Short assessments
Online sets of 5 to 10 items on a reading stimulus, language conventions or numeracy skills, for Stages 1 to 5.
Important changes to Pre and post assessments, Short assessments and Stage snapshots
Google Forms and PDF versions will be discontinued at the end of Term 2 (5 July 2024) for:
Schools can still access the assessments using Microsoft Forms.
You can share the Microsoft Forms links in Google Classrooms so students can complete these assessments.
You can also create a PDF version of an assessment using steps outlined in the Quick Reference Guide (QRG) (PDF 150 KB).
Purpose of the assessment
Short assessments are designed to assess targeted outcomes and progressions in literacy and numeracy. They may be implemented at any point in time throughout the teaching and learning cycle to gauge student understanding around particular concepts or skills. Short assessments complement other assessment practices and support explicit teaching.
They are designed to:
- identify student misconceptions
- support planning and programming
- provide immediate results and feedback to students and teachers
- complement other assessments
- provide links to teaching strategies.
Data provided
Short assessments provide specific actionable data related to key skills and concepts.
Focus areas
Short assessments align to strategically selected English and mathematics syllabus outcomes and literacy and numeracy progressions in the areas of:
- Reading: comprehension, reading processes and vocabulary
- Language conventions: grammar, punctuation and spelling
- Numeracy: number and algebraic thinking.
Results and feedback
Both students and teachers receive immediate results and feedback at time of completion:
- overall score and marked answers provided to students and teachers
- answer feedback provided to students with explanations of reasons for errors or possible misconceptions (immediate/delayed)
- samples of students’ working out collected in the numeracy assessment (optional).
These sources can form part of data triangulation practice.
Informing next steps
Short assessments can be used effectively at multiple levels.
Evidence assists with:
- identifying students’ understanding of some of the big ideas in literacy and numeracy
- selecting differentiation strategies based on student need.
Evidence assists with:
- identifying students who require targeted instruction
- identifying areas of focus for the class and opportunities to re-teach skills or content.
Running the assessment
Short assessments are administered online as either a Microsoft Forms or Google Forms assessment, or offline as PDF or printed copy.
Teachers can choose to provide students with immediate feedback or turn it off via Settings and provide feedback another way.
A Quick Reference Guide (QRG) is provided for technical support. Overview spreadsheets outline aligned syllabus outcomes, progression indicators and teaching strategies.
Assessment links
Short assessments and supporting documents are accessed via the spreadsheet links below.
Assessments and overview spreadsheets
Guides
Quick Reference Guide (QRG) – Forms assessments (PDF 150 KB)
Assessments and overview spreadsheets
Language conventions – Stages 1 to 3
Language conventions – Stages 3 to 4
Guides
Quick Reference Guide (QRG) – Forms assessments (PDF 150 KB)
Note: Some ‘spelling only’ assessments ask students to type the incorrect word in the text correctly. Microsoft Forms does not provide a feedback option for this type of short response question.
Assessments and overview spreadsheets
Guides
Quick Reference Guide (QRG) – Forms assessments (PDF 150 KB)
Support
For additional support, email online.assessments@det.nsw.edu.au