e-asTTle – Overview and access
This resource provides an overview of e-asTTle and details on how to access the online assessment tool.
About this resource
e-asTTle is an online assessment tool, developed to assess students’ achievement and progress in reading, mathematics, writing, and in pānui, pāngarau, and tuhituhi.
This section of the e-asTTle collection provides a detailed overview of e-asTTle as an online assessment tool, including information on the various roles and how to access the tool.
To login to e-asTTle, click here: e-asTTle - Welcome (education.govt.nz)
e-asTTle – Overview and access
- Overview of e-asTTle
- Access to e-asTTle
- Roles in e-asTTle
What is e-asTTle?
e-asTTle is an online assessment tool, developed to assess students’ achievement and progress in reading, mathematics, writing, and in pānui, pāngarau, and tuhituhi. It is the first bilingual (English and te reo Māori) assessment tool to be developed in New Zealand.
The reading and mathematics assessments have been developed primarily for students in years 4–10, but because they test curriculum levels 2–6 they can be used for some students in Year 3 and higher year levels. The e-asTTle writing tool has been developed for the assessment of students in years 1–10.
The purpose of every e-asTTle assessment is to determine what a student knows now and what they can learn next. e-asTTle helps by providing scores and information that can be used by teachers, students, whānau and school managers to better understand the student's progress and make decisions on how to support their learning. Schools using e-asTTle have found it to be a great tool for planning purposes, for helping students to understand their progress, and for involving parents in discussions about how well their children are doing.
As a teacher, it's important to create a positive classroom environment where students feel motivated to participate in assessments. If students are not fully engaged during the test, their results may not be reliable.
e-asTTle is designed to provide reliable and valid assessment information for you and your students to enhance teaching and learning. It supports the shift in best educational practice from an emphasis on assessment of learning to assessment for learning.
e-asTTle is free of charge for use in New Zealand schools.
Below is a list of what makes e-asTTle such an effective assessment tool:
- Tests created by teachers can be used at any time of the year.
- There are many thousands of possible permutations of tests that can be created. It uses a programming method (linear programming heuristics) to create the "best possible" test while also meeting the requirements specified by the teacher.
- It allows teachers and school leaders to set tests that are aligned with the curriculum when they want and at the level they want.
- It allows teachers and school leaders to measure student progress over time.
- It gives teachers a realistic picture of how well each student, class, or school is doing compared to the national average and the curriculum requirements (including curriculum levels). It allows comparisons to other groups such as gender, ethnicity, English as a second language, or "schools like mine".
- It provides rich interpretations and specific feedback that relate to student performance (rather than simply providing a score). It identifies areas of student weakness and strength that may otherwise go unnoticed.
- It presents the results in visual ways making it easier for teachers to discuss performance and the steps they're taking with students, parents, and boards of trustees.
Helping students see why something is important is more likely to trigger their personal desire to learn and this desire is an incredibly powerful force that can carry learners through repeated disappointments and difficulties (Crooks, 2002).
Give students the opportunity to reflect on the information from their last assessment.
Ask students to discuss, with you or with a peer:
- How they have felt their learning since that assessment has gone.
- What they are confident they now know.
- What they still find difficult.
- What they think this new assessment might show.
Students who see personal value in an assessment are more likely to engage and perform at their best. You and your student can decide together if this is a suitable time for a new assessment. Consider how you can make your students feel comfortable with this discussion.
Always read and follow administration guidelines and instructions found at the beginning of the test.
If you do diverge from these instructions to provide accommodations for students, you will need to make an adjustment to some of your interpretations of results, including comparisons to national norms - use your own judgement here.
Wherever possible, design the assessment with the students.
This enables students to discuss the criteria for test creation with you so that they are confident the test will provide the best information about what they have been trying to learn. Even when the test is predetermined, it is still extremely important to tell the students why they are being tested, how it will still help them with their learning, and why it is important that they engage fully with it.
Ensure that the students are thinking about how to complete the assessment properly.
Younger students and those with reading difficulties may need help to understand the instructions for completing the test. Check that they complete the attitude questions and the practice questions correctly first.
Make sure that all students know not to guess the answers. Guessing correctly will give them a better score but will not provide any information about what they should learn next. If they are sure they do not know the answer, they should leave the item unanswered. If they think they might know the answer, they should answer it. Assessment for learning has an emphasis on maximising information about what the student does and does not know and understand.
At the end of each assessment, check that the assessment tasks were not too hard or too easy for the students.
Assign tests that would be challenging for each student. This may require tests of varying difficulty. Ideally, students would be getting about 60% correct. Depending on the purpose of testing, if students get less than 10% right or wrong you may need to reassign an easier or harder test for some students, or consider alternate methods of assessments that are more suitable.
Review the results alongside your students.
You can decide with the student if you think the results give an accurate picture of what they know and can do. Check against earlier tests to see if the pattern of progress shown makes sense. If there are any discrepancies in results, do your best to determine why this is. Normally the student will know what went wrong and you can decide together on the appropriate action to take.
Have the students analyse the results.
Students can analyse results individually (from the Individual Learning Pathway and Student Progress reports), as well as in groups. Explain any terms in the Individual Learning Pathway Report that they do not know. Ask them to establish what they think their next learning steps might be.
e-asTTle training opportunities are available throughout New Zealand at no cost to participants. This initial support is funded by the Ministry of Education and provided by Evaluation Associates | Te Huinga Kākākura Mātauranga facilitators. The training is in the form of regional and online workshops.
For more information, see e-asTTle (evaluate.co.nz)
To request assistance or further information, please contact [email protected]