FAQ on changes to e-asTTle writing tool, April 2013

What happened with the e-asTTle writing tool?

• The Ministry of Education reviewed the alignment of the e-asTTle writing tool results following concerns about the results it was reporting.
• The review was done by curriculum experts, principals, teachers, professional development facilitators, and researchers. The review group recommended that e-asTTle scores should be realigned to ensure greater accuracy with the curriculum level reported.
• This work was completed, and the changes to e-asTTle writing tool curriculum levels went live as a part of the regular release on April 30, before the start of Term 2, 2013.
• Teachers saw a change in the curriculum levels that were reported when they used the writing tool.
• This meant that students needed to achieve at a higher level on the e-asTTle scale to be judged as working within a specific curriculum level than they did previously.

Why was this change made?

• This change was made to ensure that, in the e-asTTle writing tool, each student performance level aligned as accurately as possible with curriculum levels.
• This change was in response to concerns raised by teachers during 2012 about whether the curriculum levels identified within the writing tool were accurate.
• The change better aligned the results of e-asTTle writing with what was expected within each curriculum level.

How did this impact teachers?

• Teachers saw a change in the indicative curriculum levels for their students when they used the writing tool.
• This meant that students needed to achieve at a higher level on the e-asTTle scale to be judged as working within a specific curriculum level than they did previously.
• Teachers saw that student scores for writing assessments done since 2012 were updated for each student in e-asTTle to make sure all results were comparable and to enable teachers to have the best information about student achievement in writing.
• Teachers who had used the results from the e-asTTle writing tool as a formative assessment could decide to update these results to inform planning for next learning steps for students.
• Teachers who had loaded e-asTTle writing scores into a Student Management System could decide to update them.
• Teachers who had provided the e-asTTle writing score information to parents, family, and whānau could decide to update the reporting.