Internal assessment and ratings

Each year, schools are required to report students’ final internal ratings to TASC in Term 4. The reporting and verification period aligns with the written exam period and ensures the correct internal ratings are included in students’ statements of results.

For details about the submission and verification process, see the dedicated webpage for information on the Final internal rating submission and verification process.

Schools must run an Internal Ratings Verification Report during the verification period to confirm that all entered ratings are correct.

The reports are downloadable as PDFs at the TASC course level, i.e. Level 3 and Level 4 courses and as a separate report for Level 1, 2 and Preliminary courses.

If corrections for any of the internal ratings are required, it is the responsibility of school to ensure that the corrections are made before the closing date of the verification period.

See the dedicated webpage for information on the final internal rating submission and verification process – Final internal rating submission and verification

A printable resource about the verification period is available for schools to share with staff. Please note, there is a different information sheet for Government schools and Catholic and independent schools.

• DECYP/government schools – Internal Ratings Verification Information Sheet
• Non-DECYP/Catholic and Independent schools – Internal Ratings Verification Information Sheet

TASC-accredited senior secondary courses identify the learning outcomes to be assessed and their related standards. The number of learning outcomes assessed and the way standards are defined varies between courses. Students are assigned ratings, one rating for each of the assessed learning outcomes. Some courses have a scale or range of ratings (e.g. ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’) defined by the standards. Other courses have only a ‘C’ rating (e.g. ‘satisfactory’ standard) defined.

Qualifications (certificates and results statements) are issued by TASC at the end of a year. A qualification includes the Course Name, Level and the overall Award achieved. The Award is based on levels of achievement (ratings) on the set of a course’s assessed learning outcomes. The Award requirements are defined within individual course documents. When there is an external assessment component, ratings from both the external and internal assessment are used to decide an Award.

The overall Award students can receive for a TASC course are:

EA – Exceptional Achievement
HA – High Achievement
CA – Commendable Achievement
SA – Satisfactory Achievement
PA – Preliminary Achievement
LA – Limited Achievement (previously recorded as NN).

Provider-based assessment (internal assessment) must gather information on learner achievement in terms of the assessed learning outcomes, standards, procedures and any work requirements specified in the course documentation. Providers choose assessment and recording methods that meet these requirements.

Planning course delivery and assessment

A scope and sequence document is an articulated plan for the delivery and assessment of a course. There is no TASC-prescribed format for such a plan. Typical formats include: spreadsheets; tables; and written documents. In some cases the delivery of the course might be in one scope and sequence document, and the assessment plan expressed as a matrix in a separate document.

A scope and sequence document has the following characteristics:

• a clear sequence indicating time. Time might be represented as lessons, days or weeks within terms. For example, a scope and sequence document might be broken down into teaching weeks within terms. In its totality the scope and sequence document will capture the complete period of delivery and assessment of the course
• a clear indication of course contents delivery (units, topics, subtopics, activities as per the course document) mapped to the sequence indicator. These may be supplemented by learning activities/lesson titles using school-based terms, and resources to be used.
• a clear indication of the major assessment tasks that will be undertaken by learners, and the criterion/ia each task assesses. These are mapped to the sequence and content delivery indicators.

It is understood that scope and sequence documents may require modification during the teaching and learning process to account for changes to initial plans.

Examples are given in the attached document: Planning Course Delivery and Assessment – Information on Scope and Sequence.

Assessment Tasks

Providers must make sure that learners know the learning outcomes and standards against which their achievement is going to be assessed (they should know what is expected). When learners know how their achievement is being judged, they can monitor their progress and set targets for achievement. Documents that explain the assessed learning outcomes and standards to learners should be made available to learners.

Summative assessment tasks should include information identifying:

• the criterion/ia (and specific standard elements where appropriate) that will be assessed by a task
• the relative weighting/significance of the task to the overall assessment of the criterion/ia
• performance indicators to guide learners about the required characteristics of work to meet standards/ratings. While these are typically based on the criterion/ia standard elements to be assessed, performance indicators can serve to contextualise standard elements in light of the specific requirements of a particular assessment instrument.

Frequency of assessment

Teachers/assessors should schedule sufficient assessment tasks to enable them to provide valid, fair and reliable assessments. Once having clearly achieved a standard, learners should be provided with opportunities to improve their criteria ratings, or to focus on other assessed learning outcomes where remaining time could be spent to improve achievement.

Course providers should determine:

• when to use developmental forms of assessment (formative assessments which do not contribute to final assessments) to provide assessment experience for learners or to assess the progress of learners
• when to schedule assessments that contribute to learners’ final assessment (see ‘Planning course delivery and assessment’ above)
• the extent to which learners are permitted to undertake additional summative assessment tasks so that the opportunity exists for them to best demonstrate achievement of particular assessed learning outcomes.

Validity of assessment

The assessment program for a TASC course should be a set of tasks that provides comprehensive coverage of all assessed learning outcomes and meets the requirements of the course.
Providers should use diverse assessment methods, for example, observations, assignments, tests, peer and self-assessment, and oral presentations, and should ensure that the methods selected enable learners clearly to demonstrate achievement. Tasks can be designed to enable assessment of more than one criterion (including external assessment tasks). It is most unlikely, however, that all the assessment requirements for a course could be assessed using one single piece of work.
Providers should take care not to over assess a particular learning outcome by including it as an assessable aspect of many tasks. For example, it is feasible to assess a particular learning outcome, such as “communicate ideas and information”, in almost everything a learner undertakes in a course.

Assessment quality and equity

Assessment instruments specify the tasks which measure learners’ attainment of the knowledge, skills, and competencies defined in and required by a course. Providers should take care that assessment tasks and conditions do not privilege certain groups of learners because of varying socio-economic, cultural, gender, and linguistic backgrounds. External assessments are expected to meet these standards for quality and equity.

Each assessment instrument should:

• give learners clear and definite instructions
• specify the assessed learning outcomes for which it has been set (even though these may differ according to the needs of the individuals in the class)
• in the case of summative assessments, be used under clear, definite and specified conditions that are substantially the same for all
• be used under conditions that do not present an inappropriate barrier to the equal participation of all.

Each assessment task should:

• clearly assess what it is intended to assess
• include specialist language or jargon only as an aid to clarity and accuracy
• avoid unnecessary reference to gender, socio-economic, ethnic or other cultural stereotypes
• maximise learners’ opportunities to demonstrate achievement by being clearly presented through appropriate choice of layout, cues and visual design
• use as background material and require as assumed knowledge only that to which learners may reasonably be expected to have had ready access.

For student’ internal assessments to be approved by TASC, providers must ensure that:

• the course of study complies with requirements specified in the course documentation
• each learner’s performance is assessed against assessed learning outcomes stated in the course against the standards provided by TASC for that course
• they comply with all quality assurance requirements for the course.
• they have processes for ensuring comparability of learner results within their organisation – see Standard 5 of the Standards for the provision of TASC-accredited senior secondary courses.

Assessment records

Each assessment should refer specifically to course standards to provide advice, which guides learners towards specific improvement. Use of codes (e.g. A+, A, A-, B+, B, B- etc) or of marks (e.g. 1-10, %) should be avoided if these have no specific reference to course standards.

Problems can arise where teachers use ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘C’ ratings to indicate progress towards the acquisition of a standard. This is most confusing particularly where the final rating is lower than the one issued as a progress indicator. If using such ratings as progress indicators an explanation of this is recommended.

Formal assessment records are to be maintained by the provider. The format of such records is not prescribed by TASC. They may, for example, take the form of traditional mark books or spreadsheets. Assessment records indicate the:

• nature of individual assessment tasks (e.g. Algebra Test 1, ‘Impact of Tourism’ Essay, ‘Beach Environment’ Project, Short fact test 3)
• criterion/ia assessed
• standard/s evidenced in the learner’s work (e.g. marks, grades, percentages comments)
• date of the assessment
• relative weighting of the assessment instrument to the overall final rating.

Additionally assessment records should:

• be backed-up in some way in case of the loss of the original
• include notations regarding the final internal assessment methodology. This statement describes the way in which the various marks/grades from individual assessments will be used to derive the final ratings to be reported to TASC at the end of the year
• be retained by the provider (for example, for reference if an individual teacher is on extended leave or transfers during the year). Assessment records may be required for TASC quality assurance purposes.

Reporting internal assessments

Reporting progress to students
Ratings (‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’) are summary statements defined by standards. Awards (such as EA, HA, CA, SA, and PA) acknowledge the learner’s overall achievement at the end of a course of study.
It can cause confusion when providers report progress using symbols adopted by TASC to describe final assessments.
Our advice to any provider that does use EA, HA, CA, SA, and PA awards, and ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ ratings as indicators of progress is that it should:

• make every effort to reduce the confusion this causes by stating very clearly that such reports are of progress towards that final assessment
• be clear that these reports are not a commitment that a learner will achieve this rating/award
• give clear indications of what improvements need to be made.

Reporting final internal assessments to TASC
Registered course providers deliver and assess TASC-accredited courses, and report learner achievement against course criteria to TASC at the end of each academic year. TASC issues learners with qualifications based on these reported results. TASC must have confidence in the reliability, validity and integrity of the results reported by course providers. Such confidence is gained through a range of quality assurance methodologies. In extreme cases TASC might reject a provider’s final ratings or adjust them if there is evidence to justify this, for example, if:

• assessment procedures have not been followed
• TASC’s monitoring processes identify significant anomalies within a school with respect to the pattern of ratings between classes or between some assessed learning outcomes
• TASC quality assurance requirements have not been met and/or recommendations have been rejected.

For more information about the determination of final internal ratings to be reported to TASC, see the internal assessment document.
For more information on the process to submit internal ratings and the verification process, see Final internal rating submission and verification.

Changes to internal assessments
TASC will only accept changes to internal assessments after a school has checked and returned its awards and ratings where the principal provides sufficient evidence that a mistake was made due to administrative error.

Archived samples of student work

A number of Level 2 courses have a quality assurance process that requires providers to table evidence – at the time of audit – of archived samples of individual’s work, sufficient to illustrate the borderline between work judged as a SA or PA awards (in specific Level 2 courses where this is a quality assurance requirement). To check if a course has this requirement, check the ‘Quality Assurance’ section of the course document. For further information about this requirement, see Archived Samples of Student Work.

See the information about internal moderation of assessments.

Once teaching and learning has commenced some students may want to move to a different level course. This may lead to a learner moving, for example, from a Level 2 to a Level 3 course in the same learning area, or from a Level 3 to a Level 2 course. In such cases providers must:

• give careful consideration to the re-assessment of previously completed assessment tasks against the criterion/ia and standards of the ‘new’ course
• ensure that all the course contents and work requirements of the ‘new’ course are completed by the learner
• be mindful of the impact of such changes on TASC quality assurance requirements and processes

It is expected that movement of students between courses would be completed early in the academic year as individuals’ needs become apparent. Early intervention is required so as to give learners as much time as possible to complete course contents and work requirements, and to have adequate opportunities for formative and summative assessments against the criterion/ia and standards of the ‘new’ course.

Chronic or frequent illness
Students frequently absent through illness may require special arrangements and it is necessary to contact parents as soon as possible.

Arrangements could be made to enable learners to:

• complete their educational program and assessment tasks at home, with teacher support
• transfer their enrolment to flexible learning programs
• reduce the number of subjects they are attempting.

Missed assessment

Students who have missed assessments because of transfer from one school to another, or because of starting a subject late in the school year, should be given an opportunity to demonstrate their achievement against all learning outcomes. This does not necessarily mean that more tasks have to be completed, but it may mean that more criteria will need to be assessed within the task.

When selecting a course, learners should be made aware of difficulties associated with the delayed start, and what is expected of them because of their late entry. They should be made aware of the assessment program and the problems it may cause them by having to demonstrate progress where other learners have already had such an opportunity. They need to be made aware that for them tasks may be used to provide evidence of achievement of a greater number of learning outcomes than is expected from other learners in the class.

Students unable to complete tasks due to injury or illness
It is the responsibility of providers to determine appropriate strategies to allow sick or injured learners to demonstrate achievement of internally assessed criteria.

Students unable to complete tasks due to cultural beliefs
Students unable to complete assessment tasks because of their cultural beliefs may be provided with alternative opportunities to demonstrate their achievement of course requirements.

Providers unable to devise suitable assessment strategies in particular cases should contact TASC to negotiate possible assessment options.

Providers should:

• counsel learners so that they do not select subjects which contain content or assessment elements that do not fit with their cultural beliefs
• offer learners alternative assessment strategies that conform with TASC course requirements.

Students with interrupted studies (e.g. learners undertaking overseas exchange programs)
Some students take up overseas scholarships and similar opportunities that require them to interrupt their senior secondary studies, and so need to spread one year of their studies over two calendar years.

Students wishing to undertake studies spread over two calendar years must:

• make arrangements with their learning provider to complete the year’s study over two years before they leave
• be aware that some courses require different material each year (for example, English texts may change) and therefore such courses may not be suitable to study over two years
• check with their school to find out if major changes to courses are planned in the two-year period
• complete any external assessment requirements at the end of the second year.

The provider should collect and keep a detailed record of the student’s assessment for each criterion in each course. All work that has been assessed should be kept.

A student who has completed all the internal requirements of a course with an external examination before leaving for overseas can apply to sit the external examination at an approved centre in the country they are travelling to.