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Assessment

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Assessment is a process of making considered and informed judgments about learning. It is a dynamic process demonstrating what learners can and cannot do and determines how well learners have achieved the intended outcome/s of a particular course.


Assessment has the educational function of describing the performance and promoting the development of the learner whilst meeting the needs of the College, the educational system and society at large (parents, employers, and the wider community) to be informed about the outcomes of particular learning programs.


Assessment is an integral part of the whole learning process and enables teachers to:

  • identify what learners know and can do / don’t know and cannot do
  • monitor and evaluate the success of the learning program/s at periodic intervals
  • monitor the achievement of learning outcomes and ascertain whether course and program outcomes have been achieved
  • modify learning programs and plan for remediation and / or extension for students
  • ensure continuity in student learning
  • provide feedback about student performance to the students and other relevant, interested parties
  • demonstrate their accountability to students, parents and the education system.


There are two broad categories of assessment recognised as integral to the teaching and learning process – formative and summative. Teachers at Centralian Senior College employ a ranges of assessment procedures for both formative and summative assessment of students.


Formative Assessment is the ongoing diagnostic assessment of student learning. It allows feedback to students on their strengths and weaknesses. It also allows teachers to describe what students can and cannot do. Formative assessment is an essential tool for allowing teachers to form and / or adjust the teaching/learning process within their courses.


Summative Assessment measures the extent to which students have attained the outcomes identified for a particular course or unit of work. Summative assessment tasks are usually set at the end of a unit of work or a teaching and learning block. They are the work requirements through which students demonstrate their understandings of what has been studied.

Submission of Work and Deadlines - Whole School Policy Deadline Policy Visual

Policy Statement

The Centralian Senior College Assessment Policy follows that of the SACE Board of South Australia and the Northern Territory Board of Studies (NTBoS).  The principle underlying assessment is that of social justice and equity.

  • 1. Assessment Deadlines in NTCET Courses

    An Assessment Schedule is to be made available to students including a schedule of assessment dates for all summative tasks. Work which is not submitted by the due date may not be awarded a score for summative assessment purposes, unless an extension of time has been previously negotiated between the student and the teacher.  Late work, which has not been given an extension, may be marked for feedback purposes only, and could form part of a student's formative assessment record. Students seeking extensions to assignment deadlines must do so (negotiate) in writing at least 24 hours before the due date for the assignment. 

  • 2. Reasons for Missing Deadlines

    2.1 Illness and Injury

    Students sometimes miss an assessment deadline or test as a result of illness or injury.  In such cases the student is required to notify the teacher concerned.  This should be before the assessment item is due or on the day of the test.  Variation to assessment arrangements should then be put in place.  In the case of illness which has led to an absence of three days or more, including the day of the test, a medical certificate must be produced.  A medical certificate is also required for any student claiming absence through illness on the day of a test, for whom there is an established pattern of absences on the day of a summative test (i.e. where this has occurred previously in the subject).

    2.2 Misadventure

    Students who miss an assessment deadline through mishaps beyond their control should put their reasons for requesting a variation to assessment to the relevant teacher.  Where a teacher is in doubt about acceptability of reasons they should refer the matter to the NTCE Coordinator for a final decision.

  • 3. Teacher Intervention in Summative Assessment

    In the case of tests, advice and clarification may be made before the test if this is sought at a reasonable time.  In the case of summative assessment tasks performed over a period of time it is appropriate for the teacher to comment on the work during its period of development.  If a draft of the final piece of work is offered to the teacher for comment, then the teacher may indicate where there are weaknesses or errors, but may not intervene in a way which places the student's ownership of the work in question, and unfairly advantage the student.

  • 4. Resubmission of Work

    Students, in order to obtain an improved mark for a summative assessment task, may not resubmit an item that is to be included in their final assessment, once it has been formally submitted and given a mark by the teacher.

  • 5. Plagiarism

    Students are required to submit work that is their own.  Apart from appropriately incorporated quotations from other sources, no part of a student's work may be copied from any other person's work, or be based on an undue level of assistance from another person.  Any work found to have been plagiarised, or offered for plagiarism, will be penalised.  This will mean zero for that piece of work.  No alternative assessment item will be given.

  • 6. Long Term Impairment

    Application is to be made through the Assistant Principal Teaching and Learning as per the Special Provisions Guidelines of the SACE Board.