All staff should plan for assessment at the same time as learning and teaching to produce a range of approaches to assess learner progress. Young people are fully involved in the process and staff have a shared expectation for standards through robust moderation practices.
Assessment practice will follow and reinforce the curriculum and promote high quality learning and teaching approaches. Valid and reliable assessment of all learners’ progress throughout the Broad General Education is crucial in order to support raising attainment, close the attainment gap and ensure that young people are presented for the right pathway during the Senior Phase.
It is crucial that assessment is planned for at the same time as planning for learning and teaching, using the learning, teaching and assessment cycle. All assessments in the BGE are planned using the Es and Os and Benchmarks at the appropriate level and curricular area for young people. A range of assessment evidence is then gathered against Learning Intentions and Success Criteria created by the teacher, and where appropriate, co-created with the learner. Young people should have the opportunity to demonstrate their learning in different ways throughout the BGE.
Learners are assessed using four key methods to show their progress through the levels and enable them to demonstrate their achievements in a range of ways which are appropriate to learning. For learners to demonstrate that their progress is secure and that they have achieved a level, they will need opportunities to show that they:
- have achieved a breadth of learning across the experiences and outcomes for an aspect of the curriculum
- can respond to the level of challenge set out in the experiences and outcomes and are moving forward to more challenging learning in some aspects
- can apply what they have learned in new and unfamiliar situations
Ongoing Assessments
Ongoing assessment are a key feature of everyday learning and teaching. With ongoing assessment, teachers should use success criteria in order to determine if the learner has overtaken the learning intention(s). Ongoing assessment should be used in a formative way, providing ongoing feedback to the learner.
Periodic Assessments
A periodic assessment is an opportunity for learners to draw on a range of learning that has taken place over an extended period of time. Periodic assessments are usually summative assessments and may be referred to as end of topic or end of unit tests. Pupils may need to study in advance for these assessments.
High Quality Assessments
A High Quality assessment is an assessment that is based on a number of Experiences and Outcomes that have already been covered in class or across classes over an extended period of time. There is no set number of Es and Os that need to be covered, and they can be from one organiser, or from across different organisers.
A High Quality assessment is an opportunity for learners to bring together key learning and skills to carry out the assessment task/s. This could be in the form of a poster, a report, an essay, a talk/discussion, a performance, a problem-solving task etc.
Standardised Assessments
Standardised Assessments are those which use a method built on the principle of consistency. As such, all learners answer the same questions in the same way and are then scored in a standard or consistent way. This allows comparisons of individual or groups of learners. Standardised assessments are typically produced by those external to the establishment. Learners will complete their SNSA assessments in S3.
National Standardised Assessment
Senior Phase
Assessment in the senior phase are planned for using the specifications laid out by the SQA for individual subject areas. Teachers may use a range of assessment approaches outlined above to gather evidence, however senior phase evidence is prescribed by requirements of the SQA as per subject guideline.
