Moderator's Newsletter - Drama

February 2010

Contents

• Additional resources available for teachers
• Teacher documentation
• Standards causing problems
• Changes to optional teacher-selected evidence
• Best practice workshops
• Further assessment opportunities

Additional resources available for teachers

Specific guidance for individual standards is beginning to be developed on the Resources for Drama homepage. Clarification documents provide guidance with interpretation of criteria within standards. Exemplar documents provide samples of student work at the grade boundaries where this is possible. To date, only written documentation has been able to be included in exemplar development. As a result of this, it has not always been possible to demonstrate the grade boundaries. Often it is the processing noted in the student's work over an extended period of time and the quality of the performance work, which will become factors in the placement of a student at the grade boundary. It is important that written documentation be seen, in most cases, as partial evidence only. Teachers often ask "How much written work?" The exemplars are a way of showing that attainment of grades is not dependent on the quantity but on the quality of the work produced. Two clear pages of writing that specifically address the requirements of the standard are preferable to 20 pages of diary entries that give little evidence for the specific criteria. It is also important to note, that while written documentation is exemplified, this could be replaced, in many instances, with oral documentation.

Drama moderators are working on publishing visual exemplification of performance work. There are issues surrounding the protection of the individual student and the visual publication of performance work where performance rights are involved. Care and considerable thought needs to go into the publication and use of visual exemplification. Teachers will be notified as this exemplification becomes available for use throughout the year.

Resources are also being developed to be of use to the individual teacher in a variety of assessment situations. Teacher comments on specific needs and suggestions for resource materials that would assist assessment practice, such as the gathering of data for specific standards or the development of rubrics to assist quick and simple documentation of evidence for the processing requirements of standards, are welcomed.

Teacher Documentation

A concern in the assessment and moderation of Drama is the submission of written documentation as evidence for the standard. For some students, the writing down of processes can be very difficult and this can result in a student not achieving at the grade where s/he should be.

Standards require the thinking and the developmental processes to be evident for assessment. However, teachers are able to see this evidence and to gather this evidence in a variety of ways. The moderator does not assess the student. The moderator checks to see that the teacher is assessing appropriately against the standard. This means that the moderator is more concerned with how the teacher is making the judgements than with what the student is doing, although the student work needs to be sighted in order to check the teacher judgements.

Evidence for where the student lies within the grades and for how the teacher is making the judgement, is crucial in the moderation process. Before sending in the materials for moderation, the teacher needs to look at the work as if from the perspective of someone who does not know this student; someone who has not followed the student's progress over a number of weeks. The teacher needs to look for where there are gaps in the evidence provided for achievement at a particular grade and fill in these gaps with additional comment.

The teacher's professional judgement will be accepted as long as this meets the requirements of the standard. Teachers are encouraged to also send their final feedback to the student. This can support the judgement, assisting the moderator to see the student more holistically.

Standards causing problems

The following standards are still causing some problems. These are being commented on more fully in a clarifications document that will be published shortly. Points to watch out for:

• Devising at all levels must be centred in active exploration of ideas. Students should not be putting the bulk of their efforts into the writing of a script at level 1 and level 2. The task and the evidence provided need to indicate a process of improvised experimentation in the shaping of the work. The devised work needs to have a clear overall intention. What do the students want to say to the audience through their drama? This intention needs to be stated in the documentation.
  
  
• The difference between the techniques strand at level 2 and level 3 is that at level 2 (90300) the students are not required to interpret the extract for performance in terms of the whole play. It is quite appropriate for the teacher to provide background details for the entire play where an extract from a larger play is being used for assessment; at level 3 (90608) the student is required to interpret the extract in terms of the play. Level 3 requires the student to demonstrate an understanding of the whole play and of how the extract for performance fits into the shape of the play in terms of role development, relationships and motivation. Evidence for 90300 must include a clear statement of interpretation of the extract and an overall intention for the extract. Evidence for 90608 must include clear statements that demonstrate understanding of the role in relation to the whole play. Where teachers select independent monologues for 90608, the student does not have the opportunity to achieve in this standard.
  
  
• 90299. This standard is not about assessment of improvisation skills, as in the Unit Standard 14166. It is about assessment of the combination of techniques in an improvised situation. Where students remain in a "theatre sports" mindset, emphasis often becomes focused on the comic and not on the development of depths within role and situation. Evidence for this standard must include a clear statement of intention. What does the student want the audience to understand through the performance piece and through their individual role in the piece? Explanation for intention is crucial to the assessment as techniques are able to be seen as appropriate only if they fit or serve the purpose or intention of the drama. Preparation for improvised work must not become lengthy or students lapse into devised work, using more stylised forms of presentation. This is not appropriate for improvised drama. It would be appropriate for students to speak about their use of the techniques following the improvised piece. It is not good practice for students to present lengthy documentation for this standard. Such practice would suggest that the student has pondered on possibilities and developed ideas to the point where the drama is no longer improvised.

Changes to optional teacher-selected evidence

Changes from September 2009 (Circular A2009/027)

• The number of samples of student work for optional teacher selected evidence has been increased. Teachers may now send up to ten samples per standard per year.
• The samples for optional evidence feedback can relate to any standard, not just the standard selected for external moderation.
• The samples can be sent at any time throughout the year (through Secondary Moderation, NZQA), not just at the time of the school submission date (directly to moderator).
• The samples do not have to be accompanied by other assessment materials unless the teacher believes they would assist the moderator in understanding their question
• There is no specific turnaround time for samples sent outside the school submission date as this will depend on moderator capacity.

Specific questions can be asked about the samples to help further define the grade boundaries and clarify issues in the assessment of that work. The feedback provided from the moderator does not form part of the official moderation report and is designed to be more developmental in nature. Teachers are encouraged to take this opportunity to engage in professional dialogue to further define the grade boundaries.

Best Practice workshops

The Best Practice workshops have been a wonderful opportunity for teachers and moderator to talk together about the issues encountered in assessment practice. These workshops are continuing in 2010 with a combined focus on level 2 and 3 assessment in the techniques strand (90300 and 90608) and revisiting assessment in devising (90301 and 90609). While the primary focus will be on level 2 and 3 standards, there will also be reference to level 1. Teachers of level 1 standards will benefit from the opportunity to examine how their current work develops across the strands. The workshops will provide opportunity to examine student performance and portfolio work and for discussion of grade boundaries and the differentiation between the grades. Teachers are encouraged to take advantage of the workshops. Issues from these could be picked up and become material for further workshopping in meetings held within the regional branches of Drama NZ.

Further information on the Best Practice Workshops will be available soon.

Further Assessment Opportunities

A key feature of school-based internal assessment is that further opportunities to be assessed can be provided for students who initially fail to achieve their potential at any level, where this is appropriate.

The diversity of practice between schools, and sometimes between departments within a school, regarding the provision of further assessment opportunities for internally assessed standards (sometimes called "reassessment") has led to credibility issues and perceptions of unfairness. Furthermore, further assessment can contribute to over-assessment of students.

After consultation with the sector, from mid-2009 schools were asked to begin implementation of new rules and procedures into their school-wide policies and procedures. The new requirements are part of the 2010 Assessment and Examination Rules and Procedures. The aim of these rules and procedures is to reduce the current diversity of practice, while at the same time allowing teachers to exercise professional judgement in their assessment practice. It is important that teachers and students understand that further assessment opportunities are not mandatory and may not always be practical or feasible to provide. This is particularly so in group - based assessment for Drama.

For a full description of the new rules and procedures refer to the NZQA policy on 'Further Assessment Opportunities' - (Circular S2009/022).

Last updated: 02 March 2010