Students drawing conclusions about assessment to inform school change

Figures & data

Table 1. Changes in the Queensland Senior Assessment system.

Changes	1972–2019	2020–onwards
Assessment focus	Year 11 and 12	Year 12
Number of assessment tasks	Portfolios of between 6–12 tasks	4 tasks
Grading scheme	A–E with 5 levels of qualitative standards and criteria	Number based out of 25 or 50, with sub-levels of quality associated with a number range.
Overall grading	On balance judgement against criteria	Addition of numerical grades
Assessment developed by	Secondary teachers for their own classes	Secondary teachers for their own classes, AND one centrally devised and graded task
Quality assurance	Peer moderation by discipline expert panels of student samples after teacher grading	Systemically organised peer endorsement of assessment designs prior to student completion, and peer confirmation of student samples after teacher grading

Table 2. Coding of student drawing ‘If assessment was a food’: responses for students who were interviewed.

Dominant features	Dominant words in annotation	Emotion	Locus of control (agency)	Assessment literacies (purposes)
Passion fruit (Figure 1)	Sour unhealthy, stressful, painful, many layers	1	1	1
Coconut (Figure 2)	Hard annoying to break, but once you do, they are not that great	1	2	2
Bruschetta, colourful (Figure 3)	Toppings represent nervousness, bread confidence	2	1	2
Bright green Brussels sprouts (Figure 4)	If cooked right, tastes ok, but don’t like it. Depends	2	2	3
Baked potato, hot	Need a lot of work, put in the study, cook in test	2	2	3
Onion with layers as hard, piece of cake	Each layer difficult to understand	2	1	2
Mashed potato without flavouring	Bland mashed potato – can be pleasing or depressing. Healthy or fattening	2	2	3
Baked potato, hot	Need a lot of work, put in the study, cook in test	2	2	3
Snickers bar	Difficult to eat. Sticky nougat, hard to eat, when done, delightful	2	1	2
Asparagus	Kids hate it but parents make them eat it	1	1	2
Brussels sprouts and kiwi fruit	Horrible when first start, better when finished.	2	1	2
Lemon	Can be sweet or sour depending. Hard exam as sour well prepared as sweet	2	2	2
Nutrient shake with veggies	Compulsory but not enjoyable. Extremely good for you	2	3	1
Pizza – colourful	Can choose toppings, like how much you pay attention. Can burn if not paying attention	2	3	2
Coconut	Hard annoying to break, but once you do, they are not that great	1	2	2
3 pineapples	Although good for you, still sour and hard to eat	2	2	2
Plum	Outside always sour, inside (result) can be juicy and sweet or sour and hard	2	1	2
		1 — Mostly negative	1 - Mostly teacher centric	1 - Assessment as separate
		2 — Both negative and positive	2 - Students make some choices	2 - Formative events
		3 — Mostly positive	3 - Shared responsibility T & St	3 - Assessment linked to daily learning

Figure 1. Passionfruit. The annotation reads ‘Passionfruit is sour like the stressful studying and pain of an assessment and on the outside it’s plain and not colourful like a paper and there are many layers to passionfruit just like there are many pages’.

Figure 2. Coconut The annotation reads ‘Coconuts are hard and annoying to break and once you do they aren’t that bad but aren’t great’.

Figure 3. Bruschetta. The annotation reads ‘My bruschetta represents going forward into an exam either confident or nervous. The realisation is usually that when you were confident, the test was hard and when the test was easy, you were nervous. The topping on the bread represents nervousness and the bread shows confidence’.

Figure 4. Brussels sprouts. The annotation reads, ‘I chose brussel sprouts because I don’t like brussel sprouts and don’t like assessments. If you cook them right they taste ok but if you cook it wrong it tastes horrible’.

Table 3. Summary of codes for drawings and annotations.

Analytic codes	Rating	Number of student responses in sample	Percentage of responses in sample
Type of emotion
Mostly negative	1	7	15.5%
Both negative and positive	2	34	75.5%
Mostly positive	3	4	9%
Locus of control (agency)
The locus of control is with the teacher, who makes decisions about learning activities and assessment.	1	16	35.5%
Students are able to suggest or negotiate some aspects of learning activities and assessment.	2	16	35.5%
There is shared responsibility for learning activities and assessment between the teacher and the students.	3	13	29%
Assessment literacies – Concepts of knowledge and purposes of assessment
Assessment occurs as a separate event to learning.	1	28	62%
Formative assessment events and practices used to make decisions.	2	13	29%
A range of assessment practices are a part of daily practice and linked to daily learning.	3	4	9%

Table 4. Sample coding from analysis of student focus group interviews.

Cultural Emergent^1 Properties (-CEP barriers, +CEP enablers)		Structural Emergent Properties (-SEP barriers, +SEP enablers)
Theme 1:	Expectations of stress
−CEP expectation of stress	Brussels sprouts and I don’t really love assessment, because it puts a lot of pressure on you and you get really stressed out and stuff.	-SEP, not aligned with learning	Almost 90% of the definitions that we had to learn weren’t even on the test – and they were so hard to learn … everyone was stressing out.
−CEP grade level expectations	Grade 7 we’re not that far into high school and we’re already very worked up about results.	-SEP, all in one week	Most of the assessments they’re all in one week. I’d prefer if they were all spread out a bit more, because I feel like in week eight I’m really stressed.
−CEP unpredictable	It can be good for you, because it could be healthy, but if it’s someone else it might be unhealthy. It’s quite unreliable.	-SEP, tests with long lists to learn	You need to make sure that you know absolutely everything on the list, otherwise you’ll fail your test and become stressful. Even though sometimes not everything on the list is going to be on the test, but it still makes you feel stressed, like you need to know it all.
Theme 2	Desire for structures that build confidence
CEP +connection to interests	the classes leading up need to be interesting and they need to involve your own interests. It just needs to connect with you more, so everyone has different flavours, if that makes sense.	-SEP exams unpredictable/lack of control	Sometimes when you go into an exam you’re really confident and then the exam you just completely find the exam really hard to understand.
+CEP connects everything	I feel like assessment it’s like not just the actual test, but it’s everything you’ve worked on the entire term, even if it’s not like your mark. So everything in your recipe is like – has to come together otherwise it just won’t work.	+SEP learning intentions displayed	If you miss part of the lesson you know that you can go back and check it and you’re not just running along a loose end.
+CEP – differentiate. know different starting points	Math. If we’re working on something like maybe fractions the teacher has to remember all the different skills that are involved to know how to divide and multiply fractions. If he doesn’t cover everything then – obviously, everyone comes from different schools, so he needs to – or she needs to know where everyone’s at.	−SEP lack of resources in tests	With an assignment you can use your class notes right in front of you to write it up. Whereas in a test, you’re not allowed anything but your pencil.
		+SEP materials that prepare	Most teachers give out criteria sheets and I tend to go over them. For a report, they go over the criteria sheet and for written in class exams they give you objective sheets or you just go over all your workbooks.
-CEP group, not left guessing	Sometimes I think I know what I’m doing, but then when I actually got my results back I’m like, oh, I didn’t know what I was doing, so how do I know to get help. So I think they should do it as a group so that you’re not left to guess whether you’re thinking it’s correct or not.	+ SEP variety of assessment types	A lot of subjects have different types of assessment. It’s not just where you get an essay and you have to write that for English every single term. They might do tests and they might do orals or reports or things like that, that can really – and then the teachers can identify what strengths students have and they can help them build their other strengths so they can do well …. I like that.
Theme 3	Structural time pressures affect wellbeing
-/+CEP Revisiting ideas helps	If you forget it you can always come back to it, but you can’t do that in a test.	+ SEP more time helps	I prefer having a longer time frame so I can make sure that I’ve done everything that I want to do and everything that’s done right.
−CEP Too much stuff to get done	It’s not fair, because you only have one childhood so you want to make the best of it, but at the same time if there’s too much school stuff to try and get done while also having the fun of being a kid, it just doesn’t work together.	−SEP too crowded	In previous terms they would have been all in the same week … one day where we had two exams right after each other … That was really hard. So you’re not trying to also try and learn science and maths stuff at the exact same time and then get it confused.
+CEP Time to think	Where the teacher gives you reminders or hints – or you could use this method for this as well, or its answer could also be this, and works through it with you, I think you learn better that way …. and they go – it’s getting there, but can you expand on it?	+SEP Time to revise	Most teachers give out criteria sheets and I tend to go over them. For a report, they go over the criteria sheet and for written in class exams they give you objective sheets or you just go over all your workbooks.

Table 5. Thematic summary with barriers, enablers and student suggestions for assessment culture change.

Indications of assessment culture: themes	Student identified barriers to assessment agency	Student identified enablers of assessment agency	Student suggestions for assessment culture change
Expectations of stress	Expecting to be stressed by assessment. Fear of not coping in the future as assessment gets harder.	Recognise that assessment is ‘good for you’ even if not pleasant. Being organised, accepting the school’s high expectations. Wait until before the test to stress.	Question whether stressful expectations were fair for young children. Ease Year 7 students into expectations.
Desire for structures that build confidence	Not sure about what will be assessed. End of term tests that draw from a lot of learning. Not seeing exam papers after getting grades, so learning is not carried forward. Unfamiliar rooms and supervising teachers for exams.	Alignment between what is taught and what was being assessed. Being able to ask for help or learn from assessment results. Teachers who provide structures for note-taking, checking for understanding, checklists and revision plans. Different assessment styles in different subjects adds interest and variety.	Make more use of graded assessment tasks to inform next steps in learning. Make connections in lessons to assessment and check in on student understanding. Provide retrievable notes or ways of making connections between learning and assessment. Conduct assessment in familiar spaces.
Structural time pressures affect wellbeing	Assessment deadlines too close to each other. Impact of time pressure on their family lives, their commitments to sport and their sleep. Having to complete exams even if unwell.	Extended time frames of assignments enabling greater control over how they managed their time and led to more learning.	Less time pressure leading to feeling less anxious, learning more, choosing to do work when feeling well.