Sydney Boys High School

PEWCC Reporting

Towards a new learning assessment and reporting system

The objective of assessment is to understand more about the learning of our students. At Sydney High, we are trying to design strong rubrics that describe where students are now and where they might be. Our rubrics are discipline- and domain-specific to map our students’ learning more accurately. We are developing assessment tasks to describe where our students are in their learning progress in a particular domain.

In respect of our targeted dispositions (Problem solving and critical thinking, Evaluating, Working with others, Communicating ideas, and Creating and innovating: PEWCC) we have created a continuum. Faculties have prepared growth rubrics describing what each disposition means in the context of a bespoke rubric for their subject.

For reporting purposes, faculties have been assigned a different disposition to report on each semester, but each disposition was reported on at least once in the six-report cycle for Years 7-9.

Some faculties have developed assessment tasks the results of which can be used directly to report on a nominated disposition – eg an oral report assessed on a rubric which allows a teacher to make a reliable judgement about a student in terms of ‘communicating ideas’. Over time, banks of such tasks will be developed and used to build teacher capacity to assess and report on student dispositions.

For Year 7 and 8 our reports have been modified to reflect our new emphasis on dispositional assessment and reporting. Scroll down this page to see an example of what the new format looks like and also peruse the growth-based descriptors of expected performance. The skill levels within each disposition for each faculty range from 3 to 5.

It would be helpful for you to compare the rating of your son in each skill in Year 7 with that which he receives in Year 9.

Understanding PEWCC reporting

 PEWCC Reporting skill levels list