Video transcript
In each subject, skills and knowledge may be assessed using assessment standards. Learners can achieve two types of assessment standard, achievement standards and unit standards. Achievement standards are derived from the New Zealand Curriculum and/or Te Marautanga o Aotearoa. Unit standards are based on bodies of knowledge other than the national curriculum.
Each assessment standard describes what a candidate needs to know or be able to do in order to achieve it. Achieving these standards gains the learner credits or can be used as assessment evidence towards the New Zealand Qualifications Framework qualifications.
The purpose of this video is to unpack and explain the components of an internally-assessed achievement standard through the use of a current standard using English as an example. Achievement standards are developed and owned by the Ministry of Education and listed and published by NZQA.
At the top of each page, you will see the standard number and the version number. For this example, the subject is English, and the domain is English Written Language. We can see that the title of AS90853 is ‘Use information literacy skills to form conclusions.' Each standard has a credit value. Each credit represents ten notional hours of teaching, learning, and assessment. The level reflects the complexity of the skills and the knowledge that are recognised by the standard, together with the breadth and/or depth in the field of study or work.
Standards achieved by candidates are recorded on the New Zealand Record of Achievement, which is managed by NZQA. Because assessment standards are nationally agreed, learners' achievements can be recognised in a number of contexts.
This particular achievement standard was registered on the 17 December 2010. The next review is planned for the 31 December 2019, and the current version, Version 2, was last updated on November 20, 2014. Hope that you found this video useful. If you have any further queries, please email ams@nzqa.govt.nz.
Spotlight 3 Part 1: Introduction and Overview
Duration: 2:23 mins
Part 1 of a three-part video series that talks about how to unpack an internally assessed Achievement Standard.
Video transcript
Below the overview information is a description of what is required to meet the standard. This standard requires that a learner will use information literacy skills to form conclusions.
In this example, the achievement criteria for Achievement, Achievement with Merit, and Achievement with Excellence are specified in the table immediately below. Sometimes these grade names are abbreviated to Achieved, Merit, and Excellence. To achieve this particular standard, learners need to form one or more conclusions. To reach Merit, the next step up, learners must form conclusions that are convincing. For Excellence, another step up, learners must form conclusions that are perceptive. These step-ups are qualitative, not quantitative. This requires a greater depth of understanding as opposed to being more correct.
To unpack these criteria, we will look at the explanatory notes.
Below the Achievement Criteria are the explanatory notes. These provide guidance on how to interpret the standard and what evidence may be expected from learners. The first explanatory note always provides a link to the New Zealand Curriculum and/or Te Marautanga o Aoteroa, outlining where the standard derives from, the depth required, and its alignment. In some cases, but not for this standard, it also provides a link to the teaching and learning guides.
In the explanatory notes, you will find further detail about the step-ups from Achievement, to Merit, to Excellence. This information commonly, but not always, appears in Explanatory Note 2. In the standard, the criteria for Achievement, Merit, and Excellence are impacting Explanatory Notes 5, 6, and 7 respectively. For Achieved, the criteria specify that the learner will form conclusions. The explanatory note highlights that this involves creating ideas and knowledge based on the information that was gathered in the inquiry.
To reach Merit, the learner needs to form conclusions that are convincing. This explanatory note highlights that convincing work needs to display clarity and connectedness to the purpose of the inquiry. For work at Achieved, this may include evidence of opinion, judgment, decision making, or the suggestion of a solution. It may also include evaluation of the conclusion. Learners need to do these things for Achieved, but their work needs to be convincing for Merit.
For a learner to reach Excellence, conclusions need to be perceptive. To step up from Merit to Excellence, learners need to extend beyond conclusions that are convincing and display insight or originality in their thought or in the interpretation of the ideas gathered. Other explanatory notes will provide further detail, context, and/or definitions of key terms used in the Achievement Criteria.
In the standard, for example, Explanatory Note 2 provides context about the learning area. Explanatory Note 3 defines what it means to use information literacy skills. Explanatory Note 4 specifies appropriate types of information that learners may source and that these must be learner-selected. Explanatory Note 8 specifies appropriate forms that the presentation of conclusions may take.
The final explanation note, number 9 for this standard, always provides a link to the Conditions of Assessment.
Hope that you found this video useful. If you have any further queries, please email ams@nzqa.govt.nz.
Spotlight 3 Part 2: Achievement Criteria and Explanatory Notes
Duration: 3:43 mins
Part 2 of a three-part video series that talks about how to unpack an internally assessed Achievement Standard.
Video transcript
There are two additional sections for an internally assessed achievement standard. If this standard replaces prior standards, these details are provided in the Replacement Information.
Under Quality Assurance, you will find details about the consent to assess. All education organisations, including schools, need this consent to assess and report credits for a standard. The requirement to engage with the moderation system prior to assessing and reporting standards is also outlined.
Achievement standards are developed by the Ministry of Education as the standard-setting body. The Ministry of Education also publishes assessment resources to support teachers in assessing the standards. NZQA also provides clarification documents and annotated exemplars to support teachers in assessing the standard.
For internally-assessed achievement standards, such as this one, annotated exemplars provide sample extracts of learner work that are at each grade boundary for that standard: Low Excellence, High Merit, Low Merit, High Achieved, Low Achieved, and High Not Achieved. Each piece of learner work is accompanied by a commentary written by a moderator explaining, in terms of the criteria of the standard, why the learner has received that grade.
To locate the exemplar for a particular standard, go to the subject's landing page, click on All Levels, next to Exemplars of student work, and navigate to the relevant level and standard number.
As time passes, and more learner work is submitted for moderation, some of the details in the explanatory notes may need to be clarified further. To provide clarity about the latest issues that have arisen from moderation, NZQA also publishes clarification documents.
To locate the clarification for a standard, go to the subject's landing page, click on All Levels next to Clarifications, and navigate to the level and standard number for that standard. Hope that you found this video useful. If you have any further queries, please email ams@nzqa.govt.nz.
Spotlight 3 Part 3: Additional information and support material published by NZQA
Duration: 2:24 mins
Part 3 of a three-part video series that talks about how to unpack an internally assessed Achievement Standard.