S2009/030 - 29 September 2009

Internal Moderation

This circular clarifies the steps required in a school’s internal moderation quality assurance procedure and the method for documenting them.

The principles of fairness, validity and transparency of assessment practice for all students are fundamental to the administration of the National Qualifications Framework. Schools are reminded that they “must report only those assessment results which have been subject to the school's internal moderation process, are complete, up-to-date, and verified for accuracy” (Assessment and Examination Rules and Procedures for Secondary Schools - 2009 4.6 (b) Reporting).

The following steps are required for internal moderation of each standard:

• modifiying and critiquing materials before use, regardless of source
• inter-class consistency checks (where applicable)
• verification of a proportion of student work
• maintaining an understanding of the national standard
• reviewing materials before future use
• refreshing and storing annotated benchmark samples
• storing randomly-selected samples of student work for external moderation.

The school’s internal moderation guidelines should be documented for teachers, including the expectation that the names of the critiquer, the verifier and the students whose work was verified should all be recorded. An Internal Moderation Cover Sheet has been developed and updated to assist schools with this and a copy is included with this circular.

Internal moderation processes need to be monitored and non-compliance should be addressed by the school.

Glossary of terms

Annotated benchmark samples (where applicable)

Benchmarks are samples of student work which demonstrate aspects of the standard at grade boundaries and are developed to ensure consistency in marking over time. Annotations explain the grade boundary issues. Benchmarks should be developed from verified samples.

Critiquing

Checking all assessment materials before use, whether sourced commercially, downloaded from websites, or developed by teachers, to ensure consistency with the registered standard, appropriateness of language, and content and context for local students and that modifications are made to readily available activities for authenticity.

Inter-class consistency

Ensuring work for a standard of all students is marked to the same standard irrespective of context, class or teacher.

Verification

The process whereby another subject specialist re-marks a proportion of student work for accuracy and consistency and reviews the overall assessment decision against the achievement or performance criteria of the standard.

Enquiries

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Previous circulars

• 029 - 15 September 2009 - Clarification for grading of "blank" answer booklets
• 028 - 8 September 2009 - Payment of National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Fees for 2009
• 027 - 1 September 2009 - Suggested Times for 2009 NCEA and Scholarship Examination Papers
• 026 - 18 August 2009 - Clarification of use of the "V" grade code in data files
• 025 - 18 August 2009 - Examination Period for 2010
• 024 - 3 August 2009 - Change Proposal for 2009 Compassionate Consideration Process
• 023 - 10 July 2009 - Managing Examination Clashes
• 022 - 3 July 2009 - New Rules & Procedures for Further Assessment Opportunities
• 021 - 3 July 2009 - Format of 2009 examination papers
• 020 - 11 June 2009 - 2009 National School Qualifications - Examination Centre Manager Recruitment
• 019 - 5 June 2009 - Special Assessment Conditions
• 018 - 26 May 2009 - NCEA Brochures
• 017 - 8 May 2009 - Fees and Financial Assistance - 2009
• 016 - 8 May 2009 - Alignment of Standards with the NZ Curriculum - Update
• 015 - 1 May 2009 - Top Art folio exhibition - full venue listing
• 014 - 1 May 2009 - Assessment Reports for the 2008 NCEA and Scholarship Examinations
• 013 - 29 April 2009 - 2009 National School Qualifications: Candidate Information Sheets
• 012 - 24 April 2009 - Memorandum of Agreement and Rebates for National Qualifications
• 011 - 3 April 2009 - New Statistics Online for Schools
• 010 - 30 March 2009 - Top Art folio exhibition on tour
• 009 - 27 March 2009 - Update: Assessment Specifications for the External Assessment of Levels 1, 2 and 3 Achievement Standards and Scholarship for 2009
• 008 - 13 March 2009 - Draft Guidelines for Further Assessment Opportunities
• 007 - 13 February 2009 - Survey of Teachers - NCEA External Assessments 2008
• 006 - 30 January 2009 - Feedback on the 2009 Top Art Touring Schedule
• 005 - 30 January 2009 - Key Dates for National Secondary School Qualifications 2009
• 004 - 30 January 2009 - School Information Collection 2009
• 003 - 30 January 2009 - Circular Distribution: Proposal to discontinue hard copy distribution
• 002 - 16 January 2009 - 2008 National Qualifications Framework Results Release
• 001 - 9 January 2009 - 2009 Examination Timetable

archive of previous circulars