The new primary school curriculum in Trinidad and  Tobago has explicit characteristics which includes integration and a focus on classroom formative assessment.

• A focus on 9 subject areas within an integrated, thematic approach

• Cross-curricular development of Literacy and Numeracy

• Infusion of ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies)

• A prioritization of Assessment for Learning 

• A conscious development of values, including HFLE

• Explicit attention to differentiated Instruction to meet the needs of a range of students.

See New Curriculum Guides

How do we assess for these new features?

Performance based formative assessment as a tool

This assessment in the classroom is or, for and as learning and can be mostly performance based.

What about national tests? Will they need to change? That might not be necessary since these assessments are designed to evaluate whether standards are reached system wide. Thus these instruments might still be written standardized tests perhaps supplemented by selected performance tasks (these have low generalizability however).

So what must change NOW is the way teachers assess in the classroom. There is no need to attach grades or high stakes to such activity since the purpose is to support and promote learning.

Performance assessments are best suited for the task of encouraging deep learning and checking for understanding of performance within thematic units.

Most performance assessments are by their very nature interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary and can be tweaked to achieve transdiciplinary outcomes.

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• Multidisciplinarity draws on knowledge from different disciplines but stays within their boundaries (Pelau).

• Interdisciplinarity analyzes, synthesizes and harmonizes links between disciplines into a coordinated and coherent whole (Callalo).

• Transdisciplinarity integrates disciplines, incorporates students' interests, concerns and needs, and transcends their traditional boundaries (Mayonnaise).

See ASCD article on differences

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The themes in the new curriculum appear to be multidisciplinary. You can achieve high levels of integration by constructing your performance tasks to assess deep learning in the subject areas, 21st century skills like collaboration and communication, and incorporating choice to cater for students' concerns.

Example

Living & Learning Hurricanes

Here are the original three tasks with discipline and 21st century skills emphasized.

1. Using video and video editing, create a weather report tracking the pathway of the storm (Use technology, geography, and mathematics)

Let students study meterorology reports and how hurricanes are tracked

2. Recreate an eye-witness account of someone who experienced the storm. Use a narrative (story), interview, or newspaper account (Use language arts-different genres)

Present work of novelist, Andrew Salkey or Bahamian meteorologist, Wayne Neely

3. Develop an exhibition poster on the social and economic impact of the hurricane. You may use a series of posters, photo exhibits, and models and you must present the information to parent judges (Use art and design and communication).

Photo exhibits and media conferences are the authentic pieces to guide students here

To ensure that each discipline is fully fleshed out and authentic provide instructions and resources using authentic products in each area.

Make sure you are clear the higher level skills and competencies you want to foster (Source).

Remember to support, encourage and promote 21st century skills by using rubrics (Source).

Relevant Sample Rubrics From the Net

More Information

Contact Us

Assessing for Understanding and Assessing the New Primary School Curriculum are new workshops being offered at jeromedelisleconsulting- See jeromedelisle.com