Marking formal assessment

When marking formal assessment tasks for multiple classes or across a cohort, schools should implement some common marking practices.

For single marked assessment tasks, consistency may be improved by one teacher marking the task, or part of the task, for the entire cohort.

Where there is more than one teacher responsible for the marking process, a shared understanding of the expectations and standards of the assessment task is required. This will support consistent assessment of student performance throughout the marking process. In some cases, double marking or panel marking may be appropriate.

Standards materials for each course provide examples of different standards of student performance and may assist teachers requiring additional resources for comparison of student achievement at the end of a course.

Marking guidelines

The design of an assessment task and the development of marking guidelines are interrelated processes and should be completed concurrently. Marking guidelines should reflect the standards for the course including outcomes and performance descriptions, and help to provide meaning to the marks awarded for a task.

The purpose of marking guidelines is to:

link the assessment task to the outcomes being assessed
clearly describe the quality required for each mark range
allow for discrimination between the performances of individual students
facilitate consistent assessment of student performance throughout the marking process
support teachers to make judgements, and provide meaningful and constructive feedback about a student’s level of achievement at a point in time.

Marking guidelines should:

link to standards, referencing course outcomes, content and performance descriptions
support valid and reliable assessment by measuring what a task aims to assess
clearly distinguish between different levels of student achievement through mark ranges that reflect the relative importance and difficulty of what students have been asked to do
allow for a range of student achievement in the context of the expected standards for the course
accommodate harder to define characteristics, such as originality and flair or answers that approach the task from an unusual perspective
reflect the quality of individual student performance in the marks awarded
consistently represent an appropriate hierarchy of achievement in the context of standards for the course.

Marks awarded for a task should reflect the standards described in the marking guidelines and be commensurate with the quality of the response. Work that shows more complex development and higher order achievement should receive more marks than work that demonstrates a more basic level of achievement.

Assessment marks

School will make decisions about the type of feedback, including the use of marks and/or grades, to be provided to students for formal assessment tasks.

It is important to ensure that marks earned on individual tasks adequately reflect the differences in student performance. To achieve this, teachers should consider during the marking process, the full range of marks available for the task.

This does not necessarily mean that student marks must be spread across the whole range. Nor does it mean that only marks in the top half of the mark range should be awarded because most Year 12 students' final assessment mark on their Record of Achievement will be between 50 and 100. It is important to remember that both the initial examination marks obtained by students following the marking process, and the initial moderated assessments, are aligned to the performance scale through the standards-setting process. This results in most students receiving reported marks between 50 and 100. The initial marks may have been spread across a wider range.

Students should be awarded marks commensurate with the quality of their response in relation to the marking guidelines. The marking guidelines for assessment tasks should enable teachers to reward work that shows more complex development and higher order achievement with higher marks. At the same time, students whose work demonstrates only a basic level of achievement should receive relatively low marks.

When providing feedback to students about their performance in a task, teachers may use outcomes, marking guidelines and/or performance bands to help students understand the strengths and areas for improvement.

Cumulative ranks and marks

Some schools may decide that it is appropriate to give each student a cumulative rank after each assessment task or at key points throughout the course. However, schools need to be sure that correct weightings have been applied to each task before reporting such a measure of general progress.

Schools are not to provide final cumulative school-based assessment marks to students.

For further advice, read about Loading .

Maintaining secure records for all marks

Recording evidence for assessment may take a variety of forms, including individual comments, marks, grades, digital recordings and/or audio or visual representations. Recording evidence needs to be manageable and should focus on student progress in relation to outcomes, particular strengths and areas for improvement.

At the completion of a marking process, marks for individual assessment tasks must be recorded by the teacher responsible for marking the task.

Schools need to ensure that procedures exist for the protection of student assessment marks in the event of fire, theft or other misadventure. These procedures may include having a centrally-filed hard and electronic copy of the marks with duplicates stored off-site.

Checklist for teachers

The following checklists are provided as a summary for teachers.

Formal assessment program

Use the NESA syllabuses, assessment requirements and advice to construct teaching and learning programs that promote deep knowledge and understanding.
Formal assessment tasks reflect the components and weightings specified in the course assessment and reporting materials.
Formal assessment tasks are designed to focus on assessing outcomes relevant to the task.
Measures of objectives and outcomes that address values and attitudes are not to be included in school-based assessment of student achievement.
Measures that reflect student conduct should not be included.
Students are provided with the opportunity to demonstrate their achievement of outcomes in a range of different task types.
Students are provided with advance notice of the due date, and marking guidelines (where possible), for each assessment task.
Marking guidelines for each assessment task relate to the standards, including a relationship to syllabus outcomes, relevant performance descriptions and reflect the intention of the task.
Marks reflect the relative differences in student performances.
Formal assessment marks are recorded by the teacher responsible for marking the task.
Marks are transferred to a file or record containing the marks awarded for all tasks for all students in the course.
Marks are maintained in a secure and safe location.

Feedback

Students receive timely and meaningful feedback about what they are able to do, and what they need to do in order to improve their level of performance.
Teachers maintain accurate records of evidence of student achievement.

Reporting

Report student achievement to parents, in line with school and sector requirements.
Appropriate discrimination has been applied between students in terms of their overall achievement.
The Common Grade Scale for Preliminary Courses has been used to determine Preliminary course grades submitted to NESA.
Final HSC marks submitted to NESA for each course are on a scale sufficiently wide to reflect adequately the relative differences in student performances.

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