(Amended 12.12.11)
This module helps teachers to ensure that their knowledge of their students enables them to make sound overall judgments about the students’ progress and achievement in relation to the National Standards for reading, writing, and mathematics in years 1–8. It will also help schools to ensure that they use this knowledge effectively.
Knowledge of the Learner is one of a set of professional development modules designed to support school leaders as they lead professional learning about the National Standards for years 1–8 within The New Zealand Curriculum. The modules are suitable for use during the cycles of professional inquiry that leaders and teachers engage in to improve outcomes for their students.
This module explores ways of ensuring that teachers’ knowledge of their learners enables them to make sound overall teacher judgments about students’ progress and achievement in relation to the National Standards for reading, writing, and mathematics in years 1–8.
Knowing the learner involves understanding that language, identity, and culture are very important. It is essential that teachers respect and value students for who they are, where they come from, and what they bring with them from their experiences.
This module draws on the concept of ako as the basis for teaching and learning relationships within which educators also learn from students, while employing teaching practice that is deliberate, reflective, and based on the latest research.
Making an overall teacher judgment means, starting with the student, drawing on evidence gathered up to a particular point and analysing it in order to make an informed, balanced judgment about what constitutes 'best fit' in terms of a student’s performance. This judgment involves considering how a student’s performance lines up with the expectations embedded in the standards. Judgments can be used to inform teaching and to report on progress and achievement.
To make an overall judgment, a teacher needs to know a lot about the learner. The teacher can gain this knowledge by using multiple sources of information gathered over a period of time, much of it derived through daily classroom interactions, performances, and observations. The teacher will start by considering their students and what they know about them to decide ‘best fit’ in relation to the standards. The teacher will use evidence from a range of sources to support their judgments, consider progress, and determine next learning steps.
An overall teacher judgment is not a test, and no single test or set of tests can provide teachers with the breadth of knowledge required to form an overall judgment.
Detailed information about the many ways in which teachers can gain knowledge about their students and what they can do can be found in the core resources listed in the Overview.
Work is under way to align the outcomes of assessment tools with the National Standards. Summary papers can be found on Assessment Online.
Knowledge of the learner depends on effective assessment and helps teachers to choose appropriate instructional strategies for all learners. For more information on assessment and instructional strategies in reading and writing, see:
For information on assessment and instructional strategies in mathematics, see:
This module has three main sections.
Key outcome of the module, which:
Reflective questions for school leaders and teachers, which:
Leading shifts in practice through focused activities, which:
A final section, Resources and references, lists texts cited or quoted in the module along with resources that include useful information about how knowledge of the learner can support students’ learning.
School leaders can use this module to identify and explore shifts in practice that might be needed as their school works with the National Standards.
Teachers can use the reflective questions and/or activities to help guide them through any changes they might need to make as they work with the National Standards.
The key outcome for this module is that teachers and students understand the need for overall teacher judgments in relation to the National Standards and the process of making and using such judgments.
Indicators that this outcome is being achieved include the following:
School leaders and teachers use overall teacher judgments to inform future teaching and learning, to report to students, parents, families, whānau, and communities about students’ progress in relation to the National Standards, and to inform decision making about the effective use of resources. (See also the module Building Effective Partnerships.)
School leaders and teachers use their professional judgment to ensure that assessment tasks are appropriate and, where necessary, adapted to make them inclusive for all students.
Ongoing monitoring occurs for all students and keeps in view at all times the expectations identified in the National Standards and the progress students are making.
Interventions for students who are achieving well below standard are informed by evidence, targeted to benefit those with identified needs, and monitored for effectiveness. Students funded by ORRS (Ongoing and Reviewable Resourcing Schemes) are assessed in relation to the standards as part of their Individual Education Programmes.
Staff within schools have a shared understanding of what achievement of the standards looks like. Overall teacher judgments are dependable. Staff use a moderation process to support shared understanding of quality and increase confidence in decision making. (See also the module Establishing Shared Expectations.)
Positive outcomes for students from diverse backgrounds are associated with a detailed knowledge of those students, based on the gathering, analysis, and use of quality assessment data.
When assessing the achievement of a student in relation to the National Standards, teachers need to bring together a range of evidence collected cumulatively in order to form an overall teacher judgment. The National Standards can help teachers to identify students who are 'at risk' and who may need additional support. Assessments that are based on sound principles and that use a moderation process within schools and, where appropriate, between schools, can validate decision-making and have a positive impact on teaching and learning. Refer to the sections on principles and moderation on Assessment Online.
[This shift is a] change from [the] traditional idea where assessment data was considered to reflect students’ abilities, about which little can be done, to one where assessment data is considered to be information to guide effective teaching.
Timperley, 2009, page 27
The following reflective questions are designed to help school leaders and teachers understand their school’s current practice in relation to knowledge of the learner. They can then make comparisons with practices embedded in the National Standards. Use the reflective questions to identify areas for further exploration through the activities that follow.
1. How do we gather, interpret, and use assessment information to make overall teacher judgments in our school?
2. How are our overall teacher judgments supported and checked for dependability? How might we increase the dependability of our judgments?
3. How does our school use knowledge about learners, including assessment information, to inform teaching and learning?
Use the understandings gained from discussing the reflective questions above to identify the shifts in practice and/or professional learning that may be required in the school. Select from the following activities to support these shifts as part of professional inquiry.
Consider the principle of ako when exploring the school’s practice in these activities.
Select activities to help members of the school community deepen their understandings about knowing the learner. Further exploration may be needed to reach the outcome for this module. For example, discussions may reveal a need to explore teachers’ knowledge of assessment practices for a particular year level.
The activities can be used in a variety of ways for whole-staff, syndicate, group, or individual inquiry. For example, an activity that relates to mathematics may be carried out differently from the same activity when it relates to reading and writing. Teachers working with years 1–3 may also carry out some activities differently from those working with years 4–8.
The activities in all of the modules, including this one, are based on the core resources listed in the Overview. Refer to these as appropriate when exploring practice through the activities.
How do we gather, interpret, and use assessment information to make overall teacher judgments in our school?
Use specific topics from Assessment Online’s section on overall teacher judgments to guide professional development using one or more of the following tasks.
How do we use assessment information to change teacher practice or agree next learning steps for students.
Use the Assessment Online presentation Exploring Assessment for Learning (ppt 380kb) as a guide for one of the following tasks. Refer also to the section on formative assessment.
How are our overall teacher judgments supported and checked for dependability? How might we increase the dependability of our judgments?
Use the assessment tool selector on Assessment Online to review the purposes of a range of assessment tools. Groups of teachers can work across the school, in different areas (reading, writing, mathematics) or in different teams or year levels, to review the tools they currently use. Teachers may like to refer to the ESOL Progress Assessment Guidelines for information about using assessment tools with English language learners.
How are our overall teacher judgments supported and checked for dependability? How might we increase the dependability of our judgments?
Use Assessment Online’s triangulation diagram to consider each type of evidence (that is, observation of process, learning conversations, and tool outcomes) and to help explore the following questions.
How are our overall teacher judgments supported and checked for dependability? How might we increase the dependability of our judgments?
Refer to the moderation section on Assessment Online to help explore the following questions.
How does our school use knowledge about learners, including assessment information, to inform teaching and learning?
This section includes details of texts that are cited or quoted in the module and/or that will be helpful to users of this particular module. The full list of core resources is available in the Overview.
Updated on: 12 Dec 2011
