Myth 2: Assessment practice and gathering evidence

Myths

All students in a class must be assessed at the same time.
Offering different standards, tasks or context to students in the same class isn’t allowed.
Student assessment evidence can only be used for one standard and not multiple standards.
All assessment evidence must all be presented in the same way and must be in writing.
The more evidence produced, the better the grade.
Students can resubmit evidence for the same standard more than once.

Students should be assessed when they are ready, where this is practical and manageable for the school.
Assessment should give students a fair opportunity to achieve a standard.
Universal Design for Learning strategies should ensure learners, including those entitled to special assessment conditions, are not disadvantaged by an assessment method
Students in a class can complete different standards. They don’t need to be assessed for all the standards offered in the assessment programme.
Different tasks or contexts can be used to assess individual students, as the assessment judgement is against the standard.
As each standard assesses a different learning outcome, authentic evidence generated during teaching and learning may be used for more than one standard, that is, for different subjects or levels.
The amount and type of evidence needs to be appropriate to the standard
Evidence of achievement can be gathered in different ways, so long as it meets the standard’s requirements, is authentic, and can be verified. For example, evidence can be:

- verbal, written or digital
- through performance or practical
- gathered over time as a portfolio
- ongoing and integrated with learning
- gathered through observations and checklists.