What Is Moderated Marking - Coursework Example

In reality, it is through classroom assessment that attitudes, skills, knowledge and thinking are fostered, nurtured and accelerated – or stifled.” The word assessment is derived from the Latin word “assidere”, meaning, to sit beside or with (Wiggins 1993). Although, the notion of the teacher sitting beside the student to assess what the student is learning or to check the progress of learning is not very much a common practice these days but still the importance of doing this in order to assess the student is not undermined. In the past, teachers have always done it and it will continue to be in practice even in the future. I shall be looking at moderated marking, how the general forms of assessment, which are, FOR assessment, OF assessment and AS assessment relate to the moderated marking system. I shall also be looking at various benefits of moderated marking, its purposes and how they vary in context to the student- teacher participation and evaluation. Assessment has various roles that at times synergize each other while in other situations conflict each other. As a future teacher I find it necessary to engage in a broad range of assessment tasks and it is challenging to do so (see table below). I shall also be connecting how the various learning assessments can be effectively and efficiently used through moderated marking and demonstrate how much a student has learned and how they can be used to improve not only teaching but also the student’s ability to learn. I feel that it is pertinent that one understand all the three forms of assessment and their relation to moderated marking in order to know as to which form of assessment is being used and why and moreover to utilize the three forms along with moderated marking, well and wisely. Role Goal Teacher as a mentor Teacher as a guide Teacher the accountant Teacher the reporter Teacher as program director Provide feedback and support to each student. Gather diagnostic information to lead the group through the work at hand. Maintain records of student’s progress and achievement. Report to parents, students, and the school administration about student progress and achievement. Make adjustments and revisions to instructional practices. SOURCE: Adapted from Assessment Roles and Goals (Wilson, 1996) What is Moderated Marking? Moderated marking is a highly effective and novel way to assess a student that involves the educators of the pupil to come together and collaboratively and collectively look at the student work. It involves a number of teachers to assess a particular student, evaluate as to how the student has performed based upon the pre-determined standards and thereafter charter a program to help benefit the student to progress further. The evaluation standards are a collective standard that the teachers have consented to and have decided to adopt as a yardstick for all the work that is produced by the student. A single student is evaluated by a number of teachers and after the standard of the student is assessed the further program for development of the student is planned. Moderation Cycle. In order to understand how the moderation cycle is done and the steps involved in it is pertinent to note that the moderation cycle is done not only over a period of time or after a particular teaching block but timely interventions are done during the teaching block too. Teachers collect samples of student work to serve as the focus of a discussion to help determine what next steps to take to move the students’ learning forward. The steps are taken after assessing the student’s potential and the student’s past performance. A group of teachers meet to examine these samples for clues to the student’s thinking and learning. The result of this collaborative effort indicates the next steps to be taken to improve the achievement. The teachers discuss over the performance of the student after using the various forms of assessment as and when applicable and take it into consideration for discussing and evaluating a student. The teachers then chalk out a plan of action for instruction based upon the moderated marking system. Ongoing assessment and timely interventions occur during the teaching block. The teachers would be evolving the steps to be taken to improve the performance of the student continually and would make amendments to the steps decided from time to time. The team of teachers then again returns, at preferably the end of the teaching block, with current student work samples. The samples are then re-evaluated and the performance of the student graphed to assess the needs, growth and the next steps. The dialogue process after the teaching block basically centre around the evidence collected through the various forms of assessment and then a particular plan for the student takes shape. A typical example of how the teacher moderation session looks like can be visualized as a group of teachers coming together to discuss their student’s work. Each teacher brings about two to four student samples each. A facilitator is pre-nominated or could be nominated during the meeting and is responsible for beginning the conversation and ensuring that the pre-established norms are followed. It is important that the focus/ context is set and thereafter posing a focussing question about a student’s work. Each of the teacher contributes their ideas, referring to support documents of the student’s work depending upon the various assessments and the task itself. During a moderation session relevant strategies are shared between the teachers. The facilitator also plays a vital role in this and the process is enriching as it enables teachers to come together and share their ideas and strategies. A single sample is debated and discussed till such time that a consensus is reached about the levels demonstrated in the work. After a consensus is reached by the teachers involved in moderated marking, next steps/ feedback for the student is discussed deliberately. Benefits of moderated marking. The benefits of moderated marking are manifold. The most important benefit that the moderated marking can bring is the fact that the teachers can develop a deeper understanding of their students’ work, thinking and learning and their own teaching practices. Not only does it benefit the student it also benefits the teacher by giving the teacher an insight into the practices adopted to teach the student and how beneficial are the practices that are being currently followed. Inquiry with colleagues focussed on student learning develops a deeper understanding of effective pedagogy and content knowledge. The teacher is also able to strengthen the learning community and also private practice becomes public and less isolated. Also, a greater alignment in assessment and instruction within grades, divisions, and schools is achieved. Common understanding and terminology related to student learning, assessment and teaching is evolved. This benefits the teachers as much as it benefits the students. The teachers can look closely and collaboratively at student work and can unveil valuable insights as they reflect and plan next steps to set all the students up for success. The responsibility of the welfare and the learning process of a student doesn’t remain the domain of a single teacher but is now shared by a team. Analysis of a student’s work for its quality and appropriateness of the task allows the teachers to reflect on their instruction practices, examine how they set and measure goals and align actions with the school expectations on the whole. This would standardize the assessment process on the whole and give various opportunities for the teachers to put corrections in the teaching process as per the students’ requirements and understanding level. Overall, precision, personalization, and professional learning result from moderated marking. Moderated Marking system and its integration with Assessment OF/ FOR / AS Learning. The assessment of students’ performance can be done by various means. The three most predominant kind of assessment that is most widely used by teachers at various levels to assess the progress of the student are assessment OF/ FOR and AS learning. . While the assessment OF learning evaluates and assesses a student in a symbolic manner, the assessment FOR learning shifts its focus from summative to formative assessment, from making judgements to crating descriptions that can be used in the service of the next stage of learning. The assessment AS learning lays stress on the student’s power to make self judgement and reflect on their work. When used in the learning environment it implies the student to gain the ability to assess their own decisions in their essays, projects, presentations and exams. Moderated marking is an important tool in educating the students and for this it is more than pertinent that the various forms of assessment be rightly applied at various levels in order to help the teacher assess the student better, thus evolving better means and measures to guide the student. It is important to use assessment more than a mere measuring tool and look at the steps and the ways in which it could form a part of the learning process. Before teaching “specify objectives with relevant instructional tasks, make sure that the students know of the criteria to be successful” ( Llewellyn, 2004). This is rightly incorporated in moderated marking style. Assessment AS learning would help the student as it would help the students lagging behind in the learning process to catch up with the rest of the class. After the lesson asking a “critical question that is relevant to what was just covered makes students think outside the box and apply what they have learned.” (MacGregor, 2003) In aim of doing it is to motivate a student to apply something in the area they find interesting and then research for themselves to find out more about it. A personal example of moderated marking was when I was tutoring using this particular method. One of the bright students in the class was doing badly at biology and the process of involving the student to better himself at the subject was almost impossible to achieve. However, due to moderated marking method I could interact with other teachers facing the same problem and relevant steps in the way of improving the student’s performance was suggested by the other teachers. After applying the steps to be taken to improve the standard of the student was applied it was most heartening to notice that the student improved substantially in his performance. The only problem that I envisage in moderated marking is creating a culture of trust, respect and collaboration takes time to build. However, I strongly feel that establishing norms and protocols assists in this process. Also, taking an honest and critical look at one’s own practice is difficult. Establishing that this is about improving student achievement helps focus the conversation on learning. The fact remains that assessment and moderated marking are intimately and inextricably intertwined. The methods of assessment that is the AS, OF and FOR learning, curriculum alignment and the development of assessment tools and moderated marking are complicated and intricate process. All of the above require dedicated effort and knowledge to plan and implement them successfully. When I complete my education, I will in the future be able to move on and teach high school, hopefully biology and math, which are the subjects I am most interested in. In course of the writing this research paper I have grown a substantial amount professionally and the course altogether has in my own perception made a better teacher. I would be able to draw upon this experience and knowledge to enable me to not only use moderated marking and the assessment process to a better solution but also fulfil my role as a guide and as a teacher to a much better level. I have during the course also been able to appreciate the complexity involved in moderated marking and the goals to be achieved during moderated marking. Next year in teachers college I intend to pick up more education courses on a variety of topics which would include moderated marking. In future however, after I have left school there are also workshops, refresher courses and personal research. I also think that once my work would start I could benefit immensely from my co-workers advice and experience and amalgamate it into my teaching methods. This would in my opinion surely help me gain expertise in my area. I am sure that the moderated marking method has guided my path and made me a better teacher. Bibliography. Llewellyn, D (2004). Teaching high school science through inquiry. Corwin Press. Johnson, R (2006). Retrieved June 10, 2009, from Cooperative Learning And Assessment Web site: http://www.co-operation.org/pages/assess.html MacGregor, J (2003). Retrieved June 8, 2009, from Assessment in and of Collaborative Learning Web site: http://www.evergreen.edu/washcenter/resources/acl/index.html Muench, A (2004). Learning from assessment: tools for examining assessment. WestEd & National Council of Teachers Detwiler, T. J. and Krider, D. S. 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