I recently attended a meeting along with approximately 150 concerned parents and teachers on assessment methods in Queensland Schools. It was abundantly clear that the following three changes need to be made to our current assessment system:

1.     Long written assessment pieces should be greatly reduced and / or dropped in physics, chemistry and  maths (and other subjects);

2.     Teachers should be able to use numerical marks when determining a student’s final grade for a subject instead of only being allowed to use criteria matrices/ standards grids. It should be mandatory to add marks in assessment and towards grading;

3.     External exams should be introduced for at least some fraction of the total assessment, (as is already the case in other states).

I am writing to you as I need your help in urgently getting this action taken. Why the urgency? Because the longer it takes for these changes to occur, the more students we are subjecting to undue stress in an inequitable overall ranking system. The more disillusioned teachers, resigning due to the strain of large workloads and/or having had letters of complaints to QSA (Qld Studies Authority) fall on deaf ears. Parents know there is a problem but are unsure about what exactly that problem is and what needs to change. The push for change has been going on for far too long.

Please see the attachment which includes important links and my personal experience of teaching Maths for 16 years in QLD.

Thankyou in advance for any assistance you are able to offer.

I am writing to you in reference to Prof Peter Ridd’s network of teachers, parents and academics about the present assessment in Queensland schools.

To a large degree the assessment drives what goes on in the classes in our schools.

I am a maths/physics teacher at a Brisbane high school. Besides teaching senior maths (Year 11 & 12 Maths B & C) and physics, in the last few years I have been teaching university maths (UQ Math1051 & GU 1200BPS Accelerated Mathematics 1) to some of our accelerated maths students. The difference in assessment between schools and universities is vast. The schools criteria based assessment is complicated, time-consuming and, I think, contributes very little to a better assessment of the students or to better educational outcomes. I think students are learning less content and fewer subject-specific skills. They do have to spend a lot of time on assignments. I think the data supports the assertion that our students are falling behind in both basic numeracy and advanced mathematics. Our students are still bright and hard-working, but we are burdening them and our teachers with a system that is well-meaning but is too complicated, too assignment oriented and leads to lower educational outcomes, e.g., in the standard of students’ knowledge and skill in maths and physics on entering university.

The universities are using simple percentage cut-offs to determine students achievements. They do, however, have to have quality assessment.

I agree with Prof Ridd’s network that:

(a) there is a need for an independent review of the QSA by people who are outside the education industry (with a major input by universities);

(b) long written assessment pieces should be greatly reduced in physics, chemistry and  maths (and other subjects);

(c) marks should be allowed to determine the final grade instead of having to use criteria/ standards grids (criteria can be used to determine the cut-offs for the marks). It should be mandatory to add marks in assessment and towards grading;

(d) external exams be introduced for at least some fraction of the total assessment.