The Teacher’s Voice in Educational Assessment

Professor Jim Tognolini from the Centre for Educational Measurement and Assessment (CEMA), University of Sydney asserts that assessment is a central activity in all education and that its main function is to improve learning. He stresses that the teacher's voice and professional judgement are essential in this process. "Assessment is the professional judgement [of the teacher] based on an image of what the student knows and can and cannot do. [It is the] monitoring of that image along a developmental continuum over time." "We have to have confidence in assessment and our ability to do assessment well." "People equate data to NAPLAN or test scores. No! Data is things you observe [about students]. It is qualitative. It's quantitative." "We have to educate our communities [about assessment]. They have to understand that NAPLAN is just one more bit of information." "Our schools are swamped by evidence and data. We've got to have a way to think about it in a contextualised way." For information about CPL Podcast contributors, as well as Off Class episodes, Journal of Professional Learning articles and Centre for Professional Learning courses, please visit our website www.cpl.asn.au