NZQF PROCEDURES (2016)

 Assessment

• All assessments used throughout the school will be valid, meaningful, fair, and consistent.
• Assessments used for NZQF courses will follow national guidelines.
• The BOT assessment policy will apply.

Presentation of Assessment Materials

• All assessments to be used for NZQF purposes will be professionally presented.
• They will be typed / word processed where appropriate.

Course Entry

• Course entry requirements will be determined by the HOD and approved by the Principal’s Nominee.
• Entry Requirements will be published in the Senior Course Handbook.
• Students who meet these requirements have a right to enter a course.
• Entry to any NCEA course for students who do not meet the published prerequisites is at the discretion of the HOD.

Moderation

All assessments used for assessing against a standard will be checked:

1. that all assessment criteria of the standard are covered
2. that the schedule allows judgements that distinguish between Achieved, Merit and Excellent.

• All assessment is to an agreed assessment schedule that is developed and verified before the assessment takes place.
• Any assessment must be critiqued before use, and a record of this verification process is kept on the “Verification Checklist” form, (sample attached). The critiquer may be a member of the same department, a school-wide designated critiquer or someone from another school.
• Where more than one class is involved in a course, all the marking for a particular assessment will be done by one teacher or a common marking schedule will be used with HOD-directed sampling of at least four pieces of work from each class. (HOD to use the random sample button on KAMAR)
• All internal standards, regardless whether they are Unit or Achievement, will be processed for verification.
• Within 10 school days of the results of the assessment being entered in KAMAR, it is the subject teacher’s responsibility to notify the HOD for a Random Sample to be selected.
• The Random sample will consist of 8 names if the standard is an Achievement Standard, 4 if it is a Unit Standard.
• These Random Samples will be securely stored in the cupboard in the Administration block.
• These Random Samples will include the students marked work, a completed external moderation cover sheet, a copy of the assessment, and the marking schedule.

Extensions

• Where a valid reason exists for an extension to be considered, a written request must be lodged with the Principal’s Nominee or Principal prior to the event taking place.
• In the event of an unpredictable and serious event, the written request must be lodged within two school days of the student’s return to school.
• In the event of illness, the school should be notified on the due date of the assessment by phone, with a formal request being lodged within two school days of the student’s return to school.
• Any request shall be accompanied by documentary evidence (medical certificate, death notice etc). A letter from a parent will not in general meet this requirement.
• Requests will only be granted where an extension is practicable, and where the granting of such an extension will not disadvantage other students (e.g. if the extension prevented the handing back of marked work before a further assessment opportunity).

Authenticity

Proactive:

• Wherever possible practical assessments will take place under staff supervision.
• Assessment activities which are spread over a period of more than one week will be checked in stages. This may take the form of interviews, partial marking, sighting of work, etc
• All students are to sign an annual statement undertaking to only submit their own work. This is to be countersigned by a parent / caregiver. The signed statements will be stored centrally by the Principal’s Nominee.
• For each piece of work submitted, that has been worked upon outside class time, will require students to confirm in writing that the work is their own. Failing this, the work will not be marked.
• Where appropriate research work will be checked for plagiarism using Google.
• When a student is required to compile a Bibliography then the APA referencing style will be used ( a copy of this is on the school’s website)
• Where appropriate, Teachers and HODs will ensure that assessment materials are retained securely before an assessment event.

Reactive:

• If authenticity is questioned, the HOD will refer the matter, including all evidence, to the Principal’s Nominee immediately. Ensure the security of ‘evidence’.
• A student found to have submitted the work of another person, or to have received undue assistance from another person, will receive a Not Achieved grade for that Standard, and will not be eligible for a further assessment opportunity in that Standard, during that year.
• In this situation, the student and the parent / caregiver will be notified in writing.

Late Assessments

• A late assessment (where the lateness is caused by illness) will not be accepted unless a Medical Certificate has been produced.
• A late assessment (where the lateness is caused by approved leave) will not be accepted unless the ‘Extensions’ clause has been invoked.

Appeals

• Twink or penciled work will not be reconsidered.
• Appeals will normally be on the grounds of incorrect / inconsistent marking.
• All appeals against marking/grading of assessments are to be submitted within five school days of the marked work being returned to the student.
• In the first instance the appeal should be made in person to the classroom teacher, then HOD.
• In the event of the teacher or HOD being unavailable, the appeal should be lodged with the Principal’s Nominee.
• The Principal’s Nominee will then investigate, consulting with the HOD or the subject teacher.
• The appeal outcome will be conveyed to the student by the Principal’s Nominee and the subject teacher.
• A written record of written appeal outcomes will be kept by the Principal’s Nominee.
• Notwithstanding any procedural issues indicated in this document, an appeal may be lodged in the first instance with the Principal’s Nominee if exceptional circumstances exist.
• The Principal’s Nominee’s decision is final.

Derived Grade (formerly known as Compassionate Consideration)

• Internal Assessment: See extensions provision. Use any available Standard specific evidence to potentially award grade.
• External Assessment: HODs are responsible for ensuring that sufficient assessment has taken place and is recorded in the appropriate KAMAR markbook so that in the event of a student applying for a derived grade for externally assessed Standards, informed recommendations can be made, Standard specific, from quality assured assessments.
• A record of the decision made will be kept by the Principal’s Nominee until the end of the year following the consideration and will then be destroyed.

Recording, Storage and Transfer of assessment data

• Information from all NZQF assessments will be recorded in the teacher’s mark book and in KAMAR markbooks.
• The classroom teacher will enter the results into KAMAR within ten school days of the marked assessment being checked by the student.
• A printout of individual student’s results in all subjects will be issued several times during the year, and at the end of the year, students will be asked to sign and date this printout, and return it to the Principal’s Nominee for central storage.
• The Principal’s Nominee will be responsible for fulfilling NZQA requirements for transferring data to NZQA.
• All staff will be mindful of the Privacy Act 1993 on issues relating to the recording, storage, and transfer of marks.

 Special Assessment Conditions

• The SENCO is responsible for identifying students who require special assessment conditions.
• Teachers with concerns about a student’s learning/assessment conditions should see the SENCO.
• Provision will be made for these students to have valid and fair assessment conditions consistent with the assistance they would normally have as part of their learning environment.

Further Assessment Opportunities

• There will be a maximum of one further opportunity for assessment of a standard available each year (assessment and reassessment).
• Further assessment opportunities will be available to students regardless of whether they have achieved or failed in the original assessment
• There should be a period of at least ten school days between these opportunities.
• Where further assessment takes place, the student must verify that the work submitted is a new and original piece of work.
• The further assessment opportunity must be a new assessment (i.e. not the same, not resubmission or re-sitting).
• Only where practicable.

 Security of assessment materials

• Materials to be used will be kept secure by the HOD until it is appropriate to release them to all students. E.g. In a test situation, the test papers would not be released until the possibility of any extensions etc had passed, and all classes involved had used the test
• After marked work has been checked, it must be returned to teacher in that period.

Misconduct

• Students suspected of cheating during an assessment task – see’ Authenticity’
• Students who misbehave in an assessment task may, at the teacher’s discretion, be removed from the room, and shall receive a Not Achieved grade for that assessment if the misconduct is proven after investigation with the HOD and Principal’s Nominee.

 Timing of assessments

• All achievement standard internal assessments will be notified to the Principal’s Nominee by the end of week 6, term1.
• Any variation to assessment timings through the year must be negotiated with the students and the Principal’s Nominee.
• It is the responsibility of TIC/HODs to ensure that at least one week’s notice of any variation is given to the students.

Attendance requirements

• Students who are enrolled in a course may sit any of that course’s assessments. They are entitled to the results that they achieve.

Students completing partial courses

• A student who leaves during the year or who changes course part way through the year is entitled to receive all qualifications obtained during their period in that course, and may enter for external assessments.

Monitoring staff compliance

The Principal’s Nominee will be responsible for auditing the following:

1. Course outlines with assessment dates

• distributed by end of second week
• an electronic copy is sent to the Principal’s Nominee for central storage and display on the school’s website.

2. “Recording, Storage, and Transfer of assessment data” procedures complied with.
3. Storage and security of: data, assessment items, marked work
4. Internal verification within departments

Auditing will cover all teachers in the school.

Principal’s Nominees Decisions

• All decisions made regarding appeals, derived grades, misconduct, and authenticity will be recorded and stored by the Principal’s Nominee.

Review

• This policy will be reviewed by all staff once a year, to ensure it covers current practises.
• A copy of these procedures will be available on the school’s website