Myth 3 Managing authenticity

Myths and facts about authenticity in assessment

Myths

  • "Publicly available tasks can be used unmodified."
  • "All students need to complete their assessment at the same time to ensure authenticity."
  • "Group work cannot be assessed."
  • "Authenticity checks are not necessary if an authenticity declaration is signed."
  • "Digital assessment allows more opportunity for authenticity breaches."
  • "You can withdraw a student's entry for a proven breach of authenticity."

Facts

  • Publicly sourced assessment material must be changed. Changes can include:
  • specific figures or text
  • data sets or sources
  • contexts, topics or performance opportunities.
  • Students do not need to complete the same assessment task and they do not need to be assessed at the same time. Some students may require a separate task or context to ensure authentic work is submitted.
  • Tasks can be broken into group and individual components to identify individual evidence.
  • A 'Not Achieved' must be reported for proven breaches of authenticity that compromise a student's result.
  • School policy will determine whether a proven breach of authenticity for internally assessed standards is an acceptable reason for a further assessment opportunity.
  • Assessors can monitor the authenticity of student work as it is developed and during the marking process through:
  • regular check points
  • submission of plans and drafts
  • oral questioning to confirm understanding
  • requiring a repeat performance, if in doubt
  • being familiar with or controlling resources available
  • referencing and bibliographies
  • monitoring revision changes
  • using plagiarism software or internet searches of suspicious phrases.

More information

NZQA Assessment Rules for Schools, TEOs assessing against Achievement Standards, and Candidates 2023

More points about authenticity

Authenticity checks provide assurance that evidence produced is a student's own work.

Inauthentic work may be a result of:

  • a lack of understanding of the assessment task or what constitutes inauthentic work and plagiarism
  • copying from another person or public source, or plagiarism
  • too much guidance from a teacher, assessor, parent or tutor
  • willingly sharing work with other students.

Read more NCEA myths and facts

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