Building on what was covered under ED631, this unit further develops your understanding of assessment and evaluation and how they relate to curriculum, planning and improving practice and learning. The unit engages with educational theory and research related to the integration of assessment processes, evidence of learning, data interpretation and curriculum design for evaluating and improving teaching programs and students’ learning outcomes. Students will also learn how to engage with the Victorian Curriculum F-10, Senior Secondary (Years 11-12) and Australian Curriculum in designing appropriate assessments of learning and planning for teaching. You will develop your understanding of, and capacity, to use a range of formal and informal assessment strategies, including the use and analysis of multiple forms of data, assessment moderation processes and their application to assessing and improving student learning outcomes. The unit covers the purpose and processes of designing activities that provide valid and reliable evidence of learning, designing rubrics that clearly define criteria and communicate achievement standards, and the processes of data analysis to determine student learning and needs. You will examine key issues confronting education and education policy makers, exploring a range of influences on contemporary education policy such as the role of data, and the place of national and global organisations in the policy making process, measuring impact through standardised testing at national level such as NAPLAN, and at international level including such assessments as PISA and TIMMS. The unit covers how to make evidence-based decisions, and apply differentiated practice in response to assessment outcomes. Through this unit, you will examine the purposes of providing timely and appropriate feedback to students on their learning in order to improve their work, set learning goals and self-regulate their learning and progress. The unit covers the purposes and processes of keeping accurate and reliable records of students’ progress and learning outcomes, and a range of reporting processes in order to report learning outcomes to a range of stakeholders, including parents, students, school leaders and external professionals. You will synthesise your knowledge and understanding and relate it to professional practice and your development as a teacher. The professional experience component of this unit entails attending a placement school (primary or secondary respective of the course being completed) for a block of 15 consecutive days. Under the supervision of an experienced teacher you will apply and develop your teaching practices, beginning with a week’s orientation, observing and assisting in the classroom, and gradually progress through team teaching, teaching small groups to teaching whole classes for whole lessons. You will continue to focus on learning through regularly observing and reflecting on experienced teachers’ practices. The same placement school will be attended for this unit and one of ES712 or ES713 (BEd Primary), or ES626 (BEd Secondary). You will attend preparation classes prior to the professional experience placement and a debrief class after its completion. During the placement your supervising teacher will provide you with advice, support and feedback to support your progress and improve your practices, and will assess your teaching against the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers at the graduate level. You are required to incorporate digital technologies in your teaching, learning, preparation and assessment practices displaying improving personal proficiency. As you progress through the Professional Experience, you are expected to demonstrate increasing competence and professional growth and become well immersed in school life. Topics: * A Christian response to assessment, evaluation and curriculum design * Different forms and purposes of formal and informal assessment including diagnostic, formative and summative assessment and the key elements to assessment for learning, of learning and as learning * Instruments for measuring impact on student engagement, participation and learning * Assessment moderation, standards and rubrics * Understanding and using ‘big data’ such as NAPLAN, PAT, PISA, and TIMMS * Theory of effective learning; quality assessment for the 21st Century and making evidence-based decisions * Data analysis, recording and reporting * Strategies and purposes for providing timely and meaningful feedback for learning * Using data for evaluating and improving teaching programs and modify teaching practice to improve students learning against the Victorian Curriculum F-10, Senior Secondary (Years 11-12) and Australian Curriculum * Strategies for engaging parents/carers: what they want and need to know * Preparing for professional experience in school * How to seek and use feedback to improve practice * Reflecting and debriefing on your professional experience in school