At St Monica’s, education is a partnership between teacher, student, and family. We have high expectations and accountabilities for all partners. This year, we achieved this through the Assessment Waterfall based on the work of Dr. Lyn Sharratt.

The Assessment Waterfall is a set of strategies teachers apply in the classroom to ensure all students are aware of the intention for learning and can achieve success in attaining new knowledge and skills. The stages of the Assessment Waterfall are: Learning Intentions, Success Criteria, Descriptive Feedback, Peer and Self-Assessment and Individual Goal-Setting. 

Year 3 Teacher, Kirsty Godschalx said before the implementation of the Assessment Waterfall, she viewed assessment as a task that needed to be done by the teacher and more often than not it occurred at the end of a sequence of learning. 

“The challenge in this way of viewing assessment was that it was not focused on growth and the students had no opportunity to own their learning and seek to improve. The Assessment Waterfall has provided a framework for both student and teacher to be more reflective and strive for ongoing improvement,” Kirsty Godschalx said. 

We also asked Drew G (Year 4) and Rohan G (Year 5) about their experiences using this assessment in the classroom. 

How did you go giving your classmate Descriptive feedback? 

“I gave one of my classmates some feedback after they read aloud to our small group. I found it easy to think of a way for that person to improve their reading. I think it is a good idea to give feedback to others because it can help them to improve,” Drew said.

What goals have you set for yourself?

“After I did my speech I got some feedback from my teacher and then I did my own self assessment. My goal was to work on not speaking too fast when giving a speech,” Rohan said. 

Let our little learners show you The Assessment Waterfall. Watch the video below!