Welcome

Welcome to CIEAMAIL, the topical monthly members e-newsletter, carrying news and views from the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors (CIEA).

Content:

Institute News - CIEA National Assessment Conference 2008
Institute News - CIEA at the Education Show 2008
Institute News - Chartered Educational Assessor (CEA) series of online seminars planned
Institute News - New magazine format live on website!
Institute News - CIEA Members' Directory
Institute News - New CPD project launched with Oral Language Modifiers
Institute News - The e-Assessment Question conference and exhibition
Monthly Member Poll - NQTs; How much training do you receive?
Institute News - Assessment Policy continued (Step 6 of 13)
Institute News - Are you eligible for Member or Fellow status?
Assessment News - Employers gain awarding body status
CPD - Events and Training Course Calendar
Assessment News - And Finally...
Feedback

Institute News - CIEA National Assessment Conference 2008

National Assessment Conference, 23rd & 24th April 2008, Novotel London St. Pancras

Book now at Discounted Member Rates!

The purpose of the conference is to create real added value for members by supporting their professional development needs in the key area of assessment. In turn the theme also supports the CIEA mission of improving the quality of assessment through better assessment standards and accountability. This year's theme is delivering good assessment practice in times of change.

The conference is organised around keynote addresses followed by a series of seminars from which members can choose. The first day, Wednesday 23rd members will be able to hear from Dylan Wiliam and Professor Jouni Valijarvi from Finland. The seminars are then aimed at specific interest groups:

Changes to Government policy;
Assessment research findings;
E-assessment issues;
International comparisons and their impact upon the British system;
Effective practice in secondary schools and the tertiary sector;
Effective practice in primary schools.

On Thursday 24th the keynote speakers will be Isabel Nesbit, who will outline the role of the new regulator, Alina von Davier from Princeton and John Gardner from Queen's University, Belfast. The seminars will offer the same themes, except that there will be examples of good practice in the secondary and tertiary sectors.

CIEA members pay just £60 per day or £90 for both days, excluding accommodation; non-members £150 for one day or £250 for both day's.

To find out more about the conference and to book your place, please follow the link below.

Conference booking form ...

If you were unable to attend the IEA's first National Assessment conference held in May last year and would like to view any of the keynote speaker's presentations then please follow the link below.

Read more ...

Institute News - CIEA at the Education Show 28th February - 1st March 2008

Thousands of people connected to the education community will be attending the annual Education Show held at the NEC in Birmingham.

As the profile of the CIEA has risen over the previous twelve months, so interest in what the CIEA offers has increased.

"Last year was our best year at the Ed. Show," said Head, David Wright. "Not only did we generate more interest from the education and assessment communities, we signed more members than we had in the previous two years at the event. Particularly encouraging was the interest shown by students and NQTs. More than 100 students signed as members over the three days."

If you would like the opportunity to speak to a CIEA representative please come along and see us at stand number T24.

IEA at the Education Show 2007 .

Institute News - Chartered Educational Assessor (CEA) series of online seminars planned

A series of Chartered Educational Assessor-themed online seminars is planned for late March/early April 08. The one-hour seminars will:

. Update on the current CEA pilot scheme
. Outline how the scheme has progressed since its inception
. Contain an interview with a CEA
. Contain a short question and answer session

If you would like to express an interest in attending (completely free-of-charge to members) please click the link below:

Register interest .

Once dates have been established members (who have expressed an interest) will be invited to attend.

Do you have to be a web genius to attend? No. All you need is a notebook or computer with broadband internet access (preferably 8MBs).

Institute News - New magazine format live on website!

The new online version of the CIEA quarterly magazine, Make the Grade has been launched on the CIEA website. This new interactive version allows members to read through the magazine page by page as if they were reading the hard copy version. There are new tools which will allow you to zoom in and out, email to a friend and bookmark your favourite pages.

To access this new tool go to:

Read Make the Grade .

If you would like to view any of the previous editions of Make the Grade you can do so online in both PDF and HTML formats

Previous editions .

Institute News - CIEA Members' Directory

The CIEA is looking to develop a Members' Directory, which will be included in each future issue of our termly magazine Make the Grade. Members will have the opportunity to advertise their assessment-related products and services to other members.

Each advertisement in the directory will be approximately the size of a business card. The cost will be £150

You can, of course buy more than this space. Double the size will be £300 and so on. If you commit to advertising in three consecutive editions you can have the discount at £400 for each business card size of space that you purchase.

For further information and to advertise in this section contact leon.dominion@redactive.co.ukor call 020 7880 6243.

Institute News - New CPD project launched with Oral Language Modifiers

The CIEA is currently working with JCQ, (Joint Council for Qualifications) BATOD (British Association of Teachers of the Deaf), the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) non JCQ awarding bodies and speech therapists to develop a programme of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for those people who need to act as Oral Language Modifiers (OLM) to support candidates in public examinations.

This is a new role for many people to contend with. It is a further reasonable adjustment that can be made for those pupils who may be disadvantaged by the construction of a sentence in an examination.

The Oral Language Modifier is a role created to provide a reasonable adjustment in examinations for candidates who require a level of language support beyond that provided by a reader.

This role, often previously known as "Oral Communicator", was originally provided for deaf or hearing-impaired candidates whose preferred language was English. It has now been extended to provide for all candidates who have a specific language difficulty, disorder or delay.

For examinations in March and June 2008, the regulations of the JCQ allow an OLM to be provided for candidates "for whom an oral language modifier represents their normal way of working and who have a reading comprehension score that is below average". These regulations may change for future examinations.

Find out more .

Institute News - The e-Assessment Question conference and exhibition

The e-Assessment Question conference and exhibition 12th and 13th March 2008 will take place at the Novotel London St. Pancras.

The CIEA will be sponsoring the round table debate on Thursday 13th March.

This year's conference will take innovation as the theme, examining exciting new developments in the application of new technologies to learning, training and assessment. The conference will investigate all aspects of the use of technology in assessment from e-testing, e-portfolios to e-marking. The range of speakers and exhibitors shows there is a real interest in this area of assessment.

For more information and to book your place on the conference please follow the link below.

Read more ...

Monthly Member Poll - NQTs; How much training do you receive?

As a Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) you will already have made assessments about the learners for whom you are responsible. The CIEA is keen to find out what support NQT's receive and from where?

To take part in this months member poll please

Have your say .

You can view results from the previous months' member poll by following the link below.

Last months' results .

Institute News - Assessment Policy continued (Step 6 of 13)

Each month the IEA covers individually the 13 stages of the Assessment Policy. The purpose behind developing an assessment policy is to make explicit the functions of the processes linked to assessment to all those involved with the process - the teachers, lecturers or trainers, as well as the senior management teams and other stakeholders such as parents, governors, employers and training providers.

This step helps you to consider how you will conduct the different types of assessment taking place in your institution.

You now need to consider how the assessment will be conducted. To do this, you need to be sure about the purpose of the assessment. Is it summative, formative or diagnostic?

Find out more .

Assessment News - Employers gain awarding body status

Network Rail, Flybe and McDonald's have gained awarding body status, giving them the ability to offer nationally-accredited qualifications to employees. Our Chief Executive Ken Boston welcomed the move, saying: "This announcement gives official recognition to employers' commitment to training."

Read more .

Institute News - Are you eligible for Member or Fellow status?

If you are practicing as a senior examiner (at Team Leader level or equivalent) and would like to establish if you are eligible to apply for Member or Fellow status please visit the new online membership upgrade identification tool located on the CIEA website.

Read more ...

The tool will ask you some very simple questions to establish whether or not you meet the set criteria, and if so will direct you to the correct online application form.
 
Internal assessors will be pleased to hear that Member and Fellow grades will be launched along with the formative assessment version of the IEA Professional Framework in early 2008. Specific routes to Member and Fellow status will include:

• School or college route
• Applied or workplace route (vocational focus)
• Higher education institution route
• Local Authority route
• Researcher route
• Independent consultant route
• Professional body route
• Awarding body employee route

CPD - Events and Training Course Calendar

Each month the IEA communicates educational assessment focused events and training courses that are taking place around the UK.

The INGOTS Staff Development Courses

The assessor model supports staff development and this can be used to get recognition through the Teacher Learning Academy (TLA) of the General Teaching Council for England.

Assessor Training

Assessor training courses are arranged on a regular basis at various geographical locations. If you are interested in becoming an assessor, sign up at click here . for the forthcoming courses or put your name and details on the course waiting list. We will use this to arrange courses as far as possible to suit the geographical location. In general, the course fee is £129 per delegate with discounts for more than one delegate from the same institution.

Communicate-ed Assessment related training courses:

Communicate-ed is a company specialising in the training of education professionals who work in the area of special needs.

The CIEA has negotiated a 15% discount for members. Please download the appropriate form for the Communicate-ed website

Read more .

Please return your application clearly marked 'CIEA discount' with your membership number. Please note that the discount only applies to the standard rate and cannot be used with any other offer.

Training providers. Please contact info@ioea.org.uk if you would like to promote your courses within this section of CIEAMail.

Members should be aware that the CIEA is only communicating these events to its members and not endorsing them.

Assessment News - And Finally

Thousands more pupils are being given more time and extra help to complete A-level and GCSE papers because of physical or emotional difficulties.

Exams watchdog, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, said in 2007 some 92,000 candidates had extra help because of special circumstances.

Read more ...

E-newsletter feedback

Let us know what you think of the e-newsletter and any features you'd like to see in future issues. If you're feeling creative and would like to contribute an article, please send an email to info@ioea.org.uk. Until next time...

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