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Collaboration, Moderation, Validation
‘Schools working together leads to better results’ (DfE, 2010, p. 57) was an assertion made by the Department for Education in a White Paper in 2010 around how academy trusts can improve outcomes for students. This is also endorsed by the Confederation of School Trusts who assert that ‘strong structures can enable strong practice to exist in all schools’ (CST, 2021, p 9) because ‘the strategic oversight and accountability inherent in the Trust structure can drive evidence-informed school improvement’ (ibid.). WAT’s assessment system is a real example of this in action. These are three key principles which underpin our assessment system and ensure the quality of our assessment design and implementation.
Collaboration
We benefit from the input from a large number of subject specialists across our schools.
Working collaboratively to develop our curriculum and assessments means we can draw on a wide range of skills and expertise. We build into our calendar time to moderate assessments across our schools, giving leaders and teachers the opportunity to discuss how grading criteria and mark schemes are applied.
This means we can be more confident that our assessments are marked accurately.
Our Trust subject leaders ensure that assessments are marked accurately. Because the assessments in our Threshold Curriculum are developed across our schools and the moderated and scored using the data from across our schools, individual schools gain validation about the standard students are achieving in individual schools because they are compared to those in other schools.
