or similar
 compassionate absences verified by a parent note
NB A compassionate extension would normally be due to a circumstance beyond the
student’s control.

Other exceptional circumstances may be considered in consultation with parents/caregivers, the school guidance team and senior management.
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Class teachers should recommend to students to complete assessments while waiting
for a decision to be made.
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DERIVED GRADE FOR MISSED EXTERNAL ASSESSMENT
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Students who miss an external examination can apply for a derived grade via the
approved NZQA Derived Grade Application process.
Staff will be asked to provide a derived grade based on evidence from an authentic
assessment opportunity. Staff are advised not to use the previous year’s NZQA external
examination in its entirety as this would not be considered to be an “authentic
assessment opportunity” as the students will be likely to have familiarized themselves
with this assessment as part of their revision.
o Staff will be asked to sign an assurance re the authenticity of the grades
o Departments must store and be able to supply this evidence if requested
STUDENT MISCONDUCT DURING AN ASSESSMENT:
If the teacher supervising the assessment observes or suspects misconduct (eg
communicates with another student, copies from another student, having unauthorised
written material etc) then the teacher shall:
 Inform the student about the observed misconduct but allow them to continue to sit
the assessment.
 Where possible obtain appropriate evidence about the misconduct (eg possible
witnesses, written material etc).
 Document their concerns and inform the NZQA Liaison Teacher as soon as possible.
.
The NZQA Liaison Teacher will:
 Establish the degree of misconduct and decide on the appropriate sanction.
 Consider the student achievement grade awarded in making the decision.
 Document any decisions made keeping sample(s) of the work, students and
teachers statements.
 Send a letter to the parent / guardian informing them of the situation
Repeat / Serious Offences
Repeat/serious offences may lead to disqualification from part or all of an entire
subject. In instances of penalty, the student/parent or caregiver will be informed in
writing.
NB If the student’s behaviour is disruptive to others sitting the assessment then after one
warning, if the disruptive behaviour continues, the student would be withdrawn from the
assessment and the steps above would be implemented.
AUTHENTICITY OF ASSESSMENTS:
It is appropriate for students to learn from others at home and gather information from a
variety of sources. However, teachers must be certain that assessment work has been
processed and produced by the student.
It is the responsibility of the Head of Department to ensure that possible authenticity risks
are minimised by using a range of strategies such as:
 Changing the context of the assessment from year to year.
 Supervising the research process by including regular checkpoints.
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Requiring plans, resource material and draft work to be submitted with the final
product.
 Keeping on-going work on site.
 Oral questioning to confirm a student’s understanding.
 Requiring a signature on an authenticity statement to highlight the issue to both
parents and students.
Not using the previous year’s NZQA paper in its entirety during mock exams as this would
not constitute a valid and authentic assessment opportunity for the provision of a derived
grade should it be necessary.
If a teacher has concerns about the authenticity of a student’s work then the teacher shall
bring it to the attention of the NZQA Liaison Teacher Who will:
 Establish the degree of misconduct and decide on the appropriate sanction.
 Consider the student achievement grade awarded in making the decision.
 Document any decisions made keeping sample(s) of the work, students’ and
teachers’ statements.
Repeat and/or serious offences may lead to disqualification from part or all of assessment
in an entire subject.
In instances of penalty, the student/parent or caregiver will be informed in writing.
QUALITY ASSURANCE:
It is the responsibility of the Head of Department or Teacher in Charge of a subject to
ensure all internal assessment tasks follow a quality assurance process.
Internal Moderation
 The HOD must ensure that the school internal moderation processes are followed for all
internal assessment. This includes:
o Completing pre-moderaton checks prior to the assessment including:
 Critiquing of the assessment
 Checking for changes to the standard
 Carrying out any required modifications as decreed by the Moderator
 Entering the students into Kamar
o Ensuring authenticity of all aspects of the assessment including
 Ensuring test conditions
 Authenticity of student work
o Carrying out approved moderation procedures to ensure marking is at the
national standard either:
 Within department checking
 Collaboration with other schools
Internal Cover Sheets
The Internal Moderation Cover sheet must be completed for every internal standard
undertaken. A copy of these forms must be lodged with the PN by the end of the term in
which the assessment is completed and before Results are published to NZQA.
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Storage of Assessment Material
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Each standard must have all material relating to it kept in one place.
Moderation material should be kept in the same place in a systematic and organized
manner.
RECORDING PROCEDURES FOR THE SENIOR SCHOOL
Each Department will design its own assessment slip which will be filled in (indicating the
grade that the assessment is given) and attached to each student’s assessment. The
student will be asked to sign this slip indicating that correct marking procedures have been
followed.
A paper record shall be kept showing the:
 NQF Standard name and number.
 Each student’s level of achievement.
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All assessment results shall be recorded on the school’s computer network within
three weeks of the assessment being completed by the students.
Students shall be shown their recorded results within a week of the results being
recorded.
Students will be required to sign a printout of their results at least once during the
year, indicating that their results have been recorded accurately.
If students do not accept marking decisions they may implement the appeals procedures.
Teachers must comply with the Privacy Act and ensure that a student’s results are not
disclosed to any other student.
STUDENT WORK
The Return of Work to Students:All assessments are to be returned to students (during class time) so
they have the opportunity to see how their grade was determined. During this same class period the
assessments are to be re-collecte
by the clas teacher and stored so that they are available for external moderation.
Use of student work as Exemplars
Staff should gain permission from students before using a student’s work as an exemplar.
Privacy Act
The use of all student work must comply with the principles of the Privacy Act
FURTHER ASSESSMENT OPPORTUNITIES:
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1. A maximum of one further opportunity for assessment of a standard should be
provided within a year.
Students’ learning is not increased by repeated summative assessment, but by extensive
feed forward and feedback. Students should not be assessed for a standard until the
teacher is confident that achievement of the standard is within their reach, or until the final
deadline for assessment, if there is one.
The need for further assessment can be minimised when teachers:
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ensure students understand the standard and the test, brief or assignment (the
performance criteria or achievement criteria, the range statement and link with the
curriculum)
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discuss exemplars of successful work in different contexts with students

give students adequate practice opportunities, including whole-class brainstorming
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assess students when they are ready and

provide templates to guide students.
Eligibility for a further opportunity
If a further opportunity for assessment is offered to any student, it must be made available
to all students entered for that standard. This is regardless of their performance on the first
opportunity. Therefore, further assessment opportunities need to be carefully planned.
All students must be able to:
 use the further opportunity to improve their original grade
 access the further opportunity, if they wish, including those who did not complete the
original assessment for an acceptable reason, as determined by the school’s policy
on missed and late assessment.
It is not the intention to allow students a further assessment opportunity where they have
chosen, for unacceptable reasons, not to take the first opportunity.
Results of a further opportunity
Students must be awarded the highest grade they have achieved over both opportunities:
 If a student does not achieve the standard on the first attempt, they must have access to
any grade from Not Achieved to Excellence on their second attempt.
 If a student achieves a lower grade on the second attempt, the higher grade achieved
on the first attempt is the result that should be reported to NZQA. NB The NZQA system
uses the latest (not the best) grade reported. Care should be taken to ensure that THS
does not submit a lower grade than one already attained especially if achieved in a
separate academic year. To avoid overwriting the earlier grade, it may be safer to X out
that result.
Manageability of a further opportunity
It is the school’s decision whether a further opportunity will be offered for any standard. If it
is not manageable to offer a further opportunity, then students should be advised from the
outset that there is only one opportunity to be assessed against that standard.
Conditions of assessment during further opportunities
It is essential that conditions of assessment during a further opportunity be consistent with
those for the first opportunity. For example, students cannot be allowed to work at home for
the second opportunity when this was not allowed for the first opportunity. Inability to
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provide the same conditions for the second opportunity would be a reason to make only one
opportunity available in the year.
2. Resubmission opportunities should be limited to specific aspects of the
assessment and no more than one resubmission opportunity should be provided
(refer to the glossary for definition of resubmission).
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A resubmission can be offered when students have made mistakes which they should
be capable of discovering and correcting on their own. By definition, the problem should
be capable of rapid resolution. In other cases, a further assessment opportunity may be
more appropriate.
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If a resubmission opportunity is offered, it must take place before the teacher gives any
feedback to the whole class (or any student) on the work done. If more teaching has
occurred after the first assessment opportunity, resubmission is not possible.
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Feedback to students prior to a resubmission must be general and not compromise the
authenticity of the student’s work and responses. Teachers should give only general
advice. A student may be told, for example, “you need to fix your referencing up” or
“there are grammar issues here”.

Resubmission must not compromise the assessment. For example, if the original
assessment was completed in a supervised classroom, the resubmission must be
completed under the same conditions. It is not appropriate to allow a student to
complete their resubmission at home when the original assessment was done in class.
The teacher should also ensure the resubmission takes place in a timely fashion.

Resubmission does not constitute a further opportunity for assessment, because it does
not involve a new assessment being set after further learning.

Resubmission can be offered after either the first or the second assessment opportunity
or after both.
3. Approaches to assessment that involve collection of evidence must be
documented (refer to the glossary for definition of collecting evidence over time).

Care must be taken to ensure that teachers do not assist students to complete an
assessment. The work must be the work of the student.

Evidence used to make a grade decision must be recorded and verifiable. For example
if no video of a performance is practicable or the evidence has come from conferencing
with students, teachers need to provide a checklist or an annotated file note with a
standard-specific description of the evidence which the teacher viewed to justify the
judgements made. This annotated file note could be added to the mark sheet/results
notice which is returned to the students. A copy must be retained by the teacher for
moderation purposes and for future reference.
4. When assessing aspects of a standard separately, teachers must be confident
that students can demonstrate understanding of the standard as a whole.
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In the case of a standard that has separate elements, if it is acceptable to assess each
element through a different task and submit an overall result, the assessor must be
satisfied that the student can demonstrate competency for the standard as a whole.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED
Further assessment opportunity
A further assessment opportunity occurs when a new, quality assured assessment is
provided for students after their first opportunity, and after additional teaching and
learning. This could be a new test, a new writing topic or a new research topic. For some
tasks offering a further assessment opportunity will not be possible for manageability and
practical reasons
Resubmission
A resubmission opportunity should only be offered where a teacher judges that a mistake
has been made by the student, which the student should be capable of discovering
and correcting themselves. For example, the student may have handed in the
assessment, but may not have made a particular calculation correctly. In such cases, the
teacher may consider it appropriate to allow a student to resubmit a specific part of the
assessment. The amount of information a teacher provides to a student in identifying the
error is important in this context. In the case above, the teacher might say “your method is
fine but there is a problem with your calculations….” The teacher would not however say
“there is a problem with your use of brackets in this calculation.”
Collecting evidence over time
It may be appropriate, in some standards, for the teacher to gather achievement evidence
over time. In this case there is no specific “assessment event.”
This would apply when the standard assesses a skill or piece of knowledge that students
could demonstrate over the course of their normal class work or outside the classroom in
controlled contexts for example, safe practice in a workshop, public speaking, performing
arts, or appropriate use of technical equipment.
Feed forward and feedback
Some assessments build over a period of time up to a final submission. For example, a
teacher will provide feedback over a period of time in the case of a performance task, a
writing assessment or a portfolio of a year’s work. In general feedback (comment on
progress) and feed forward (suggestions for next steps) should become less specific the
closer the student is to the submission date, in order to avoid the teacher effectively doing
the assessment for the student.
Student Appeal Procedure:
The student has the right to appeal any decision made. If the concern is that work has not
been marked correctly it is expected that the student would inform the class teacher in the
first instance and then consult with the Head of Department.
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If still unsatisfied then the student would then formally lodge an appeal with the Assessment
Council by filling in the appropriate form.
The appeal must be lodged in writing to the NZQA Liaison Teacher within five school days
of:
 the marked assessment being returned to the student.
 the student’s recorded grade being shown to them.
The NZQA Liaison Teacher will will investigate the concern and inform the student and
parents or caregivers of the final decision in writing.
Special Assessment Conditions
If a student has a recognised learning difficulty, physical difficulty or medical condition, then the SENCO will
liaise with parents to obtain the necessary assessment reports before the end of Year 10. Taradale High
School will trial special assessment conditions in the junior school. Following an annual needs analysis, the
SENCO will make application to NZQA by the end of Term 1 each year, for appropriate special conditions
according to the processes and timelines set out by NZQA for schools to follow.
For Special Assessment Conditions to be approved a student must have a formal report (no more than 3
years old) from a Level C assessor, medical specialist, educational psychologist or other approved
assessor. Special Assessment Conditions may include:
 reader
 writer
 extra time
 enlarged papers
 use of electronic assistive technology
 use of laptop
 separate accommodation
 rest breaks
Internal Assessment Grades
Assessment schedules must clearly articulate which internal standards are an optional part
of the course and which are compulsory
Students who fail to meet the required standard, fail to hand in a valid assessment or are in
breach of the assessment conditions for the assessment will be given a “Not Achieved”
Grade rather than being withdrawn from the standard.
Leavers
1. When a student leaves part way through a year the following process should be followed
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2. The yellow leaving form should be completed. Staff should, before signing ensure that all
grades are entered in their respective markbook.
3. The student will be given a certified copy of their academic record complete with a letter
informing any destination organisation to contact THS regarding the transfer of credits.
4. Student who wish to have their credits earned at THS submitted to NZQA by THS will need
to pay the applicable hook on fee before departure otherwise they will be withdrawn from all
standards.
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