Effectiveness of group moderation program for developing professional assessment skills of teachers

In this study we created and applied a system of "group moderation" to clarify the criterion of the grades that teachers gave to students. In group moderation, teachers gathered with students' works and graded them. Then, they examined the reasons why they gave a particular gade and why other teachers graded higher or lower. The purpose of Group Moderation is to maintain consistency in teachers' judgments in criterion-based assessment. We set Group Moderation emphasizing on how to develop the professional assessment skill of teachers. We have also practiced Group Moderation in a seminar at the Okayama Education Center in Okayama, Japan. The results of this study showed that 1) group moderation improved the assessment ability of teachers to create the feedback on how to instruct students to achieve a higher level. 2) Group Moderation enhanced their ability to maintain the consistency of assessment.