SPECIAL ASSESSMENT CONDITIONS

The HOD Learning Support will identify students requiring special assessment conditions using appropriate testing of students on entry. The HOD will also consider referrals from parents, guardians, Housemasters and teachers.

The HOD will arrange or recommend further testing as appropriate, and will generally use the information from reports by educational psychologists to determine what assistance is required in the classroom and during assessment tasks. Teachers will be informed of these students' needs, and provision will be made for them to have valid and fair assessment conditions consistent with the assistance they would normally have as part of their learning environment.

The HOD Learning Support is responsible for making recommendations to NZQA and CIE regarding appropriate assistance for candidates in any external assessments.

AUTHENTICATION OF STUDENT WORK

A number of subjects for national school qualifications are now fully or partially internally assessed by schools. The reason for having assessment done by schools rather than by external examination is that they assess learning objectives for which assessment by external examination is inappropriate (for example, assessment of practical work).

When a student completes a piece of work for internal assessment, the College will make every reasonable effort to ensure that:

• All work submitted by students for assessment is genuinely their own.
• Work submitted for internal assessment is fully undertaken during the year of assessment.
• Students do not submit the same piece of work for more than one assessment task, or use a significant part of one piece of work as part of another piece of work for a different task (in either the same or a different subject), except where it is required by the nature of the standards (as it is in Graphics and Technology for instance).

Departments are expected to adopt some or all of the following procedures to reduce the likelihood of misconduct occurring with internally assessed work. Indeed departments are expected to take appropriate steps to ensure the authenticity of all student work, and not just work submitted for national school qualifications.

• Students should be clearly informed about the above requirements or rules, and about the consequences of breaching the rules.
• When assessment tasks are designed, consideration should be given to minimising the opportunity for misconduct (for example, by controlling or limiting the resources students may use in completing the task, or by setting clear parameters for the task).
• Assessors should change the contexts and questions of assessment tasks from year to year to prevent copying of earlier students' work (unless security is assured or there is no advantage to students in having advance knowledge of the task).
• Teachers should maintain supervision of the research/preparation/completion process by including regular conferencing with students and/or allocating class time to the task so that as much as possible is completed under supervision. Teachers may also require ongoing work to be kept on the school site.
• For items of work which are produced over an extended period (say, longer than two weeks), students should keep any plans, drafts, worksheets or logbooks used in the preparation of the work. Teachers should monitor the development of the work by sighting from time to time the material used by students in their preparation (or by discussions with individual students). The teacher may date stamp the students' work as sighted, or mark it in some way. It may be appropriate to ask for the material acquired during the preparation stages to be handed in with the final work. In any case, students should retain such documents until after the work has been assessed.
• A student may be asked to demonstrate his or her understanding of the work produced - perhaps by a brief discussion with the student, or by an oral presentation by the student to the class. [Care should be taken to ensure that appropriate skills, knowledge and understanding are assessed in this, and not just the oral or presentation skills of the student.]
• A student may be asked for a repeat performance if there is any doubt about authenticity.
• In submitting work for assessment, students should acknowledge all resources used. This includes texts and source material, and the name and status of any person who provided assistance, together with the type and extent of assistance received.
• For internal assessment for any CIE or NZQA qualification, each student must be asked at the time of submitting a piece of work to sign a declaration stating that (except where otherwise acknowledged) the work is the student's own.
• When marked work is returned to students they should be given sufficient opportunity to query the assessment. (See the Appeals Policy.) Teachers should also clarify with individual students any concerns about authentication that arose as a result of assessing the work. This is to minimise any difficulties that may arise if a student queries his or her mark after the release of examination results.

If an HOD has good reason to doubt the authenticity of a piece of work, or is satisfied that there has been a breach of the rules when a student submits work for internal assessment for an NZQA or CIE qualification, then the Deputy Head (Assessment) should be informed and consulted. In general the Deputy Head (Assessment) will:

• award a mark of zero for that piece of work, or award "Not Achieved" for an IAAS or US
• reprimand the student and apply the College's standard disciplinary procedures.

In the case of a serious or repeated breach of the rules, the Deputy Head (Assessment) may

• award a mark of zero for the whole internally assessed component in that subject
• deduct a percentage of the total mark for internal assessment
• or write formally to CIE or the NZQA recommending disqualification of the student from that subject.

The Deputy Head (Assessment) will keep a record of all actions, procedures, and adjustments that are applied in case the student appeals to the NZQA or to CIE.

INTERNALLY ASSESSED NCEA STANDARDS

A) ASSESSMENT REGULATIONS

B) MISCONDUCT, CHEATING, OR COPYING

In the case of any dishonest practice, irregularity, misconduct or breach of assessment rules the NZQA Principal's Nominee must be informed. In general those parties knowingly involved will be given "Not Achieved" for the Standard, and they will also be subject to the College's usual disciplinary procedures. If the misconduct is serious, the NZQA Principal's Nominee may report the matter to the NZQA.

C) FURTHER ASSESSMENT OPPORTUNITIES

No department will be required to offer any further assessment opportunity. It will be up to the discretion of each HOD as to whether any such opportunity is provided, having taken the following into consideration:

• the workload involved in writing, setting up, administering, and marking a further assessment
• the number of students involved
• what might reasonably be expected by students and parents

Any reassessment opportunity provided will be subject to the following rules:

	a)	there is to be a maximum of one further assessment opportunity for each standard in any given calendar year.
	b)	it will be made available to all students entered for the standard regardless of their performance in the first assessment, subject to clauses (c), (d) and (e) below.
	c)	students who were wilfully absent, took self-interest leave, copied, cheated, or misbehaved during the original assessment will not be eligible for reassessment.
	d)	students who hand in work late will not be eligible for reassessment.
	e)	students who, in the opinion of the HOD, did not make a sufficient or proper effort in the first assessment opportunity (or in preparing for that assessment) will not be eligible for reassessment.
	f)	a different assessment task must be used for the reassessment.

The conditions of assessment for the further assessment opportunity must be consistent with the conditions used for the original assessment and students must have access to all available grades (N, A, M or E for Achievement Standards). Students who complete the reassessment will be awarded the better of the two grades they have received.

All students are entitled to re-enter the following year for any Standards they did not achieve.  It is the responsibility of the student to liaise with the HOD concerned to ascertain assessment dates and venues, and to make any necessary arrangements for doing the assessment task.

D) RESUBMISSION

A maximum of one resubmission will be allowed for each assessment opportunity. Resubmissions must be limited to specific aspects of the assessment and to mistakes which students should be capable of discovering and fixing on their own. Resubmissions must be made before the teacher or assessor provides feedback to the class or to individual students about the assessment and before any further teaching takes place. Feedback to a student regarding what must be done before resubmitting work must be general and must not compromise the authenticity of the assessment.

E) APPEALS POLICY

	1.)	Every student is entitled to appeal against a marker's assessment judgements for any internal assessment for any NZQA qualification. In the first instance, concerns about marks or assessment judgements should be discussed with the student's classroom teacher. The student is expected to justify the complaint by reference to the mark scheme or assessment schedule. If the complaint is based on inconsistent marker judgements, then the student must produce at least one other script in evidence of the claim. If there is still some concern about the assessment decision, then either the teacher or student will take the matter to the marker of the task, script, or question for reconsideration. If the student is still unsatisfied, he or she may take the matter to the HOD who will discuss the concern with the student and the marker. The HOD must take into account the assessment judgements made for other students (where possible) to ensure consistency. The HOD's decision will be final, unless the marker and the HOD are the same person, in which case the student may put the appeal in writing to the NZQA Principal's Nominee. The NZQA Principal's Nominee will appoint an appropriate person to review the appeal, and the decision of the reviewer will be final. Unless there are exceptional circumstances, a student must raise any concerns with the classroom teacher within 5 working days of being given the assessment decision. If the matter is taken to the HOD or to the NZQA Principal's Nominee, it must be within 10 working days of being given the decision.
	2.)	Every student is entitled to appeal against any other decision made by an HOD regarding any internal assessment for any NZQA qualification (such as a decision not to allow a reassessment opportunity). The appeal must be submitted in writing to the NZQA Principal's Nominee within 5 working days of the time that the student was informed of the decision. The Principal's Nominee may take the matter to the Assessment Committee if the issues raised are unusual or difficult, or if there are no precedents. The decision made by the Principal's Nominee or Assessment Committee will be final.
	3.)	The Principal's Nominee will keep records of all the actions taken and the decisions made once an appeal reaches his/her office, and will provide an opportunity for the school and the student to sign off on the outcome of the appeal.