In this module you will learn about best practice for and benefits of moderating student work against a formative assessment rubric. Moderation is an important process that ensures consistency of judgments between teachers. This module outlines practical approaches to making moderation a positive professional experience for the teachers involved.
Activities
1. Watch the video 'Moderate'
This video outlines best practice in moderating student work using a formative assessment rubric. The benefits of moderating student work are also explored.
The video duration is 5 minutes 35 seconds.
Module 5 – Moderate video transcript
Module 5 – Moderate PowerPoint
2. Decide whether to moderate student work
Does your school currently moderate student work? Moderation could be for tasks completed for either formative or summative purposes. How was it decided to moderate student work and how was the process for moderation selected?
Ask yourself the following questions to help you make a decision about whether to moderate student work.
- Is the same assessment task being marked by more than one teacher? If the answer is ‘yes’ you should try to moderate the student work.
- Is this the first time you have used the formative assessment rubric? If the answer is ‘yes’ you should try to moderate the student work.
You may still decide to moderate student work even if the answer to these questions is ‘no’.
A moderation process may not be required when you are using tasks and rubrics that you are familiar with, but if there are any teachers using the formative assessment task and rubric for the first time, moderation is important to ensure consistency in interpretation.
3. Make moderation a positive and effective process
Reflect on the helpful and unhelpful attitudes and dispositions that were highlighted in the video. Have you moderated student work previously? If ‘yes’ how did you find this experience? Have you talked to other teachers in your school about their previous experiences with moderation? How could you use the material in the video to make the moderation process a positive professional experience for yourself and other teacher in your school?
Because teachers are time-poor, it is important to make the moderation process effective. Following the points below.
- Assess the work from students in your class before coming to moderation. This reduces pressure on you and other assessors to make quick judgments in order to keep the meeting short.
- Select a small sample of student to be marked by the other teachers involved. Specify how many samples are to be selected by each teacher and if there are any criteria to be used in the selection process – for example, selecting a high, medium and low sample.
- Discuss any quality criteria in the formative assessment rubric where teachers were not as confident assessing the student work.
- Decide on the process for comparing teacher results, so it is easy to see similarities and differences in teachers’ marking and reach a consensus.
Do you have any additional ideas about how to make moderation effective in your school setting?
4. Focus on the rubric, not the teacher who marked the work
When discussing the student work samples, the focus should be on matching student work to the quality criteria in the formative assessment rubric. Be mindful of the way the work is discussed and how teachers are reconciling differences in judgments. It is important that a teacher does not feel like their work is being criticised. Keep the focus on trying to build consistency between classes.
Research has shown that a belief in the value of collaboration, and a desire to help students by assessing their work accurately, will result in the best outcomes during moderation. Keeping these two things in mind will help you and your colleagues achieve consensus during moderation.
5. Evaluate your work
The outcome of moderation should be that the judgments made about the quality of student performance are the same, no matter which teacher marks the work. Ask yourself and your colleagues if this is the outcome of your moderation sessions. If the answer is ‘no’ what can you do to rectify this situation?
Practice considerations
- Give teachers a chance to talk about how they feel about moderation before you embark on the process. Think about how you could use the lists of helpful and unhelpful attitudes and dispositions to shape this discussion.
- Before undertaking moderation of student work, spend time setting the ‘rules’ that will be followed by all of the teachers involved.
- Disagreements between teachers during moderation often highlight different interpretations of a particular quality criterion. Often this is because the wording in the quality criterion is unclear. Once consensus is reached, the criterion wording should be refined. This is explored in Module 7.
Additional resources
- Wyatt‐Smith, C., Klenowski, V., & Gunn, S. (2010). ‘The centrality of teachers’ judgement practice in assessment: A study of standards in moderation’,
Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 17(1), 59–75.
- Refer to ‘Further reading’ on page 25 of
The Guide to Formative Assessment Rubrics.
Move on to Module 6
Module 6 explores how to interpret and use the evidence gathered. The process for giving feedback to the individual student is highlighted, as well as how you can use evidence to make decisions about what to teach next.
These materials were prepared in 2019. Please note that this area of research is evolving fast, therefore these materials should be supported with additional evidence bases that more accurately reflect best practice after 2024. It is recommended that these materials be used with consideration of updated research after this date.