Assessment practices at Allenvale are varied according to the specific needs of our student population.

In selecting assessment procedures and practices a great deal of time and effort has gone into sourcing appropriate assessments, particularly for the students learning within the foundation level. This area has always proven difficult in terms of effective assessment because of the complex nature of these students who present with severe and challenging learning needs. Assessments have had to be adapted to serve this population as it is difficult to source appropriate commercially available tools to provide the assessment information required.

Currently, assessment falls into the following domains:

Curriculum based assessments – literacy and numeracy (STAR, Benchmark, NumPA and internal assessment)
Integrated topic assessment – currently covering all learning areas
Learning Stories – narrative assessment
Development of learning progressions and exemplars in writing
Allenvale was involved in the Assess to Learn (AtoL) contract during 2009 and 2010. The major focus of that programme is to assist teachers and students to improve learning and teaching through deepening their understanding of formative assessment.

The five programme goals are as follows:

1. Improved student learning and achievement
2. Shifts in teacher’s assessment knowledge and practice
3. Coherence between assessment processes, practices (including purposeful use of assessment tools) and systems in classrooms and schools so that they promote better learning
4. Strong cultures of continuous school improvement that reflect an inquiry based approach
5. Strong professional learning communities regionally and nationally

The introduction of Learning Stories as a method of narrative assessment has been extremely positive. Learning Stories are shared with students, their families and whanau as a means of celebration, to inform and to identify next steps.