Richmond School
Policy | Policy List | Assessment and Reporting Policy
ASSESSMENT AND REPORTING POLICY
AIMS
The philosophy of the Richmond School assessment policy is rooted in the aims of the school. In particular, the assessment policy has taken account of the need to:
• educate all individuals, regardless of their ability;
• encourage all students by actively regarding "response" as being as important as "attainment" and to reward such personal qualities as perseverance, initiative and independence.
PRINCIPLES
The process of assessment should help students to learn more effectively.
It should:
• inform them about their individual progress;
• enable strengths and weaknesses to be identified;
• indicate the next step in the learning process and help with target setting;
• involve the student;
• motivate through success.
The process of assessment should provide information for teachers.
It should:
• indicate strengths and weaknesses in the teaching programme;
• indicate strengths and weaknesses in the teaching style;
• indicate the planning needs for further learning and differentiation;
• indicate which students need support and which students need extension.
The process of assessment should provide information for others.
It should:
• provide information for parents/guardians;
• provide information for colleagues in school;
• provide information to assist transfer, further education or employers;
• provide information for guidance and/or referral.
To cover these principles, the assessment policy is organised to include:
• planning;
• marking;
• recording;
• reporting;
• management of assessment.
PLANNING
• As part of the planning process, each curriculum area should ensure that all statutory requirements for assessment are being met;
• Assessment opportunities should be clearly identified in the scheme of work. They should arise naturally from the teaching programme, and should help the teacher to ensure that curriculum objectives are being met;
• There should be a range of assessment methods. Testing is one such method, but it should not be the only one used;
• It is important that all students have the same range of assessment opportunities irrespective of the teacher taking the class;
• Consistency of marking and assessment should be a central aspect of our planning within departments;
• All assessments should be judged against clear criteria such as National Curriculum attainment targets or GCSE/GCE/AVCE criteria;
• We should plan to involve students as much as possible in their own assessment. They should be aware of how and when they are going to be assessed in advance;
• Individual assessment tasks should be planned carefully in advance.
Assessment should inform future planning
MARKING
There is a considerable diversity between and even within, departments on marking policy. This has led to difficulties for tutors in monitoring the progress of individual students. More worryingly, marking can be incomprehensible to students who may have to contend with a different style in each subject. It would be impossible to introduce a completely standardised marking policy, but the following guidelines should lead to far greater consistency. Although the notes below tend to refer to written comments, oral feedback is equally valid and should be encouraged.
• the marking policy for each department must be known by and explained to all students;
• work should be marked regularly and frequently;
• work should be marked against clear criteria whether it be National Curriculum, GCSE, 'A' level or AVCE;
• comments should be positive and understandable to the individual student. They should give some indication of what has been achieved and set targets for the future;
• in our assessment of a student's work, we should be concerned with the level of attainment, and and degree to which the student is fulfilling his/her potential. However, the two must not be confused when awarding marks to a piece of work;
• two marks could be awarded for one piece of work, one for attainment (set against criteria) and one for effort;
• whatever system of marking is used (numbers, grades, etc), it must be explained to students and must be consistent across the department;
• students should be encouraged to assess their own work whenever possible;
• iImproving literacy, numeracy and graphic skills should be a feature of our marking;
• we should have high expectations of students in terms of presentation. As a bare minimum, all written work should have a title and a date. There should be no graffiti anywhere in exercise books or in students' work.
Exercise books should show evidence of a student's progress
RECORDING
• each teacher should keep a record of individual student attainment based upon specific criteria, and in line with statutory requirements. It will be for individual departments to decide on the most appropriate method of recording, but whatever system is used it must be manageable;
• teacher records will provide the basis for meaningful reports of attainment and progress to parents;
• records of student attainment should be accurate and up to date. They should influence lesson preparation and the planning of teaching programmes;
• such records should assist continuity and progression. It is for departments to decide the best means of passing on information between individual teachers or from Primary Schools;
• departments should keep a central record that is updated periodically. This record will only seek to record key assignments or core tasks. Such a record may well be a focus for discussion at departmental meetings following analysis, and, where appropriate, be used to evaluate and monitor the teaching programme;
• where appropriate, exemplar material should be available within departments to provide evidence to support teacher records;
• a summative record will be maintained centrally by the Head of Year via the reporting system. These records will inform the National Record of Achievment process by giving tutors a balanced picture of each student across a range of personal skills and qualities;
• teacher records will help to decide levels of entry for external tests and examinations, and inform student groupings.
Records should monitor a student's progress
REPORTING
• eports to parents should fulfil all statutory requirements;
• annual reports should inform parents of their child's attainment. This will be guided by National Curriculum or GCSE/GCE/AVCE grading criteria, and the extent to which they have made progress;
• annual reports should contain comments which identify current attainments, responses and, where appropriate, targets for future learning;
• judgements should be based upon clear evidence;
• it is the policy of the school that we make reports easy to understand by both parents and students;
• students should be actively involved in the reporting process;
• subject Profiles should provide a snapshot of progress across all subjects.
The reporting process should seek to have a positive impact on students' attitudes, motivation and self esteem
MANAGEMENT OF ASSESSMENT
Teachers should:
• have a responsibility to monitor their own marking, recording and assessment;
• contribute to the consistency of marking, recording and assessment within the department.
Faculty Heads / Heads of Department should:
• have a written assessment policy based on the guidelines provided here;
• take responsibility for the implementation of that policy;
• analyse assessment results in order to evaluate effectiveness of teaching and learning. (This may involve using North Yorkshire County Council national and local comparisons, analysis of subgroups [e.g. girls/boys, different ability], and comparisons between subjects.)
Group Tutors should:
• support students in their understanding of the Assessment Policy as it applies to them and help them to use its outcomes to their benefit.
Heads of School / Heads of Year should:
• monitor the effectiveness and consistency of the assessment policy as it applies to their year group;
• check regularly that the National Record of Achievment arrangements are being followed.
Deputy Head (Assessment) should:
• keep the school assessment policy under constant review;
• check regularly that the assessment policy is being followed;
• oversee the revision of reports to parents annually;
• recommend INSET requirement and manage the appropriate budget
The Headteacher should:
• evaluate performance within the School.
Effective assessment requires careful management at all levels
Review Date: June 2006
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