The Teacher Performance Assessment: A Benchmark for Translation?

Abstract

Program Standard 1.2 for initial teacher education across Australia requires that all graduates from accredited programs have demonstrated that they meet the Graduate Teacher Standards in a classroom setting (Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership in Guidance for the accreditation of initial teacher education in Australia. AITSL, Melbourne, 2016). AITSL (Guidance for the accreditation of initial teacher education in Australia. AITSL, Melbourne, 2016) require that this assessment be valid, reliable and moderated. There is also an underlying policy intention to make graduates not only classroom ready but assessment capable as well. This intention is labelled the pursuit of assessment-centric graduates in this chapter. Findings are reported of the implementation of a Teacher Performance Assessment based on the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (AITSL in Australian professional standards for teachers. AITSL, Melbourne, 2011). The aim of the study was to make the assessment valid, reliable, moderated and feasible within the context of the current supervisory arrangements for final year teacher education students (TES). These key concepts are reviewed before the reporting of the results of the application of these concepts to a Teacher Performance Assessment (TPA). There are four main implications that can be drawn from the case study. First, steps towards increasing the standardisation of the TPA will improve its reliability but may reduce its validity. Second, the ongoing collection of all five types of validation evidence for the TPA will improve its rigour as well as generate useful benchmark evidence for ITE accreditation. Third, top-down models of TPA implementation might not be as cost-effective as the incremental improvement of reliability and validity in existing models. Finally, the focus on the assessment moderation of evidence sets will direct attention to the refinement of existing protocols such as lesson planning guides and lesson observation forms. The success of the TPA implementation will hinge on whether universities can build the type of proactive partnerships with schools built upon a shared understanding of the intention of the assessment.

Appendices

Appendix 1: TPA rubric

	Area	Working towards expectations	Meets expectations	Exceeds expectations
Planning 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.5, 2.6,	Knows content area	Identifies and explains the content of the lessons in relation to syllabus outcomes/objectives that are suitable for the learning context	Clearly articulates and explains the central concepts of the subject(s), linking the content, outcomes and activities to key syllabus documents	Applies knowledge of the content and teaching strategies of the teaching area to develop engaging teaching activities
	Selects and organises content	Selects and organises content that reflects curriculum requirements and is designed to develop student understanding	Selects and organises content for individual lessons clearly and logically within a coherent, well-sequenced teaching and learning program, including a variety of teaching and learning strategies (e.g. differentiated curriculum, collaborative learning, ICT, higher order thinking) that link to syllabus outcomes/objectives	Selects and organises content into coherent, well sequenced learning and teaching programs independently
	Uses curriculum, assessment and reporting knowledge	Uses information from curriculum documents and other resources to design relevant learning sequences	Designs appropriate learning sequences, including assessment criteria and marking rubrics, which show clear links to the curriculum and learning outcomes and reporting requirements	Designs and implements learning and teaching programs using knowledge of curriculum, assessment and reporting requirements
	Incorporates literacy and numeracy strategies	Talks about lesson content and structure in ways which show knowledge of some teaching strategies to support students’ literacy and numeracy development	Develops lesson plans, observation notes and discussion about lesson content and structure that show knowledge of a range of teaching strategies to support literacy and numeracy development	Applies knowledge and understanding of effective teaching strategies to support students’ literacy and numeracy development across the curriculum
	Incorporates digital literacies	Develops teaching and learning programs and/or lesson plans which show the integration of ICT into activities to make content more meaningful	Develops teaching and learning lesson plans/programs that link to syllabus outcomes/objectives taking into account available resources, with a broad variety of ICT teaching and learning activities (e.g. project-based learning, web-based research, Web 2.0 tools subject/KLA/stage appropriate software)	Uses effective teaching strategies to integrate ICT into learning and teaching programs to make selected content relevant and meaningful
Teaching (engaging students) 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 3.5, 3.4	Supports student participation	Uses students’ names to convey respect for students as individuals and to support student engagement	Establishes an inclusive classroom where all students are acknowledged as individuals and models an enthusiastic and positive attitude towards teaching and learning	Establishes and implements inclusive and positive interactions to engage and support all students in classroom activities
	Manages classroom activities	Demonstrates knowledge of the importance of clear instructions and classroom routines and techniques to focus students on learning	Gives clear instructions, checks understanding and establishes consistent classroom routines to maximise student learning	Establishes and maintains orderly and workable routines to create an environment where student time is spent on learning tasks
	Manages challenging behaviour	Understands the need to establish an identifiable welfare/classroom management system and explores different strategies to improve classroom management	Responds to challenging behaviour quickly, fairly and respectfully, applying judgement based on the context in accordance with school policies, and applies student management techniques that are fair, appropriate and consistent	Manages challenging behaviour by establishing and negotiating clear expectations with students, and addressing discipline issues promptly, fairly and respectfully
	Uses effective classroom communication	Uses effective verbal and non-verbal communication strategies, including clear accessible instructions and a range of questioning techniques	Uses effective verbal and non-verbal communication strategies, including age-appropriate vocabulary and metalanguage to develop conceptual understandings and a range of questioning techniques to elicit prior understanding and effective use of non- verbal forms of communication, such as circulating, pausing, eye contact and gestures, for student engagement and management	Uses effective verbal and nonverbal communication strategies to support student understanding, participation, engagement and achievement
	Uses engaging resources, including ICT	Demonstrates knowledge of a range of appropriate and engaging materials and resources and a capacity to incorporate these into teaching practice to enhance students’ learning	Uses a range of appropriate and engaging materials and resources, including ICT, and demonstrates the capacity to incorporate these into teaching practice effectively	Selects and/or creates and use a range of resources, including ICT, to engage students in their learning
Teaching (developing knowledge and skills) 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 1.3, 1.5	Establishes learning goals	Establishes clear and appropriate learning goals taking into account syllabus and learning needs	Communicates clear and appropriate learning goals taking into account syllabus and student diverse learning needs and continually evaluates student progress against those goals	Sets explicit, challenging and achievable learning goals for all students and continually evaluates their impact
	Structures and sequences lessons	Plans and implements lesson plans with appropriate objectives/outcomes, content, pedagogy and assessment, in consultation with the supervising teacher	Plans and implements effective lesson plans using the host school’s scope and sequences and content overviews, and adapts pace and timing in response to student learning needs	Plans and implements well-structured learning and teaching programs or lesson sequences that engage students and promote learning
	Uses a range of teaching strategies	Incorporates a range of teaching strategies into lessons	Uses an extended range of teaching strategies and adapts them while teaching in response to changing needs of the students	Selects and uses relevant teaching strategies to develop knowledge, skills, problem-solving, and critical and creative thinking
	Differentiates teaching	Shows an awareness of the need to cater for a range of different abilities within the same class	Develops teaching and learning programs and/or lesson plans with differentiated tasks to meet the learning needs of individual students and groups of students	Develops teaching activities that incorporate differentiated strategies to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities
	Addresses student diversity	Shows an awareness of the need to differentiate teaching strategies based on student diversity and displays cultural sensitivity	Plans for and respects the diversity of all students within the classroom, using effective questioning or other techniques to engage students from diverse backgrounds and culturally sensitive resources, language and strategies in teaching practice	Designs and implements teaching strategies that are responsive to the learning strengths and needs of students from diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socio-economic backgrounds.
Assessing 5.1-5.5	Assesses student learning	Records and uses assessment information informally (e.g. observations of student learning and/or work samples) to monitor student learning	Designs and delivers a wide variety of formative and summative assessment activities to formally monitor student learning, including the analysis of student work samples for diagnostic purposes to inform differentiation and future assessment strategies and tasks	Develops, selects and uses informal and formal, diagnostic, formative and summative assessment strategies to assess student learning
	Provides feedback	Gives constructive and purposeful feedback to students about their learning progress	Gives timely, balanced and targeted feedback to enhance student performance and provides direction for future learning	Provides timely, effective and appropriate feedback to students about their achievement relative to their overall learning goals
	Makes consistent and comparable judgments	Collaborates with supervising teacher in producing assessment plans, tasks, marking criteria and marking rubrics	Produces assessment plans, tasks, marking criteria and marking rubrics and annotates student work samples according to the school or system policy for the moderation of assessment activities	Participates in assessment moderation activities to support consistent and comparable judgements of student learning
	Interprets student data	Demonstrates knowledge of the types of evidence required to effectively evaluate student learning	Explains how a variety of assessment data has been gathered and used in their planning and teaching practice	Uses student assessment data to analyse and evaluate student understanding of subject/content, identifying interventions and modifying teaching practice
	Reports on student achievement	Demonstrates familiarity with the school’s reporting policies and procedures	Employs a variety of methods to record evidence gathered through assessment activities and an effective approach to collecting, organising and storing assessment data consistent with school policies and procedures	Reports clearly, accurately and respectfully to students and parents/carers about student achievement, making use of accurate and reliable records consistent with school policies and procedures
Reflecting 3.6, 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4	Evaluate and improve teaching programs	Demonstrates a broad knowledge of strategies that can be used to evaluate teaching programs to improve student learning	Employs a range of strategies to assess student achievement and participation to evaluate student impact and improve planning and pedagogy	Evaluates personal teaching and learning programs using evidence, including feedback from students and student assessment data, to inform planning and improve student learning
	Identify and plan professional learning needs	Engages in self-reflection about aspects of professional knowledge, practice and engagement using the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers	Develops a professional portfolio of evidence supporting claims against each of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers at Graduate level, and identifies personal learning goals in relation to the standards	Uses the Australian Professional standards for Teachers and advice from colleagues to identify and plan professional learning needs
	Engage in PL to improve practice	Seeks opportunity within the school for professional learning through discussions with staff	Contributes to staff and curriculum meetings where appropriate	Participates in a range of learning situations to update knowledge and practice targeted to professional needs and school and/or system priorities
	Engage with colleagues to improve practice	Responds to constructive feedback in a positive and professional manner and sets short-term teaching goals in discussion with their supervising teacher	Responds to constructive feedback in a positive and professional manner, and acts upon it promptly to set realistic short- and long-term goals in negotiation with their supervising teacher	Contributes to collegial discussions and applies constructive feedback from colleagues to improve professional knowledge and practice
	Apply professional learning to improve student learning	Reflects on own teaching and seeks advice on ways to develop professionally and improve performance	Demonstrates a commitment to continuous improvement of their practice and recognises that teachers are agents of their own professional learning	Undertakes professional learning programs designed to address identified student learning needs

Appendix 2

SOLO Rubric
	Prestructural	Unistructural	Multistructural	Relational	Extended Abstract
Planning	No evidence of student assessment strategies in lesson designs	Lesson plans have outcomes, teaching strategies and sometimes include assessment strategies.	Creates lesson plans that match learning outcomes, teaching and assessment strategies to with resources borrowed from their supervising teacher.	Creates lesson plans that match learning outcomes, teaching and assessment strategies to diverse learners with resources sourced by the teacher.	Creates non-linear, adaptive learning plans with an agile pedagogical repertoire that match learning outcomes, teaching and assessment strategies to diverse learners with resources sourced by the teacher.
Teaching	Teaches to the script	May depart from the script to implement an isolated formative assessment strategy	Implements a range of formative assessment strategies in class	Implements a range of formative assessment strategies in class and sometimes modifies teaching practices in response to these	Uses information from formative assessment to modify practice to meet differentiated student learning needs immediately in class
Assessing	No evidence of the use of student assessment data	Sometimes uses student assessment data to plan lessons	Uses a limited range of student assessment data to inform planning	Uses the full range of student assessment to identify gaps in student understanding	Uses full range of student assessment data to identify gaps, design interventions and modify teaching practice
Reflecting	No evidence of reflection on practice	Uses either supervisor feedback or self-reflection to evaluate lessons	Uses student outcomes, supervisor feedback and self-reflection to evaluate lessons	Uses a range of information including the analysis of student outcomes, peer observation and feedback and uses these to inform future planning of learning and teaching	Uses external and self-evaluation data, professional and research literature to develop their own principles for assessment-centric teaching