MONITORING STANDARDS IN EDUCATION

Random Sample Assessment Program

MSE Assessment History

Reporting

School Assessment Materials

Forthcoming Assessments

Order Forms

Making Consistent Judgements

Tracking Student Performance

• About the Program
• Who is Assessed
• When are the Assessments
• What is Assessed
• Reporting Results

About the Program

Each year the Department of Education and Training collects, through the Random Sample assessment program, comprehensive information about the standard of student performance in Western Australian government schools. The assessments are part of the Department's public accountability procedures and the results provide a sound basis for initiating developments that will further improve the outcomes of education in government schools.

The Random Sample assessment program began in 1989. Each year students in government schools in each of Years 3, 7 and 10 are tested in one or two of the eight learning areas.

Aspects of learning areas which are assessed through the WALNA testing program are not assessed through the Random Sample assessment program.

Who is Assessed

Government school students from Years 3, 7 and 10 are selected for the assessments. In these years, students reach key points in developmental phases.

Year 3 marks the end of the early childhood phase, Year 7 marks the end of the middle childhood phase and Year 10 marks the end of the compulsory years of schooling, and the end of the early adolescent phase.

In some learning areas, not all cohorts are tested. For example, in the LOTE learning area, students in Year 3 are not included in the assessments.

Approximately ten percent of students in each year group are selected randomly. The method of selection ensures that these students represent a typical cross-section of the population in the government school system.

When are the Assessments

The Random Sample assessments take place in week 8 of term 3 every year.

Schools are notified of their involvement in the weeks prior to the assessments. Not all schools are involved. The sample of students who are selected through the random selection procedures is drawn from most, but not all, schools.

Schools decide the days and times to administer the assessments during the specified week.

In 2003, Speaking and Listening (English) and Media and Visual Art (The Arts) were assessed during the week 8th - 12th September.

What is Assessed

Assessments occur in all key learning areas, as well as in the Social Outcomes of Schooling.

Students are assessed in the significant knowledge, understandings, skills and processes that they are expected to develop in each of the learning areas as they move through the compulsory years of schooling. These outcomes of learning are described in the Curriculum Council's Curriculum Framework (1998). All Department schools are required to plan and structure their learning and teaching programs using the Curriculum Framework.

Eight levels of achievement for each of the key learning areas are detailed in the Outcomes and Standards Framework (Student Outcome Statements).

In MSE assessments, the learning outcomes described in the Curriculum Framework and the Student Outcome Statements in the Outcomes and Standards Framework guide the development of assessment material.

In most cases, all sequenced strands of a learning area are assessed. For example, in the 1997 Random Sample assessment of Science, Year 3, 7 and 10 students were assessed in Life and Living, Energy and Change, Natural and Processed Materials, Earth and Beyond and Investigating Scientifically.

Student performance is reported using the levels of achievement described in the Student Outcome Statements, providing the context for interpreting performance.

Reporting Results

Public reports on the results of student performance in the Random Sample programs are available from MSE. For more information, click on Reporting.