Glossary
Achievement criteria
Achievement Standards in the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) provide generic descriptions of what students should know and be able to do to demonstrate achievement, achievement with merit, and achievement with excellence.
Achievement objective
An objective describes the scope and parameters for learning, and identifies the particular skills, knowledge and understanding to be developed, in each strand of each discipline. The Arts in the New Zealand Curriculum, 2000.
Achievement standard
An achievement standard describes learning outcomes based on national curriculum statements. The standard establishes the criteria against which the levels of achievement (achievement, merit, or excellence) are measured.
Assessment activity/task
A set of instructions for students, usually designed by the teacher, to effectively allow students to demonstrate the knowledge, skill and understanding they have acquired, usually as a direct result of classroom instruction and participation.
Assessment schedule
Assessment activities/tasks used or written by teachers require assessment schedules, which contextualise the achievement criteria (achievement standards) or performance criteria (unit standards). The assessment schedule provides guidance to the assessor on the minimum evidence, and the quality of evidence required for performance. It involves a specific unpacking of the criteria in relation to the particular assessment activity/task.
Assessment tools
Assessment tools are resources to support teachers and students with their learning. These include:
- the New Zealand curriculum exemplars
- professional development programmes in assessment (for example, AtoL, online support)
- Assessment Resource Banks (ARBs) – are an online collection of materials for maths, science and English designed to assess achievement through learning programmes that reflect the curriculum at levels 2–5
- National Education Monitoring Project (NEMP) tasks
- Assessment Tools for Teaching and Learning (asTTle) literacy and numeracy tools
- Supplementary Test of Achievement in Reading (STAR)
- Performance Achievement Tests (PAT); Essential Skills Test (EST)
- School Entry Assessment (SEA) – are designed to assess emerging concepts about print, numeracy, and spoken language and are performance-based
- Running records
- National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA).
Authenticity
Teachers and students usually have to verify that the work submitted for assessment is their own original and unaided material. All internal assessment activities for NCEA must be authenticated and this often involves students signing a document authenticating the work.
Benchmark
Benchmarks are examples of authentic student work that show levels of achievement. These are often used as exemplars. Benchmarks show the level and nature of the work required for assessment and aid teachers to make consistent, well-informed judgments on student achievement. They may also be used as models of quality work to encourage students to think critically about quality features and develop some criteria for success in relation to their own work.