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4. Retaining student work samples – a guide for schools

Retaining student work samples – a guide for schools

To strengthen the consistency of teacher professional judgement in relation to statewide standards, schools are asked to keep student work samples and corresponding assessment tasks for Stage 5 and Preliminary courses (except VET and Life Skills).

Why are schools asked to retain work samples?

Patterns of grades awarded by schools are monitored and schools may be asked to review their grades. Work samples retained by schools may be used in professional discussions to support the judgements of a school where the school’s pattern of grades differs markedly from previous patterns or may not align with the published standards. Schools will receive information each year summarising their patterns of grades awarded and advice on how to use this information.

What should be retained?

For 2016, schools should keep a minimum of three work samples representing the upper, middle and lower range of achievement of their Year 10 and Year 11 cohorts for the courses identified in the list below. From 2018, schools will be required to retain work samples for all Stage 5 and Preliminary courses.

Each of these work samples should demonstrate performance towards the end of the year that is typical of the student(s) awarded a particular grade (A to E) by the school. Associated assessment tasks should also be retained. Work samples for each course may be drawn from the same assessment task or from different tasks. Work samples and tasks must be based on the most current syllabus for the course, and should be retained in a format that can be uploaded electronically. Work samples do not need to be retained for Life Skills or VET courses.

Marking guidelines, marks and teacher comments do not need to be retained.

How long should a work sample be kept?

It is recommended that schools keep work samples and their associated tasks for a period of at least one year from the date that grades are submitted for the relevant course, as they may be contacted and asked to provide work samples over this period. Schools may find it useful to keep tasks and work samples over several years to build resources to support professional judgement of student achievement for their staff. If the range of achievement in a particular school cohort is similar from year to year, the same work samples may be retained from year to year. Schools only need to change or add to the work samples they have retained for a course if there is a change to the syllabus or to the range of achievement across their cohort.

Analysis of grades

An initial analysis is undertaken of the Stage 5 and Preliminary course grades awarded by schools. As a result of this analysis, schools may be contacted and asked to review their grades and advise the Board of any changes.

A further analysis of patterns of grades is then undertaken to identify schools that may benefit from additional support in awarding grades. Schools may be contacted and asked to provide student work samples and associated tasks to assist with this process. Individual students need not be identified on the work samples for this process.

Schools may also be contacted by BOSTES for permission to place the work samples and tasks on the Assessment Resource Centre (ARC) website to help illustrate statewide standards.

Will schools be required to keep work samples in future years?

Yes. Schools will need to keep a minimum of three student work samples representing a range of achievement of their Stage 5 and Preliminary course cohorts for the identified courses. The tasks associated with these work samples also need to be retained. From 2018, schools will need to keep tasks and work samples for all Stage 5 and Preliminary courses.

FAQs – Keeping student work samples

1. What work samples should my school keep if we are awarding a full range of A to E grades for the specified courses?



Keep at least three samples for each of the specified courses that represent the range of achievement of the cohort (eg a work sample representing grade A, one representing grade B or C, and one representing D or E would suffice). You do not need to keep a work sample for each of the grades awarded but you may do so if you wish. The work samples should represent achievement towards the end of the Stage 5 course or the Preliminary course, so samples from the second half of the year would usually be most suitable. When you save the work samples, indicate which A to E grade each one represents.

2. What work samples does my school need to keep if we are awarding students grades representing only two of the A to E grades for a course, eg grades B and C?



Keep at least three work samples that represent the range of achievement of the cohort, ie two samples representing achievement towards the upper and lower ends of the cohort and one in between (eg a typical grade B, a typical grade C and a work sample representing achievement at the upper grade C or lower grade B level).

3. What work samples does my school need to keep if we are awarding students grades representing only one of the A to E grades for a course, eg grade C?



Keep at least three work samples that represent the range of achievement of the cohort, eg an upper, middle and lower example of grade C achievement.

4. If my school has less than three students in the cohort, what work samples do we need to keep?



Keep a work sample of each student for the specified courses, and identify the A to E grade that the work sample best matches.

5. Do the work samples need to come from the same assessment task?



No. Work samples can come from the same task or from different tasks. However, you do need to keep a copy of the assessment task associated with each of the work samples showing what students were asked to do.

6. Do the work samples for each of the courses need to be from the same students?



No. The work samples for the specified courses can be from different students.

7. Do schools need to include student names on the work samples?



No. The work samples are intended to provide evidence of the understanding of standards, not of particular student achievement. They will not be used by the Board to compare the performance of an individual student on a single task with the grade that student was awarded.

8. How do schools provide work samples?



If a school is asked to provide student work samples as evidence of the grades awarded, instructions on how to upload the samples and associated assessment tasks will be provided. Work samples and tasks should be kept in a format that can be uploaded electronically, and retained for a period of at least 12 months. Not all schools will be asked to submit work samples.

What are the benefits of keeping work samples?

Student work samples retained by schools can play a significant role in supporting and verifying teachers’ professional judgements, particularly where a school’s pattern of grades appears to differ markedly from statewide distributions. Keeping work samples has a number of benefits:

• Schools can build a repository of authentic work samples and tasks to use in faculty-based professional development and to support teachers in understanding the standards of a course.
• Work samples and associated tasks can be used in collaborative or networking activities with other schools or in workshops conducted by professional associations or school sectors.
• The range of work samples and tasks kept by schools can be used to enhance the collection of work samples on this website to help illustrate statewide standards.

Extra support

This website has information to assist teachers with reliable and valid allocation of grades.

Consistent teacher judgement – professional learning support package

Guide to Grade Allocation – Stage 5 and Preliminary courses

Common Grade Scale for Preliminary courses

Stage 5 Course Performance Descriptiors