NZCER Conference Proceedings August 2010

This book is the proceedings from the NZCER conference, Assessing Adult Learning: Literacy and Numeracy Competencies, held in Wellington in August 2010. The day was focused on assessment in literacy and numeracy, at individual, organisational, national and international levels. It also explored the role of the new national assessment tool for adult learners, which was made available earlier in 2010.

NZCER is committed to developing new assessment tools for use by New Zealand schools. Here we describe three of the development projects that are currently underway that may be of interest to teachers and school managers.

This article explains how to use percentiles in interpreting test results, and decision making about teaching and learning.

Outline of changes to the ARB website, designed to improve finding relevant and useful resources and their supporting information. 

Outlines components of formative assessment that are supported by the website.

In this article, two recent case studies are used to give examples of how Assessment Resource Bank (ARB) resources, along with other assessment tools, are being used for both formative and summative purposes in a primary and intermediate school. Staff at both these schools engage in a detailed analysis of their formative practices, and the data gained from summative assessments, to ensure that the results of assessments inform learning and contribute to improving classroom practice.