NATIONAL STANDARDS As you will be aware, the National Standards are a very important part of the news at the moment. Everyone – teachers, students, parents and people in our community have an opinion.  We all went to school or are at a school, so we then become experts. At Titahi Bay School we would have loved the standards to have been trialled prior to implementation and then given time to implement them just as our new curriculum has had.  Research does show from other countries that standards alone don’t improve achievement. Assessing students against the National standards is not about an exam or test, it’s not a tick list against a list of criteria and it doesn’t replace the brilliant assessment we already do at Titahi Bay School.   At Titahi Bay School, with our already set assessment methods we are well ready to connect this to National standards.  As a staff and BOT we will be attending workshops that will be run across New Zealand. 

ASSESSMENT 

Assessment is around us and just a part of our daily lives.  Assessment in a school setting informs and then guides our teaching.  Assessment doesn’t just inform or tell us who is below, at, or above their expected levels, it tells us what a student knows and can do, what they don’t know and most importantly, their next learning step.  We are all different and so is our school, so are the students and they all learn at different rates and ways.  We can’t all be experts at everything. For us at Titahi Bay School the most crucial and important thing is that we keep on learning, that we know what we need to learn next, and what it will look like and feel like when we get there. Assessment provides our evidence than then guides teaching and learning at Titahi Bay School. 

ASESSMENT ALREADY IN PLACE AT TITAHI BAY SCHOOL 

*  Nationally normed tests -     

Star                               Asttle                                                Spelling                                    PATmaths                    6 year nets

*  Classroom observations

*  Profiles of work samples

*  Student goals and self evaluation

*  Running Records

*  Progressions from MOE on Reading – Writing – Maths 

We are always gathering information on your child to make a professional judgement on the data.  We don’t just use one test, observations, etc to state where a child is.  This is why the National Standards cannot stand alone. 

The most critical aspect of successful learning is the quality of the relationship between:                                                                                                                        

CHILD                                       FAMILY                           SCHOOL    

EFFECTIVE LEARNING RELATIONSHIPS ARE WHERE: 

• students ownership of their learning – where the student can take risks, make mistakes and learn from them and feel good about this.   Students are encouraged to make decisions and take responsibility.
• Enjoyment, fun where learning is exciting
• The learning journey informs the 3 in the triangle above

  At Titahi Bay School we know what we are effective with and what needs work.  We are always evaluating, refining our Assessment practices – changing what we’re doing.  We are always seeking ways to find new information or to learn new skills – this is the same for our students. We will continue to refine and improve our student assessment process.  We look forward to sitting with you next term in our 3 way conferences. 

SO WHERE TO: 

At Titahi Bay School it is the Professionalism and standards we set for ourselves as a learning community that will enhance achievement like asking questions, trialling new programmes, honesty, reflective dialogue, analysis of data, observing each other and research not necessary the National Standards.           

2010 ASSESSMENT FOR LEARNING