MANAGING INTERNAL
MODERATION
H T T P : / / W W W. N Z Q A . G O V T. N Z / AU D I E N C E - PA G E S / S E C O N D A R Y - S C H O O L S AND-TEACHERS/NCEA -RESOURCE -KIT/INTRO/
WHAT IS MODERATION?
Moderation is about checking that
assessment materials and marking is at
the national standard
Ensures that internal assessment in
schools is credible and robust
TYPES OF MODERATION
There are two types of moderation
External moderation
done by NZQA for 10% of student work
Internal moderation
done in schools or between schools
DO WE HAVE TO DO MODERATION?
Āe marika! YES!
GENERAL EXPECTATIONS
Teachers are expected to:
 check assessment materials before use
 check inter-class consistency of grading
 verify a sample of student work for each standard
 maintain their understanding of national
standards
 act on feedback from external moderation
 review materials again before use
CHECKING MEANS...
Thoroughly reviewing assessment
materials before first use, regardless of
source, to ensure:
context is suitable for the students
authenticity can be assured
appropriateness of language
consistency with the registered standard
INTER-CLASS CONSISTENCY MEANS...
Ensuring work of all students for a
standard/activity is marked in the same
manner, irrespective of class or teacher
This may be achieved by:
 strip marking eg. teacher A marks all of Q1 , teacher B marks
all of Q2 etc
 panel marking
 sharing a reviewed assessment schedule while marking
 referring to guinea pig papers/annotated benchmarks
 check-marking a proportion of each other’s work
VERIFY MEANS...
Another subject specialist familiar with
the standard confirms your marking is at
the national standard
The samples should be at the grade
boundaries ie. Achieved, Merit and
Excellence
There is no set number of samples to
check
HOW TO HAVE A SAMPLE VERIFIED...
In larger departments, some inter-class
consistency methods may double as
verification
Make reference to benchmark samples in
recent moderation reports for the standard
E-mail/send samples to a colleague
Share samples at an association or cluster
meeting
HOW CAN WE WORK SMARTER?
 Use critiqued activities/tasks
 eg. from TKI, or previously moderated activities, share reviewed
activities with other schools
 Marking – inter-class consistency
 Share reviewed assessment schedule while marking
 Refer to guinea pig papers/benchmarks or previously moderated
samples
 Verify that marking is at the national standard
 Check grade boundary samples with a colleague
 Use meetings, e-mail, Skype etc to discuss student work and grade
boundaries with colleagues
EVIDENCE OF INTERNAL MODERATION?
 Keep the original activity/task with improvements
noted on it
 Make review notes on the activity for future reference
 Use 2-colour pens on moderation cover sheets, eg.
 Red for maker
 Green for verifier
 Make notes on the moderation cover sheets if guinea
pigs/benchmark samples had been used
 Use the school’s moderation forms eg. Internal
Moderation Cover Sheet as working documents
HOW ELSE CAN I IMPROVE MY ABILIT Y TO
ASSESS AT THE NATIONAL STANDARD?
 Keeping up-to-date with NCEA related information
 Keeping benchmark exemplars of your marking
 Being a NZQA moderator or marker
 Belonging to a subject teacher cluster or association
 Professional development
 Using the OTSE process (Optional teacher selected
evidence) ie.
 where you can send additional student material to the
moderator and ask specific questions about this work and
interpretating the standards