Evaluation Of The Year 4 Science Assessment Task - 1177 Words

From evaluation of the Year 4 Science Assessment Task: Animal Habitats, it is evident that validity, reliability, fairness, flexibility and authenticity play an integral role in the planning and assessment process. Therefore, analysis of the strengths and weakness presented within this particular Assessment Task provides a foundation for potential betterment of the teaching and learning experiences provided within the Year 4 Science Assessment Task: Animal Habitats. â€Å"Reliability of assessment refers †¦ [to] when an assessment provides an accurate and precise measurement of student learning [as] it will yield the same, consistent result regardless of when the assessment occurs or who does the marking† (Griffith University, 2016a, para. 1).†¦show more content†¦Furthermore, the language used on the rubric is rather arbitrary as there is minimal distinction between the different achievement categories. For a reliable assessment task, it is imperative that the activities provided facilitate authentic teaching and learning opportunities, in turn increasing the validity, fairness and flexibility of the assessment. Therefore, this misalignment between the marking rubric, the task sheet and the assessment outline weakens the reliability of this Assessment Task. In order for an assessment task to be reliable, it is essential that the content provided and the construction of the assessment task is valid. â€Å"A valid assessment task is a measure of students learning† (Griffith University, 2016d, para. 5). There are numerous varieties of validity, including content validity. Content validity is the degree to which an assessment task encompasses all facets of the assessed content within a specific domain, the task weighting, and the expected levels of thinking. A lack of content validity is prominent throughout the Year 4 Science Assessment Task: Animal Habitats. In regards to content validity: breadth, a number of the content descriptors that have been used within this Assessment Task have been disregarded. For instance, the â€Å"living things have life cycles† (p. 2) content descriptor has not been addressed