Trial to assess student achievement in English, Maths and Science

Teachers across the state are using today’s student-free day to compare student assessment and achievement as part of the first statewide trial of Queensland Comparable Assessment Tasks (QCATs).

Education and Training Minister Rod Welford said the tasks had been introduced to ensure students were assessed consistently in the ‘Essential Learnings’ no matter where they went to school.

“QCATs assess what students know and can do in relation to the key learning areas of English, Mathematics and Science,” Mr Welford said.

“Students in Years 4, 6 and 9 at 1300 schools are taking part in the trial this year.

“Since late August, schools have administered the assessment task in one of the three key learning areas.

“Teachers are undertaking moderation meetings in their regions today to ensure consistency of results among schools in their region.

“Schools will then be randomly selected to submit representative samples of student responses to the Queensland Studies Authority (QSA).

“These samples will help to determine the level of consistency of teacher judgments across the state to ensure an ‘A’ in Weipa is equivalent to an ‘A’ in Brisbane.”

Mr Welford said the tasks involved students in problem solving and critical thinking and reasoning.

“This year, schools will trial only one QCAT, according to their geographic location,” he said.

“But from 2009, schools will implement QCATs at Years 4, 6 and 9 in English, Mathematics and Science.”

Mr Welford said QCATs formed part of the Queensland Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting (QCAR) Framework, which has been progressively implemented at all schools from the start of 2008.

“The QCAR Framework has been designed by the QSA, in partnership with schools, to align curriculum, assessment and reporting across Years 1–9,” he said.

Mr Welford said state schools would report student performance in the trial QCATs to parents by the end of this year.

Teachers not involved in today’s moderation of assessment are undertaking professional development and planning.

Media contact: Marnie Stitz on 3237 1000 or 0419 734 985