Overview
Applied and Applied (Essential) subjects are quality assured by a review of assessment instruments, student responses to instruments and teacher judgments for assessment administered for Unit 3.
Schools that offer Applied (Essential) subjects and have students enrolled in Units 3 and 4 participate annually in:
- the Endorsement process to quality assure internal assessment instruments, and
- Applied quality assurance meetings to review the reliability of judgments for a sample of student responses to the school’s endorsed internal assessment 1 (IA1) and the common internal assessment (CIA) instrument.
For Applied subjects other than Applied (Essential) subjects, a schedule will be published each year that identifies which subjects will be quality assured. Schools with students enrolled in Units 3 and 4 for a scheduled subject that year will be required to participate in an Applied quality assurance meeting. If a school has multiple classes of an Applied subject and offers more than one option for Unit 3, they must choose and submit materials for one option only.
These meetings will review:
- the validity and accessibility of the two assessment instruments developed for Unit 3
- the reliability of judgments for a sample of student responses to the submitted Unit 3 assessment instruments.
The QCAA is responsible for managing the Applied quality assurance process, according to the timelines published in the SEP calendar, by:
- communicating the subjects, number of samples required and the sampling pattern via the ‘Applied quality assurance’ memo each year
- providing resources to support schools to collate and submit materials. These resources can be found in the Syllabuses app in the QCAA Portal
- training the school-nominated subject teacher to review assessment instruments and provide feedback about the quality of school judgments during the online review meeting
- communicating feedback from the Applied quality assurance process via the Advice to schools. Schools can access their Advice to schools through the Applied QA app and should consider this feedback for the current and future cohorts.
Applied quality assurance process overview
Development
School develops and submits IA1, IA3, and IA4 for endorsement
Implementation
School implements internal assessment instruments and marks responses by matching qualities to A–E descriptors on instrument-specific standards
Submission via Applied QA application
School submits materials for Applied quality assurance meetings:
- three student responses each for IA1 and the CIA
- annotated instrument-specific standards for each response to show how judgments were made
Quality assurance meetings
Nominated subject teachers participate in quality assurance meetings, facilitated by QCAA staff, to review:
- reliability of teacher judgments
- application of QCAA assessment policies and processes
QCAA advice
QCAA provides advice about submissions. School uses advice:
- for continuous improvement as part of the quality management system
- to inform judgments for all students at exit
Intervention, if required
QCAA identifies schools that need additional support to implement advice provided
Development
School develops assessment instruments for Units 3 and 4 and applies internal quality assurance processes
Implementation
School implements internal assessment instruments and marks responses by matching qualities to A–E descriptors on instrument-specific standards
Submission via Applied QA application
School submits materials for Applied quality assurance meetings:
- two assessment instruments for Unit 3
- two student responses for each assessment instrument
- annotated instrument-specific standards for each response to show how judgments were made
Quality assurance meetings
Nominated subject teachers participate in quality assurance meetings, facilitated by QCAA staff, to review:
- validity and accessibility of assessment instruments
- reliability of teacher judgments
- application of QCAA assessment policies and processes
QCAA advice
QCAA provides advice about submissions. School uses advice:
- for continuous improvement as part of quality management system
- to inform judgments for all students at exit
Intervention, if required
QCAA identifies schools that need additional support to implement advice provided
9.4.1 Preparing for Applied quality assurance
Schools are responsible for developing assessment instruments and making judgments about student responses in Unit 3. The QCAA provides various resources to help schools develop effective assessment instruments and make judgments for Applied quality assurance. Schools are advised to refer to the resources in the Syllabuses app, available via the QCAA Portal, as they develop their course of study and prepare for Applied quality assurance.
9.4.2 Developing assessment instruments
The QCAA provides templates to assist schools to develop assessment instruments that provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate what they know and can do. For:
- Applied (Essential) subjects, schools must develop and submit their assessment instruments using the templates in the Endorsement app
- other Applied subjects, schools may use the assessment templates available in the Syllabuses app. Note: These templates are provided to support schools and are not mandatory.
The QCAA also provides quality assurance tools to assist schools to internally moderate their assessment instruments, prior to use with students. These tools are available in the Syllabuses app.
9.4.3 Making judgments
Schools make judgments on an A–E standard by matching the qualities in the student response to the characteristics described in the instrument-specific standards in the syllabus. Schools are advised to refer to the resources available in the Syllabuses app when marking student work and making judgments, including the Instrument-specific standards: Making judgments — Applied and Applied (Essential) subjects and Instrument-specific standards: A3 resource.
9.4.4 Developing a submission
Schools upload their submission to the Applied QA app. Schools select the materials for submission to demonstrate the:
- assessment instruments’ alignment to the syllabus specifications and capacity to allow students to demonstrate what they know and can do
- teachers’ capacity to match qualities in student work to the standards descriptors and make an on-balance judgment for the standard awarded.
For more information, see the submission information factsheet in the Syllabuses app.
Information about using the Applied QA app is available in the Help section of the QCAA Portal.
