Page 14 - Guidance Education 11-12 (2006)

ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION OF STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT 13
All curriculum expectations must be accounted for in instruction, but evaluation focuses on students’ achievement of the overall expectations. A student’s achievement of the overall expec- tations is evaluated on the basis of his or her achievement of related specific expectations.The overall expectations are broad in nature, and the specific expectations define the particular content or scope of the knowledge and skills referred to in the overall expectations.Teachers will use their professional judgement to determine which specific expectations should be used to evaluate achievement of the overall expectations, and which ones will be covered in instruction and assessment (e.g., through direct observation) but not necessarily evaluated.
The characteristics given in the achievement chart (pages 16–17) for level 3 represent the “provincial standard” for achievement of the expectations in a course. A complete picture of overall achievement at level 3 in a course in guidance and career education can be constructed by reading from top to bottom in the shaded column of the achievement chart, headed “70–79% (Level 3)”. Parents of students achieving at level 3 can be confident that their children will be prepared for work in subsequent courses.
Level 1 identifies achievement that falls much below the provincial standard, while still reflect- ing a passing grade. Level 2 identifies achievement that approaches the standard. Level 4 identi- fies achievement that surpasses the standard. It should be noted that achievement at level 4 does not mean that the student has achieved expectations beyond those specified for a particu- lar course. It indicates that the student has achieved all or almost all of the expectations for that course, and that he or she demonstrates the ability to use the specified knowledge and skills in more sophisticated ways than a student achieving at level 3.
The Ministry of Education has provided teachers with materials that will assist them in improv- ing their assessment methods and strategies and, hence, their assessment of student achievement.
Achievement Chart for Guidance and Career Education
The achievement chart that follows identifies four categories of knowledge and skills in guid- ance and career education.The achievement chart is a standard province-wide guide to be used by teachers. It enables teachers to make judgements about student work that are based on clear performance standards and on a body of evidence collected over time.
The purpose of the achievement chart is to:
• provide a common framework that encompasses all curriculum expectations for all courses outlined in this document;
• guide the development of quality assessment tasks and tools (including rubrics);
• help teachers to plan instruction for learning;
• assist teachers in providing meaningful feedback to students;
• providevariouscategoriesandcriteriawithwhichtoassessandevaluatestudents’learning.