Using asTTle Te whakamahi i ngā Pūnaha Aromatawai

An update on asTTle

The asTTle assessment tool (Assessment Tools for Teaching and Learning: He Pūnaha Aromatawai mō te Whakaako me te Ako) has been developed for the Ministry of Education by the University of Auckland. Its main purpose is to provide analysed information that can be used to improve teaching and learning. By using this externally referenced assessment information, teachers will be able to make valid, reliable, and nationally consistent judgements about their students' progress. At class level, asTTle enables teachers to:

• diagnose how their students are performing;
• give their students specific, focused feedback;
• support students to set realistic learning goals;
• develop and modify class programmes.

At school level, information can be aggregated and used to identify students' needs, evaluate teaching programmes, and inform strategic planning.

The CD-ROM, which can be used on Mac or PC platforms, includes assessment tools for reading, writing, and mathematics in English and pānui, tuhituhi, me pāngarau in te reo Māori. If your school does not have a copy, contact the Ministry of Education Helpdesk (see contact details below) or your local AToL provider.

In 2004, numeracy items for years 8Ð10 will be trialled in pilot secondary schools. In 2005, the asTTLe version 4 disk, incorporating literacy items for years 8Ð10 and any refinements from the trial, will be distributed to all schools.

For further information, visit www.asttle.org.nz or the What Next page on TKI at www.tki.org.nz/r/assessment/what_next/index_e.php

For technical help with asTTle, contact the Ministry ICT helpdesk: CALLICT (0800 225 542); email callict@tki.org.nz

asTTle in action

Hinds School, Canterbury
Full primary: roll 115
Many parents at Hinds School had expressed an interest in knowing how their children's achievement compared with student performance in large urban schools. Principal Paul Armitage and his staff are using data from asTTle reports to provide reliable and valid information to the board and school community about students' achievements in mathematics. Hinds School generated tests for number and algebra and analysed the asTTle reports to arrive at individual and school-wide information on student achievement.

Hinds School used the information they had gathered to:

• celebrate learning successes and identify next learning steps in three-way conferences with parents and students;
• modify classroom programmes to meet identified student needs;
• report to the board and parents that Hinds students were performing above the New Zealand means for number and algebra.

The school is now gathering data on writing and will relate this initially to one of the school's 2003 targets.

Abbotsford School, Dunedin
Full primary: roll 242
A class teacher decided to integrate asTTle in his classroom assessment practice. Although his students were achieving above their chronological age in reading, he was aware of the need to extend and challenge their thinking. He decided to use asTTle to identify the strengths and needs of the class. He focused on finding information (having just taught a unit based on finding information), knowledge, understanding, and connections.

Having completed the test, and produced the reports, he found the Group learning Pathways Report the most useful in identifying class strengths and needs. By examining the graph, he could quickly see the aspects that were achieved (green) and the gaps (pink) Ð very useful when planning next steps for the class. He decided he needed to do more work around finding, selecting and retrieving information, but would move his focus to developing deeper understanding in reading.

Campbells Bay School, Auckland
Contributing: roll 688
After analysing PAT scores, we decided we needed to investigate further our students' skills in reading comprehension. We generated a tailored asTTle test for one year level. The associated reports helped us in a variety of ways.

Group Learning Pathways
We used this report to prioritise learning goals. The format helped us to ascertain which objectives the group showed significant strengths or needs in.

What Next
We chose and printed relevant What Next resources and located School Journal items, organising these into folders by levels. After some discussion, we decided to reorganise these materials by objectives to better reflect how we plan reading. Our teachers found this indexed report very useful.

The Console Report
This report proved useful in gauging students' attitudes towards reading, particularly in comparing gender attitudes. We discovered that, although some of our students were positive about their reading, they felt negative about how others perceived their reading.

Individual Learning Pathways
The Individual Learning Pathways helped us to see the four quadrants of each student's "strengths", what they had "achieved", what was yet "to be achieved, and their "gaps".

For some students, this report indicated clearly where future learning should be pitched. For other students, an indicator such as "find, select, and retrieve information" might be listed in a number of quadrants. This required a closer look at each item in the test to determine specific next learning steps. We invested our available time on reports for students identified as at-risk for reading comprehension.

Tabular Output
We used Tabular Output to identify whether there was a discernable gap between students' performance in surface as compared with deeper features. We found this report easy to use.

Summary
We found the reports that included specific indicators very useful. Information related to the indicators helped us to identify the strengths and gaps across a particular year level for school development purposes. We also used this information at class level to prioritise planned learning. At the individual level, asTTle helped us to give feedback to students and support them in setting personal learning goals.

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