Narrative assessment
Discover different ways to recognise learner progress.
We can help you support students whose progress doesn’t fit with standard assessment models.
Narrative assessment enables you to capture and report important moments of achievement for learners with specific needs. It also provides a valuable tool to recognise progress in areas where conventional assessment tools may not be appropriate. Many teachers have reported that it can have a remarkable impact on learning.
Unlike criterion-referenced assessment, narrative assessment offers a richer, more detailed picture of student learning. It requires the assessor to observe, respond to, extend, reflect upon, and communicate about important learning in which the student engages—often overlooked in conventional modes of assessment. Additionaly, it requires a careful response to and reflection on teaching strategies and their effectiveness.
What makes up a comprehensive narrative assessment?
Using learning artefacts that detail:
what learning was observed
what teaching strategies were observed
why this learning was important
what the next steps in the learning sequence might be
how those next steps might be promoted
how the assessed learning links to The 2007 New Zealand Curriculum
A strength-based description, acknowledging through the narrative what the student’s abilities are and what processes have strengthened them
repeated records that show progress over time.
We offer workshops, coaching, and modelling to helps schools develop the skills needed for effective narrative assessment.
