[Reporting] Fwd: VELS and semester reporting - please advise

[robert Timmer-Arrends]

Hello all

A couple of issues in the last few emails:
First the easy one - progress points in markbook for split 7/8 classes.
the answer is that as an assessor you don't worry about what year level
the kids is in, just what standard (or part thereof) they have reached; eg
if a year 10 student and a year 8 student both produce the same kind of
work and it is of a comparable level of sophistication then they will both
be rated the same; for example, perhaps both are rated at 5.00. The
difference is that the reporting system will produce a C for the Year 8
student and an E for the year 10 student. Teachers do not have to worry
about the letter or the year levels, only the absolute standard of the
work they are assessing.

Second - what to do about single semester subjects: OLT have actually
addressed this on their website (sorry can't supply URL - it's there as a
single page word doc). In a nutshell it says that we should NOT be
adjusting anything to compensate; instead we are to assess the work
according to the standard and  plug in the appropriate numbers. We are
then required to explain to parents the discrepancy (the tone of the
document also suggests - to me at least - that we are educationally
irresponsible in trying to condense what should be a whole year's learning
into one semester, and that it is therefore our problem to fix!). The
kindest thought I have about this is that the people in OLT have forgotten
how real secondary schools work - their whole approach to making VELS and
reporting work for secondaries seems to support this view.

Regards
Robert T-A
Brighton SC





> Hi Kevork,
>
> Re Progression Points & semester subjects
>
> When we thought we had to do ICT progression points (we have recently
> found out that Catholic schools don't until next year - phew...) we had
> set up our marking schemes so that the percentage mark that led to to
> progression point in Sem 1 had to be different for Sem 2 to make them the
> same. Because you're right - you are teaching the same stuff, so why
> should a kid doing it in Semester 2 get a lower progression point than a
> kid who did exactly the same work in Semester 1? Just because they're
> possibly six months older?
>
> It's really nonsensical, but it was the only way we could make it work for
> us. We just keep hoping all this silly A-E reporting stuff will soon
> disappear...
>
>>
>> Hi Folks,
>>
>> I hate to do this, but I haven't heard from the reporting list so I am
>> cross posting this for your advice please.
>>
>>
>> >>> Kevork Krozian 6/06/2007 10:29 am >>>
>> Hi Folks,
>>
>> Consider this dilemma ,
>>
>> Students do a compulsory elective of ICT in 1 semester of Year 9 ( or
>> Yr 10 for that matter ). All students will do this elective, either in
>> Sem 1 or Sem 2. It is the same work for both semesters. Student X does
>> Sem 1, student Y does Sem 2. They are twins.
>>
>> Both attain a progression point of 5.5 . However, student X gets a
>> grade of B and student Y gets a grade of C for the same work. So , how
>> do we explain this to parents ? They are both achieving the same , yet
>> score different grades by the randomness of elective selection and
>> different stages ( or ages ) of assessment .
>>
>> How do we reconcile this ?
>>
>> Look forward to your replies
>>
>>
>>
>> Kevork Krozian
>> IT Manager , Forest Hill College
>> k.krozian at fhc.vic.edu.au
>> http://www.fhc.vic.edu.au
>> Mobile: 0419 356 034
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>
> ___________________________________________________________
> Ms Lesley Humphries
> IT Faculty Co-ordinator
> Santa Maria College
> 50 Separation Street
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> Ph: 9489 7644
> ___________________________________________________________
>


-- 
Regards
Mr.Timmer-Arends
Brighton SC