Professional Teacher Assessment Identity

My professional teacher identity in relation to assessment is that I regard assessment as a

valuable teaching approach, for learning, as learning and of learning to complement and guide
my teaching and enrich student learning. I hope to model a positive approach when dealing with
assessment to my students and enhance the positive factors for learning that assessment
offers. Readman and Allen (2013, p. 21) suggest teachers should ensure students approach
assessment, feeling competent and confident enough to achieve the outcomes of the learning,
with a realistic sense of self-awareness and resilience when receiving feedback or results. I
hope to instill a feeling of confidence in my students towards assessment by; stating the
outcomes of assessment tasks clearly through summative success criteria, providing students
with ongoing opportunities to demonstrate what they have learnt within context of the task
through ongoing formative assessment and then providing timely feedback in order to help
students achieve the desired standards of the learning. I value student-centered assessments
that motivate, encourage and inspire students passion for learning and believe it should be
delivered in a timely and reasonable manner and includes purposeful feedback.

As a pre-service teacher my assessment literacy reflects the level of my experience. Readman

and Allen (2013, p. 12) suggest that like all literacy, assessment literacy involves being up to
date with assessment theory and practice and involved in ongoing formal and informal
assessment. I strongly agree that with ongoing engagement in formal and informal assessment,
I will be better positioned to understand student learning, and design tasks that are challenging
and provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning. I understand that my views
and approaches to assessment are governed by my experience and personal values which will
no doubt evolve and adapt to my future cohorts to ensure personal and academic fulfillment. I
also understand that I will be accountable for reporting student achievement to standards set by
institutions and stakeholders. This will require me to participate in ongoing reflection about my
approaches and involvement in professional moderation processes, with my colleges, to
improve my assessment pedagogy and student outcomes.

To build on my assessment literacy I have been active in professional engagement with

colleagues during my practicum placement. I have entered into assessment processes with my
supervisor concerning my curriculum pedagogy, to develop my professional work practices and
optimize student learning. New South Wales Department of Education and Communities

[NSWDEC] (2013, p. 1) recommend working collaboratively with colleagues to maintain and

develop professional work practices to reach common goals as part of their ethical practices.
When entering into moderation with my colleges I maintained a professional and respectful
demeanor and promptly apply any feedback to my planning of assessment outcomes for
student learning (7.1, Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL], 2014).
With more experiences in future practicums, I hope to build on my professional engagement
with parents, careers and the wider community through observations of assessment mediation
and interactions with my colleges to avoid any ethical implications of assessment. Howell,
(2014, p. 500) suggest following the principles of a teachers code of conduct and ethical
behaviour when reporting or discussing assessment with peers, students, parents and
community, a teacher should always be compassionate, consider dignity and respect diversity
when exercising professional duties. When engaging with peers, students, parents and the
wider community about assessment, I will follow the teachers code of conduct and ethical
behaviour by being courteous, accountable, inclusive, honest and responsive. I will endeavor to
make decisions that are procedurally fair to people and avoid discrimination in all interactions.
When approaching assessment I value the non-negotiable principals set out Readman and
Allen because they ensure that I am planning assessment to meet the academic standards of all
students and provide guidelines of ethical practices. Readmand and Allen (2013) posit
assessment needs to be relevant, appropriate, fair, accurate and should provide; useful
information, integration opportunities in the teaching and learning cycle, a wide range of
evidence and should be manageable. Readman and Allen (2013, p. 49) go on to say taking a
principled approach to assessment provides the teacher with a framework for decision making
and actions to advantage student learning. McTighe and Wiggens (2011, p. 93) posit that also
referring to the Six Facets of Learning when constructing assessment tasks moves student
learning forward because it enables judgments of whether the learning or understanding is
being transferred. I feel that constructively aligning the principals and the Six Facets supports
my mindset of assessment should be an instrument of learning for all students of all abilities and
should demonstrate their transfer of learning.
My purpose for assessment is to provide clear goals and make the tool accessible to all learners
by providing opportunities for students of all abilities to transfer learning. Readman and Allen
(2013, p. 55) suggest using a theory of constructive alignment when justifying the purpose of
assessment. This theory will encourage self-directive practices and critical and creative thinking
by providing choice in rich learning tasks. My goal is to practice this approach in my imminent

practicum by clearly stating learning goals and developing rich tasks for students to transfer
their understanding and knowledge. Whitton (2010) posit that intrinsically motivating students to
learn non-academic and academic subject matter will promote a feeling of competence and
success on the part of the learner. Fuchs (as cited in Black & William, 2001, p. 3) concur by
suggesting that when students feel their learning counts they understand the purpose of
assessment and are intrinsically motivated to complete tasks. I feel that intrinsically motivating
students through ongoing formative assessment approaches assist them to keep their learning
on track to achieve the desired outcomes.
Diagnostic and formative assessments have purpose for and as learning and teaching. I regard
the purpose of using ongoing diagnostic and formative assessment is to build on student
knowledge and move learning forward to achieve goals. Readman and Allen (2013, p. XX1)
suggest that formative assessment has purpose because it is a process of gathering and
reflecting on evidence of learning to inform and modify future learning and teaching activities. I
strongly agree that the reflection process of formative assessment will guide the modifications
needed to enhance student learning. Using manageable assessment strategies in formative
assessment will increase my resiliance and ensure practices are ongoing and purposeful (5.1,
[AITSL], 2014). Readman and Allen (2013, p. XX) explain summative assessments as tasks or
activities that are used to make judgments about learning at a point in time. I acknowledge that
summative assessments have a purpose to evaluate outcomes of student learning in order to
allocate a level or standard for a students achievement that can be used in a report of student
learning to all stakeholders (5.1, [AITSL], 2014
My goals are to create assessments that are; self-directive rather than instructional, relevant to
the learning task, differentiated for students learning to be appropriate and fair, integrated into
my daily teaching and learning cycle and manageable. My goals for students are that I state
achievement standards clearly, provide a variety of ongoing formative assessment and
feedback to intrinsically motivate students to transfer knowledge and understanding to meet
learning standards. Black and William (1996, as cited in Black & William, 2001, p. 12) suggest
teachers that are successful in attaining the goals of assessment, process the information
gathered from formative assessments and use selection and re-interpretation of evidence, in
order to satisfy teacher and student goals and contribute to equitable summative reports.
When implementing assessment practices and techniques, I intend to choose approaches that
make assessments purposeful, relevant, intrinsically motivating, aligned, manageable and fair. I

hope to further develop my formative assessment practices to make my assessment pedagogy

purposefully align with the learning goals of my students. Kivunja (2015, p. 77) suggest
purposeful assessment for learning should begin with the teacher articulating and sharing the
learning outcomes clearly with students and to directly link the learning outcomes with
assessment tasks. Readman and William (2013, p. 65) refer to this technique as backwards
mapping. At my current level of experience I have used backward mapping when preparing
lesson plans for units of work. I feel this technique helps me to engage in making assessment
relevant, appropriate and motivating and affords me the opportunity to integrate ongoing
formative assessment for student learning. During the writing of these lesson plans it was
necessary to keep referring back to the lesson outcomes to make sure the activities and
assessments aligned.

An important part of any assessment process is appropriate and timely feedback. I value
feedback as a tool to motivate students to reach learning goals. Readman and Williams (2013,
p. 54) regard appropriate and timely feedback should accompany any type of assessment
whether it be from the teacher or peers.

I hope to practice giving timely feedback to my

students by structuring criteria that acknowledges what they have achieved, where improvement
is needed and how they may achieve improvement.
I hope to gain experience in preparing success criteria for formative and summative
assessment. Education Services Australia (n.d.) suggest referring to success criteria and rubric
performance descriptors help students evaluate their progress and provide motivation for
completion of tasks. I understand that if rubrics and criteria are used for formative assessment
there should be no grading of performance and if there is a level of performance awarded then
they serve a summative function (5.3., [AITSL], 2014). When reporting to student and
parents/carers I intend to follow the format of the school in which I am situated and understand
that there is a range of strategies such as portfolios and test results with comments (Whitton,
et., al., 2010, p. 194). I also intend to keep ongoing accurate information about student learning
progress to make the reporting to parents easier due to a good cross-section of information
about skills and knowledge (Whitton et., al., 2010, p. 195) (5.5., [AITSL], 2014).
In conclusion my assessment identity and literacy is still developing and will be enhanced with
engagement of practical experience. My developing identity toward assessment includes
following a set of assessment principals to ensure relevance, appropriateness and equity. I

follow ethical statements to avoid ethical dilemmas associated with assessment and reporting.
Finally, I believe assessment has a purpose for teaching and learning, as teaching and learning
and of teaching and learning and should be embraced by teachers and students for learning.