Academic Guide

Assessment Guidelines

For NCEA Assessment Guidelines - click this link NCEA Assessment Guidelines

Internal Assessment Guidelines

ATTENDANCE POLICY:
The school emphasises that regular attendance is critical to student achievement. Also, there are legal requirements for each student to regularly attend school to be eligible for each national qualification. When a student is absent for a cumulative 20 half days or more a Senior Manager will investigate the student's absences. Should the Senior Manager for any reason be concerned then appropriate steps will be taken. This might include an interview with the parents/caregivers and students, medical certificates being required for future absences, and deciding whether the student will be eligible for the national qualification being studied or to progress to the next year's form level. A student will not be excused from school to work on or complete assignments at home.

POLICY FOR OVERDUE AND MISSED STUDENT ASSESSMENTS
Guidelines for Standards-based Assessments:

Students are expected to submit assessments on time. Students unable to do so must liaise with the relevant HOD/FM prior to the deadlines to determine whether an extension will be granted.
Any extension for assignments can only be for a maximum of two weeks. After this time or if no extension has been granted, a Not Achieved award will be given unless there is a re-assessment opportunity for that Achievement or Unit Standard using different content.
All in-class based assessments must be completed on the specified day. Otherwise, a Not Achieved grade must be awarded unless:
a)the teacher has evidence that the student has achieved the particular standard
b)a re-assessment opportunity for that particular standard is provided
If a student is absent on the day an assessment is due then it is the responsibility of the student to arrange for the assessment to be handed in to the school office on the due date, and clearly marked to the attention of the appropriate staff member. A student unable to fulfil this requirement must provide a medical certificate together with the assessment on the day of return to school and give this to the Deputy Principal ( Curriculum ).
If a student fails to submit or participate in two or more assessments on time in a subject, then the HOD/FM will inform the parents/caregivers.
If a student wishes to have a decision on an overdue or missed assessment reviewed, the student must liaise with the Deputy Principal ( Curriculum ) who will make a decision in consultation with the relevant HOD/FM.

AUTHENTICATION OF INTERNALLY ASSESSED WORK
The following will apply to ALL work presented for internal assessment for national qualifications:

All work submitted by students for assessment must genuinely be their own work.
Work submitted for internal assessment must be fully undertaken during the year of assessment.
Students must not accept undue assistance from any person in the preparation of work for submission. As an example, undue assistance would include providing actual adjustments, or dictating or directing the student to insert particular text or other aspects of the work. Students may, however, be given general advice about the nature of adjustments or improvements that could be made to their work.
Teachers should not set work for internal assessment which cannot be authenticated.
In submitting work for assessment, students must acknowledge all resources used. This includes texts, electronic sources and other source material, and the name and status of any person who provided assistance, together with the type of and extent of assistance received.
Each student must be asked at the time of submitting a piece of work to sign a declaration on the approved form stating that the work is the student's own

BREACH OF RULES
Where a breach of rules is suspected when a student submits a piece of work for internal assessment then the teacher in consultation with the appropriate HOD/FM and Deputy Principal ( Curriculum ) should establish if such a breach of rules has taken place. If this is the case the people above will decide if one of the following actions will be taken:

(a)	award a mark of 0 or Not Achieved for that piece of work.
(b)	award a mark of 0 for that component of the particular assignment.
(c)	write formally to NZQA recommending disqualification of the student from that subject, after prior consultation with the Principal, the student and his/her parents or caregivers.
	In all cases parents/caregivers will be informed of the concerns and the subsequent decision.
N.B.	The last option will be used for serious or repeated cases of misconduct, and the procedures set out in Part I Section 8(f) of the general regulations of the Qualifications Authority then apply.

NON AWARD OF GRADES:
If circumstances develop which could jeopardize grade award (either through lack of attendance, lack of satisfactory participation in a course or lack of completion of work set) then, after an initial verbal warning to the student, parents will be notified of the situation which has developed. Time will then be given, in consultation with parents and Dean, for the matter to be remedied. When warnings are disregarded and no acceptable explanation is forthcoming the NZ Qualification Authority will be informed of the situation and the non-award of a grade could result.
The school considers it important to develop a realistic assessment programme - one which maintains standards and presents challenges without unreasonable demands being placed on students. It is obvious that careful planning well ahead of due dates is necessary if commitments are to be met.

NON ENTRY OF A CANDIDATE IN EXTERNAL EXAMINATIONS

All second year candidates at a particular NCEA level will be entered for the external Achievement Standard assessment in their subjects where applicable. There should be no exceptions.
In consultation with the subject Head of Department/Faculty Manager, each subject teacher will determine the most serious under-achievers in their subject classes. The students will be identified according to mid-year (June) examination performance and grades received from class work to date. (Category A). The subject teacher will also determine the most serious cases where candidates are not fulfilling the requirements of the subject as stated in the NZQA School Qualifications Handbook of Regulations and Prescriptions (Category B).
The HOD/FM will collate the responses from subject teachers and give the finalised list of most serious cases (ranked order) to the Deputy Principal ( Curriculum ).
The forwarding of identified student names to the Deputy Principal (Curriculum ) should be within ten days of exams finishing.
The Deputy Principal and Deputy Principal ( Curriculum ) will determine which students should not enter in which subject(s) and/or externally assessed achievement standards, in consultation with the HODs/FM’s.
Identified students will be counselled (teacher and HOD/FM), and the parents consulted by the Deputy Principal ( Curriculum ). This parent communication will initially be in writing, under the signature of the Director of Curriculum and HOD/FM, and suggest an interview for discussion with the HOD/FM or teacher if necessary.
After consultation, if the parents wish for the examination entry to proceed then this can occur. The position of the school is to advise and recommend, not to prevent.
All work requirements and regular attendance must be fulfilled in subjects not entered.

REASSESSMENT OPPORTUNITIES
Provision for one re-assessment opportunity where possible at the discretion of the HODs/FMs will be provided for students who do not demonstrate competence in all of the element criteria specified in a unit standard and also for students who fail to gain an Achievement award in an achievement standard. Students who have attained an achievement standard will not be provided with a re-assessment opportunity. The highest level of award a student can attain on re-assessment of an internally assessed achievement standard is credit.

At the beginning of a course, subject teachers will make all students aware for each Achievement/Unit Standards of any time restraints on when further evidence can be accepted, the means by which they may be reassessed and the students responsibilities in providing the further evidence required. (ie. if any re-assessment opportunity will be given).
During a course students will be informed by their subject teacher of any of the aspects of the unit and /or achievement standard which they have not reached, further evidence they need to produce to satisfy the criteria and any re-assessment opportunity.
The student will be responsible for any reasonable costs involved in reassessment.

APPEALS

Assessment appeals shall be directed in the first instance to the subject teacher between one and four school days (as stipulated by department/faculty regulations) after the task is returned.
In the event of non-resolution of an appeal to the subject teacher, the student may take the appeal to the HOD/FM. If the appeal is still unresolved, the student may appeal to the Deputy Principal ( Curriculum ) whose decision will be final.
Students will be provided with clear information about the grounds for appeal and appeal procedures in the relevant course level Handbook issued at the beginning of the year.

SCHOOL EXAMINATION REQUIREMENTS

Students are required to sit the school mid-year and end-of-year examination in each subject they are studying, regardless of whether they are entered for the external qualification in the subject. The school examination is part of the year's assessment programme and is a school requirement for all students.
In some cases (e g Engineering/Design Technology) students are required to work on projects in lieu of the examination.
Failure to attend an examination because of medical or personal reasons must be verified in writing within 24 hours to the relevant Dean. Medical reasons require a medical certificate from a doctor for the day of sickness or injury. Unexcused absences are regarded as deliberate truancy and result in a 0 grade for the examination. .
A student who has been excused from an examination for a medical or other reason accepted by the Deputy Principal ( Curriculum ) may be required to take the examination on their return to school at a time/date determined between the Dean and subject teacher.

SUBJECT SELECTION

All year 11 and 12 students are required to select SIX subjects (these may be at any level provided the appropriate Head of Department approval is obtained).
Subject selection is made in September for the following year and confirmed at the Pre-enrolment Days at the beginning of the school year