Consensus moderation meetings
Consensus moderation meetings aim to build common understandings of the course standards that underpin comparability. This is achieved through analysis of the set of completed assessment tasks for a sample of students covering the range of grades at the school. Attendance at a consensus moderation meeting is compulsory for one representative from each school delivering a stage of the course. Meetings will be conducted in Perth and also in Albany, Bunbury-Busselton and Geraldton where the number of schools delivering the stage makes a meeting viable in that region. Schools located more than 200 km from the nearest scheduled venue and unable to send a representative are required to mail the assessment files to the Curriculum Council.
This year consensus moderation meetings for most courses will be held on Monday 20 July (the first day of Term 3). Meetings will be conducted for all WACE courses implemented in 2007, 2008 or 2009 (meetings will not be held for courses implemented in 2005 or 2006 or for any TEE or WSA subjects). Each school is allocated to a consensus moderation group for a course/stage (typically 8-15 schools). Each meeting will be facilitated by an experienced teacher where possible from a school within the group. Details of these meetings will be made available to schools during Term 2
For each unit delivered in Semester 1 (or pair of units if delivering concurrently) each school is required to provide four student assessment files, one at each grade between A and D. For most courses, the file includes all the student’s marked assessment tasks from Semester 1. In other courses (typically for those with a significant practical component), only tasks representing a particular assessment type/s will be requested.
During the meeting, each teacher reviews a random selection of assessment files (typically eight) from schools other than their own and makes an independent grading judgement of each student based on the work provided in the file. All identification of the school and the mark should be removed. These judgements are collated by the facilitator.
At the conclusion of the meeting, each teacher reflects on the grading judgements made by their colleagues to determine any adjustments that may be required for schools’ grades to be comparable.
For schools that are required to mail the assessment files to the Curriculum Council, a group of experienced teachers files will review the files and provide written feedback as would have been received if the school representative had been able to attend a meeting.
Click here for information on registering for 2009 consensus moderation meetings.
