Standard 5: Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning

Focus area 5.1 – Assess student learning 

Demonstrate understanding of assessment strategies, including informal and formal, diagnostic, formative and summative approaches to student learning. 

Focus Area 5.4 – Interpret Student Data 

Demonstrate the capacity to interpret student assessment data to evaluate student learning and modify teaching practice. For my GTPA, I focussed on teaching prep students Concepts of Print, in a mid-sized Ipswich state school as per ACELA1433 and ACELY1649 in the Australian Curriculum, (ACARA, 2014). I was already to the students regularly and using the different parts of the story to teach them sequencing (see this worksheet I developed) (Acton, 2012). Thus, I decided to incorporate the two together in my lessons, but focus on Concepts of Print for my GTPA. I assessed students at the beginning of my practicum to determine which concepts specifically needed to be targeted at a whole class level, small group level, and individual student level (5.4). Using this information, I found that Book Concepts, directionality, return-sweep, and word-to-word correspondence were the areas in which students required the most improvement, as evident in this table of results. Therefore, each day I read a book with the students and would explicitly explain the parts of the book. I also heavily modelled how I was reading, the strategies I was using and how the students could adopt these strategies for themselves (Goldstein et al., 2017). To encourage student engagement, I also asked for volunteers to come to the front of the class and demonstrate how to hold the book appropriately (Fellowes & Oakley, 2014). At the beginning of individual and buddy reading times, I would remind students of these concepts. I gave praise and encouragement when I saw the students demonstrate the reading strategies. 

I took observations of progress in Concepts of Print (ACARA, 2014; Fellowes & Oakley, 2014), and used lesson content for formative assessment (5.3). Mid-way through the practicum, I reassessed students using the same assessment as at the beginning of the practicum (see here for the mid-practicum results)(5.4). Whilst the results indicated some progress, there was still room for further improvement (5.4). 

Students were still struggling with return sweep and word to word correspondence. From consultation with my mentor teacher, I knew that word-to-word correspondence was the last concepts emergent readers grasped (Hill, 2014). Because return-sweep was one of the building blocks of word-to-word correspondence, I emphasised this in subsequent literacy lessons and book reading (5.4). As was age-appropriate for my young students, I developed a fun hand action so they could mime a ‘return sweep’ with their finger and gave it a singsong catch-phrase (Walton, 2014). I made sure to give positive feedback to students who used this return sweep hand action when reading alone or with a buddy. When reading as a class, I would have a student come up the front and do the “down and across” return sweep action on each paragraph. 

I created the final assessment activity whilst considering the standards recommended by the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) (2019).  Students showed an overall improvement in return sweep. It also showed a marked improvement in book concepts. From this, I learnt that repetition, gestures, student participation, and sing-song slogans were all effective teaching techniques, particularly with regards to younger children (Walton, 2014). I implemented these in my last remaining practicum but adapted them for the Year Fives I was teaching. I also learnt that adjusting one’s teaching practices to target the areas indicated by the assessment proved to be effective in meeting students needs (5.3, 5.4) as was modelling of the desired behaviours (Hill, 2014). 

References for Standard Five

Acton, S. (2012). Ben & Duck. Scholastic.

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA]. (2014). English. ACARA https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/media/3596/general-capabilities-literacy-learning-continuum.pdf 

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL]. (2011). Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. AITSL: Melbourne. 

Fellowes, J., & Oakley, G. (2014). Language, Literacy and Early Childhood Education (2nd edition). Oxford University Press. 

Hill, S. (2014). Developing early literacy: Assessment and Teaching (2nd edition). Eleanor Curtain Publishing. 

Goldstein, H., Oszlewski, A., Haring, C., Greenwood, C.R., McCune, L., Carta, J., Atwater, J., Guerrero, G., Schneider, N., McCarthy, T., & Kelley, E.S. (2017). Efficacy of a supplemental phonemic awareness curriculum to instruct preschoolers with delays in early literacy development. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 60(1), 89-103. https://doi.org/10.1044/2016_JSLHR-L-15-0451

Queensland Curriculum & Assessment Authority [QCAA]. (2019). Prep–Year 2 assessment techniques and conditions v1.0. Queensland Government: Brisbane. 

Walton, P.D. (2014). Using singing and movement to teach pre-reading skills and word-reading to kindergarten children: An exploratory study. Language and Literacy, 16(3), 54-77.