Selecting an assessment tool using the Assessment tool selector

Selecting an assessment tool using the Assessment tool selector

Click on “Select an Assessment Tool” from the box on the bottom of the home page or from the left hand navigation.

Choose the assessment area in which you wish to find suitable assessment tools. In most cases, they follow the learning areas of the New Zealand Curriculum, although there are some which are difficult to categorise and thus appear on their own.

Select one of the assessment areas to reload the search tool which will then display the appropriate sub-areas below.

Refine your search by selecting assessment sub-areas where appropriate.

Select the year level of the students you wish to assess.

Year levels correspond with the New Zealand schooling system. Year 0 relates to new entrants, years 1–6 relate to primary schooling, years 7 and 8 to intermediate schooling, and years 9 and 10 to junior secondary schooling.

Select the place of origin of the assessment.

Assessments created are usually based on the New Zealand Curriculum and they have content suitable for New Zealand students. If they are standardised tests, they have norms which are calculated using results from New Zealand students.

Select whether you want a standardised assessment or not.

Standardised tests have a fixed set of test items, specific directions for administration and scoring, and norms which are based on a representative sample.

Select whether you want an assessment for an individual student, a group of students, or either.

Assessment tools which are designed to be used with an individual student will not be easily adaptable for a group of students. Click on the “Show results” button.

Be aware that there may not be an assessment tool which matches the exact search parameters. In that case, the next screen will display “No results found” and there is a button which will return you to the search page.

The results page will display all assessment tools which fit the category you have selected.

You can now view an individual tool by clicking on it.

When you select an individual tool, you will find all the information on that tool.

Each tool has information within the same categories. The results page will display all assessment tools which fit the categories you have selected. You can now use the compare option to compare multiple tools.

Select up to three tools to compare in the boxes on the left hand side and click on the “Compare Tools” button at the top of the page.

The selected assessment tools will appear side by side on the page so you can compare each description parameter separately.

You can also browse the available tools if you know the assessment tool you want to look at. Click on “Browse assessment tools” from the box at the bottom of the home page, or from the left hand navigation.

You can go straight to the tool you want in the alphabetical list, or you can narrow the focus by clicking into a curriculum area and using sub-area filter buttons where available.

The “Compare” function is available from here too.

The assessment fundamentals pages are a good place to start.

Advice on assessment is given under the following headings: “Why assess?” This page contains information on the fundamental nature of assessment to good teaching and learning. “Criteria for choosing an assessment tool”.

Here you can find a list of the criteria used in developing this tool selector and detailed explanations of each item. “Before you use your selected assessment”.

In here are a number of matters for teachers and school leaders to consider before carrying out assessments.