New+Level+Two+Internals

Guidance for AS91204
The standard requires that students demonstrate understanding of the relationship between an aspect of the classical world and other cultures. Ideally, this should be viewed as another culture or cultures. Depending on the context, it may be appropriate for students to refer to one or more cultures. For example, the relationship between classical architecture and architecture of another city/civilisation (e.g. Christchurch and ancient Rome) would be sufficient in itself for one culture. However, if the context was something more broad, such as views on death or burial rituals, the students would be more likely to demonstrate perceptive understanding, and therefore meet Excellence, by looking at more than one culture.

Annotated Exemplars – Aligned Level 2 Standards
To assist Classical Studies teachers with assessment of the realigned Achievement Standards, annotated exemplars of student evidence for each of realigned Level 2 Achievement Standards are available through the [|Classical Studies exemplars] page on the NZQA website. Exemplars of expected student responses for 91024 and 91025 are also available. Annotated exemplars of the realigned Level 3 standards will be published later in the year.

Useful websites

 * NZQA subject page for [|Classical Studies]
 * Grade boundary [|exemplars] are available for all Level 1 and 2 standards. The annotations provide guidance and clarification of assessment issues
 * [|Conditions of Assessment Guidelines index]
 * [|Teaching and Learning guides] for Classical Studies

Group work and oral presentations
The requirement for teachers to include evidence of individual student performances in their moderation submissions can present problems in the cases of group and oral activities which have not included written components.

Group activities and oral presentations provide co-operative learning strategies which reinforce the values and key competencies of the New Zealand Curriculum. These activities may include speeches, PowerPoint presentations, seminars, role play, debates, video presentations etc. While these activities demand particular skills, such as public speaking skills, it is inappropriate to assess students on the quality of their performances.

Group work provides a range of learning benefits, however, care needs to be taken to ensure that individual contributions can be clearly identified both for assessment and moderation purposes. Strategies for this may include personal journals and workbooks, personal research and preparation notes, designated individual contributions to a larger project, annotated speech notes, annotated PowerPoint printouts, or teacher observation and recording of a student’s participation.

Taped and videoed activities are acceptable, however, teachers should ensure that tapes are audible, videos are visible and individual contributions can be clearly identified, again for both assessment and moderation purposes.

Contents

 * [|Submission of materials for moderation – what is expected]
 * [|Teacher comment on student evidence]
 * [|Using TKI resources]
 * [|Exemplars that demonstrate the national standard]
 * [|Further assessment opportunities]
 * [|Course endorsements in Classical Studies]

Submission of materials for moderation – what is expected
The official cover sheet that clearly indicates: A task that meets the requirements of the standard makes relevant reference to the context for assessment and provides clear conditions that outline how assessment will take place and how you will collect data for assessment. Where a TKI task is used but the context is altered e.g. in90250 //Antigone// is altered to //Homer’s// //Odyssey// or in 90514 //Darius// is altered to //Alexande//r, these changes must be reflected in the wording of the task. Modification needs to be evident in the task and should be noted on the cover page. Where a task has been modified it is not necessary to provide the moderator with a copy of the original task. An assessment schedule needs to reflect the context of the assessment and should include both evidence statements of possible student responses at each of the levels and measurable judgement statements specific to the context for assessment.
 * 1) the standard and version number
 * 2) whether the materials are your own work, commercial materials, modified MOE/NZQA materials or other e.g. unmodified MOE/NZQA materials
 * 3) identification of the students with grades stated. In some cases the grades listed on the cover sheet have differed from those written on student mark sheets or student work. Please check this prior to submitting the material. This will assist the moderator in verifying the judgement call. Where the judgement call is unclear, the moderator is not able to carry out this verification. In such cases the student will not be listed under 'student assessed work', but the evidence will be commented on in the front page 'commentary', in order to provide some feedback on the materials received.

Teacher comment on student evidence
Some teachers have asked whether they need to, or should, submit any sheets used by assessors to provide feedback to students with their moderation materials. There is no obligation to do so, however, the feedback sheets, especially when they outline the judgements, sometimes allow for more specific moderator feedback. The verification of assessment decisions is assisted when teachers provide the moderator with the rationale for the grade given.

Using TKI resources
When modifying sample resources, care must be taken to ensure that the intent of the standard is maintained. Rewritten task instructions should be checked against the criteria of the standard to ensure that the tasks of the modified activity are fully aligned with the specific requirements of the standard. It is very important that the judgement and evidence statements of the modified activity relate to the context established in the modified activity. It is inappropriate to use the evidence statements provided in the sample resource if these do not relate to the context established by the activities of the modified activity.

Exemplars that demonstrate the national standard
A range of annotated exemplars are currently being developed and will appear soon on the Classical Studies subject specific page. Teachers may find these useful in identifying the national standard for the various achievement criteria of the Achievement Standards. The exemplars will focus on where the boundaries lie between the three main levels of achievement (A/M/E). As these exemplars are in the public domain, teachers may also wish to refer students to them so that students, also, can identify the standard required for achievement.

Further assessment opportunities
A key feature of school-based internal assessment is that further opportunities to be assessed can be provided for students. New rules relating to reassessment and resubmission are in place for this year. For resubmission, some important points to note are: For reassessment:
 * The problem must be able to be resolved rapidly
 * Students must be capable of finding and correcting the mistakes on their own
 * Teacher feedback must be general
 * It must take place before the class is given back their work
 * It must be given before any more teaching has occurred
 * Evidence must be kept
 * A maximum of one reassessment can be offered per standard
 * It is not a requirement to offer a reassessment for every standard
 * If a further reassessment opportunity is offered, it must be offered to all students, regardless of their previous grade
 * Students must be awarded the highest grade of the two opportunities

Course endorsement in Classical Studies
Course endorsement is an integral part of the NCEA improvements package. From 2011, course endorsement will provide recognition for students who perform exceptionally well in individual courses. Students will be able to have their strengths in individual courses recognised with a course endorsement at Merit or Excellence. The key objective of endorsement is to motivate students to achieve their potential in one or more courses. Students will gain an endorsement for a course where they achieve: For a full description of the procedures refer to SecQual circular [|S2010-014]
 * 14 or more credits at Merit or Excellence at the lower level that supports the endorsement
 * at least 3 credits from externally assessed standards and 3 credits from internally assessed standards
 * sufficient credits in a single school year.