Assessment tools

SEA/AKA | Numeracy diagnostic tool | National Curriculum Exemplars | NCEA | asTTle | NEMP | ARBs | Curriculum Update 47| Curriculum Update 50 | Curriculum Update 55 | NumPA

Read summaries of the range of assessment tools that are available under the Ministry's National Assessment Strategy to help schools and teachers gather, analyse, and use good quality assessment information.

This tool, published by Learning Media Ltd, http://www.learningmedia.co.nz provides teachers with reliable diagnostic information about each new entrant's understanding in aspects of numeracy, oral language, and emergent literacy.

Presented in kit form, the School Entry Assessment (SEA/AKA) tasks are designed to assess emerging concepts about print and numeracy, and spoken language. They are all performance based, and use close observation to identify strengths and weaknesses.

A current review of SEA/AKA will strengthen its relationships with the literacy and numeracy strategies.

Numeracy diagnostic tool

Schools on the numeracy projects can access the numeracy database to identify national norms for students at years 1–8. This information can then be used to establish achievement targets to meet planning and reporting requirements.

The National Curriculum Exemplars are being developed at levels 1 to 5 for all curriculum areas, in both the English language and te reo Māori.

Exemplars are authentic examples of student work that highlight features of learning and levels of achievement in relation to levels described in the national curriculum statements. Teachers can use them to help answer the question "What is quality work?" View the exemplars that have been developed for the National Exemplars Trial at http://www.tki.org.nz/r/assessment/exemplars/index_e.php

Follow the links from the TKI NCEA web page to:

• Internal assessment resources
• NCEA sample external assessments
• NCEA achievement standards and resources

These tools for assessing literacy and numeracy in years 5, 6, and 7, in English and in te reo Māori will enable teachers to track the progress and achievement of both individual students and groups of students against national standards.
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/asttle/index_e.php

The National Education Monitoring Project (NEMP) randomly samples the educational achievement of year 4 and year 8 students in New Zealand. Schools can either modify the NEMP tasks to suit their own assessment purposes or follow the original procedures. See the findings of the study and the assessment tools at the NEMP website.
http://nemp.otago.ac.nz/

These assessment resources are available for levels 2 to 5 in English, science, and mathematics. Teachers can adapt the ideas and contents of ARB resources to suit their own students' needs. They can:

• choose materials that best suit their assessment needs in terms of curriculum focus and students' needs;
• choose valid material for formative, summative, and monitoring purposes within schools;
• combine resources to form mastery tests, full length tests for class or school-wide uses, or sets of resources for intensive diagnostic assessment.

http://arb.nzcer.org.nz/

Read background information about developments in assessment, the research that underpins them, and the new tools that are being developed. These tools will help teachers to gather, analyse, and use high-quality assessment information in order to make a difference to student learning outcomes.
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/governance/curric_updates/curr_update47_e.php

Read about literacy in English and the assessment aspect of the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy.
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/governance/curric_updates/curr_update50_e.php

Curriculum Update 55, October 2004

Read about literacy in English and the assessment aspect of the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/governance/curric_updates/curr_update55_e.php

The Numeracy Project Assessment (NumPA) is a diagnostic tool that is designed to give teachers quality information about knowledge and mental strategies of students. NumPA takes the form of an individual interview with students.

See The Diagnostic Interview, in PDF, at
http://www.nzmaths.co.nz/numeracy/2005numPDFs/NumBk2.pdf