Literacy and mathematics: Our guides to assessing twice a year

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As schools gear up for Term 1, assessment will be at the forefront of many teachers' minds. NZCER offers many options for assessing literacy and mathematics, from our suite of Progressive Achievement Tests (PATs) to the STAR Reading Test

A common query we receive is around the idea of testing twice a year - when to do it, how to monitor progress, and focusing on the underlying purpose of your assessment. That's why we have created a pair of guides focused on testing twice a year, for our refreshed PAT Pāngarau and for literacy more generally. 

Want to skip straight to the twice-yearly assessment guides? PAT Pāngarau is here, and our literacy guide is here

First: Why are you assessing? 

When deciding on twice-yearly assessments it is important to consider the purpose underlying each assessment timepoint, to ensure the use of the data is aligned with improving teaching and learning. 

As you decide on the purpose for the assessment(s) and time points, consider:

Monitoring progress over a 12-month period

The focus for each assessment time point; for example,

  • Identifying concept strengths and next steps 
  • Monitoring individual/cohort ākonga progress
  • Monitoring evidence against annual plan goals
  • Providing a source of evidence for monitoring impact of kaiako professional learning. 

Identifying the assessments that will be undertaken, ensuring a clear purpose for their use; for example,

  • baseline monitoring and tracking
  • data for focused inquiry
  • subject focus 
  • school level review of progress and achievement.

Choosing the right test for twice-yearly assessments

Schools can use PAT assessments twice a year as part of a wide range of tools and data sources to track learning progress. Typically, schools administer PATs at the beginning of Term 1 and as late in Term 4 as scheduling allows. 

However, it is important to note that PATs are not designed to measure short-term progress within a single school year. Instead, they help build trend information over a student's time at school, including year level cohorts, providing insights into overall learning progress. 

With PAT Pāngarau, NZCER encourages the use of the computer adaptive testing for twice-yearly assessments. Adaptive tests provide a scale score that more accurately reflects ākonga progress and strengths compared to static tests. While static tests provide useful point-in-time assessment information, repeating the same static assessment can introduce variables such as practice effects, which may not accurately measure the true progress of an ākonga. 

Note: A practice effect in assessment refers to improved test performance when a student takes the same test more than once — not due to learning or progress, but because of increased familiarity with the test format or content.

When assessing literacy twice a year, NZCER does not have adaptive testing available (apart from in PAT: Reading Vocabulary)- however, we have a variety of tools that schools can use one of, or "mix and match". The tools your school uses will reflect the information you want to monitor over the year. Our tools include:

Guides to twice yearly assessment

Featuring example scenarios for how schools can assess throughout the year. 

For further support, NZCER’s Education Advisors are available to facilitate strategic discussions to ensure schools develop assessment plans that are relevant to their individual needs. NZCER provides professional learning workshops for kaiako and leaders on effective and strategic use of the data gathered through standardised assessments.

 

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