Professional Learning | Courses | CEA | Course CTAs (sidebar)

Professional Learning | Courses | Certified Educational Assessor

In the CEA course, educators develop and extend their understanding of valid and reliable assessments. They acquire the necessary skills to construct, analyse and evaluate assessment practices and enhance their critical and reflective thinking capability for application to their practice. Educators will also develop their leadership capacity in assessment and work collaboratively with colleagues to improve outcomes for students.

CEA participants develop evidence that could be used to meet the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers at the Highly Accomplished or Lead Teacher career stage.

Course structure

The CEA course comprises five modules and a case study, with each module intended to improve expertise in different areas of assessment practice.

Each module provides eight hours of professional learning; six hours of face-to-face professional learning presented by experienced and qualified Prescient team members, and two hours of supporting activities to consolidate learning.

CEA 1 — Principles of assessment

This module caters to the holistic needs of educators across all subject areas and career stages.

In CEA 1 - Principles of assessment, educators develop their:

  • capacity to convey knowledge and understanding of assessment as an integral component of teaching and learning
  • strategies for selecting effective and accessible language that supports student learning
  • capacity to construct, develop and evaluate the validity and reliability of assessment tasks.
CEA 2 — Assessment purpose and design

This module explores the way the principles of assessment can be applied to teaching practice, and how different methods of evidence collection can be used to make judgments about student progress.

In CEA 2 - Assessment purpose and design, educators develop their: 

  • knowledge and understanding of the relationship between assessment and learning
  • ability to understand, identify and assess learning constructs
  • capacity to evaluate assessment approaches and work collaboratively with colleagues to differentiate assessment strategies to improve student outcomes.
CEA 3 — Judgment

This module provides an opportunity to develop capacity to evaluate assessment approaches and develop a range of differentiated assessment strategies to meet the needs of varying cohorts.

In CEA 3 - Judgment, educators extend their: 

  • knowledge and understanding of holistic and analytic judgment making
  • capacity to recognise and manage biases in judgment
  • capacity to make overall judgments of student evidence of learning.
CEA 4 — Data and providing effective feedback

This module focuses on developing capacity to use assessment data to inform practice and provide feedback to move learning forward.

In CEA 4 - Data and providing effective feedback, educators extend their: 

  • ability to analyse and interpret data to identify trends in areas of curriculum and assessment practice to promote student learning
  • capacity to support their colleagues to conceptualise feedback and understand possible student responses so that they give feedback that promotes further learning.
CEA 5 — Moderation and comparability

This module provides the opportunity to deeply understand the purpose and importance of moderation procedures and enables teachers to develop skills to organise and lead moderation processes within a school.

In CEA 5 - Moderation and comparability, educators develop their: 

  • understanding of the significance of valid, consistent, comparable and equitable judgments for all students
  • capacity to manage and facilitate moderation procedures
  • capacity to analyse and evaluate the moderation process to identify strengths and areas for improvement in professional practice

Professional Learning | Courses | Certified Educational Assessor |

Assessment

Participants in the CEA complete:

  • an assessment task per module
  • a case study.

The case study provides an opportunity to critically reflect on teaching, learning and assessment practices in an agreed context that has relevance for the participant's practice. A key part of conducting the case study is the collection and examination of a folio of qualitative and quantitative evidence.

The case study comprises:

  • a folio of 4,000 words
  • a report of 1,500 - 2,000 words.

The folio includes the five assessment tasks completed for each of the CEA modules and key evidence used in conducting the case study.

AITSL and TRB requirements

Each module is referenced to the AITSL Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. These modules meet the requirements for accumulation of standards referenced professional learning hours required by teacher registration boards (TRB). 

There is an opportunity for educators to develop evidence that could be used to meet the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers at the Highly Accomplished or Lead career stages.