Category Archives: Assessment

Jez – the old chestnut – ability grouping or streaming – is still being touted as a solution to falling standards!

Posted on January 6, 2024 by mwalker

Sorry Natasha, education editor for the Australian Newspaper, wrote a recent article on the state of education in Australia using the results of the recent PISA tests to say that our students are bored out of their brains at school, … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Data Wise Program, Harvard, Instruction, Reading, Teaching, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Another article tells the same story – postcodes predict education performance.

Posted on January 4, 2024 by mwalker

Reading an article in the Australian newspaper this morning (School system fails ‘fairness’ test, as PISA results show learning gap) which show lower academic performance in areas of socio economic disadvantage, rurality and indigenous communities. Here are some quotes: It … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Data Wise Program, Harvard, school, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Use differing Genre in teaching Reading and Writing

Posted on September 9, 2019 by mwalker

I’ve posted these two images from the work of Cass a reading specialist after recent discussions about the growing effects of NAPLAN particularly on writing. It seems the genre we teach is narrowing to narrative (what sort of narrative I … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Instruction, writing | Leave a comment

Yarra – Darebin Network of Schools

Posted on November 8, 2018 by mwalker

Hi everyone, This post has the requested resources from our day together and some snapshots to remember the highlights: De-identified Primary School Data Inventory 2016 – 2018 DW Minutes sample The Five WHY’s protocol. Compass Points (survey monkey) Leadership-compass-self-assessment   … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Data Wise Program, Harvard, professional learning, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Maribyrnong Network of School Leaders

Posted on October 29, 2018 by mwalker

This post is to follow-up our network day on the first 2 steps of Data Wise. We spoke about answering the WHY question when change is being advocated – as we are about to advocate for change in collaboration in … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, differentiation, Feedback, Instruction, Leadership, Networks of Schools, professional learning, Teaching, Uncategorized, Video Clips | Leave a comment

Why have learning intentions without success criteria?

Posted on July 24, 2017 by mwalker

John, in this 9 min clip, puts the case for why we need to explain what we intend students to learn, why and how they might self assess success. It’s hard to defend the opposite. In this clip John’s work … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, differentiation, Feedback, Instruction, professional learning, Teaching, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Dirty Data!

Posted on May 23, 2017 by mwalker

Well I’m now officially retired as a school principal – no really! I’m sleeping well, planning holidays and of course playing more golf. But what about my mind – it’s not ready to give up as an educator. So I’m … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, school, Teaching, Uncategorized, Video Clips | Leave a comment

Student Reports: a case for change

Posted on November 8, 2016 by mwalker

This is a copy of a post I wrote on my company’s website Well its November again and on the school calendar for teachers all over Australia is the preparation of the end of year student reports. Schools become stress … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Assessment | 1 Comment

Resources by themselves are not sufficient to improve language learning in Victorian or for that matter Australian schools?

Posted on August 14, 2016 by mwalker

Once again students learning another language hits the newspaper headlines: The trouble with languages in primary schools Time to mind our languages Interestingly it hits the headlines in the only state in Australia (Victoria) that mandates languages be taught in … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, China, Chinese Language, curriculum, Sister School | 1 Comment

Revolution School, a must watch documentary on ABC television

Posted on June 5, 2016 by mwalker

There is a new 4 part documentary on our ABC channel called “Revolution School” with the first episode screened last week. I think this is a must watch show for anyone interested in schooling. The ABC took cameras into a normal secondary … Continue reading →

Posted in Accountability, Assessment, Data Wise Program, Harvard, Leadership, professional learning, school, teacher efficacy, Uncategorized | 8 Comments

How do we scaffold what we teach in grammar to student writing?

Posted on June 21, 2015 by mwalker

I often hear teachers complaining or just plain confused about why students don’t transfer what they learn in one context or lesson to their performances in another. They have taught something in grammar (e.g. dependant clauses) or spelling (e.g. letter combinations … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Instruction, Teaching | 2 Comments

DataWise – the community grows at the 2015 on-campus Institute.

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Penny Jayne

The final challenge from the first day of the Data Wise Summer Institute (DWSI) here at Harvard was to encapsulate my learning experiences thus far, in only five words. Mine was; Similar challenges towards systemic improvement. I wanted to share … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Data Wise Program, Harvard, Teaching | 3 Comments

Diving Deep to Build Assessment Literacy – Step 2 of the Data Wise Improvement Process – Day 2

Posted on June 18, 2015 by Penny Jayne

The focus of Day 2 of the Summer Institute is the work around both Organising for Collaborative Work and Building Assessment Literacy, (which comprise the Prepare Phase). At Elsternwick PS with new teachers joining the team and the existing staff … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Data Wise Program, Harvard, Teaching, Travel | 5 Comments

Is the metaphor a leader is like a parent valid?

Posted on April 13, 2015 by mwalker

I have been contemplating a leadership metaphor used by Simon Sinek on a recent Ted Talk: “great leaders are like parents wanting to give their children (employees) opportunities to try and fail in safe ways and to discipline when necessary”. … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, school administration, Teaching | 1 Comment

Do we teach handwriting skills to young writers – OK – when and why?

Posted on March 24, 2015 by mwalker

Recently I was in team meeting where teachers were discussing when to teach 5 year olds handwriting. It got me to thinking about why of my age and the old pen licences which we scrapped at least 10 years ago. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Assessment, Instruction, Teaching, Uncategorized, writing | 5 Comments