Why moderation is important

These include:. In these web pages, we describe the formal processes of moderation. However, some moderation processes will be conducted more informally than others. The essence is that there is common understanding of how to assess progress and achievement within and across schools.

Moderation helps teachers to increase the dependability of the assessment information they gather and the judgments they make about student learning in the curriculum. Traditionally, the main focus of the so-called moderation days was to give teachers a quiet space to do their assessments and occasionally clarify their judgments with a colleague. Also, until now there has been no evaluation of the reliability of assessment judgments. The focus group for this study is the cohort of teachers who are responsible for the assessments.

The assessors who attend the moderation days are mainly specialist EAL teachers who are experienced in using the language and literacy levels, but some are non-specialists with limited experience. As a result of my analysis of the current situation, the main questions to be answered are: How reliable are the assessment data?

How can reliability be improved? In what ways does the moderation process enhance assessment literacy? Back to top. The plan for this case study was to refine and enhance the moderation processes in order to ensure the reliability of the assessment judgments, as well as gathering evidence of this reliability for quality assurance. In doing so, it was intended that the assessment literacy of the assessors would also be enhanced.

It is not a passive process that simply checks how much agreement there is. It is an active process in which assessment judgments are aligned with each other to ensure consistency of interpretation and implementation of standards across the whole system. This reliability check also enabled collection of data to evaluate the level of reliability. Analysis of the data revealed that the assessors who demonstrated the least reliability i.

Assessors also need to be trained to use rubrics to judge student work, so that they come to the same understanding of the descriptors as other assessors. A cornerstone of criterion referenced assessment is the practice of moderation. This practice is very important in ensuring that assessment is fair, transparent, valid and reliable. It is also essential in ensuring that the complexity of learning outcomes is increasing through a degree course.

There are three foci for moderation of assessment at the University of Tasmania, and each has processes which can be followed. Heads of School, or their delegate, should ensure that all staff involved in marking including casual academic staff are prepared. This would include, as a minimum:. Group marking exercise to agree on standards, particularly for large numbers of markers, markers from different cognate areas, or inexperienced markers.

Use of triggers for review of grades awarded in individual assessment tasks before returning the work to the student.

These triggers may be:. The document, Processes for Moderating Results , was endorsed by the ULTC in , and provides a table of these processes, as well as associated comments. Linn, R. Linking results of distinct assessments. Applied Measurement in Education, 6 1 , 83— Maxwell, G. Moderation of teacher judgements in student assessment: Discussion paper on assessment and reporting.

Brisbane: Queensland School Curriculum Council. Implications for moderation proposed changes to senior secondary school syllabuses. Accessed 13 Nov Queensland University of Technology Brisbane Australia.