Inside the ISA marking operation

What is your background?

I come from an education and project management background. Prior to this role, I was a primary school teacher and before that I was a project manager within the Country Fire Authority, Australia.

Could you describe how much planning goes into the ISA marking process?

A significant amount of planning goes into ensure the marking of approximately 350,000 ISA tests goes smoothly. Planning begins at least six months before each test administration. This includes scheduling, recruiting teams of experienced markers, developing marking guides, setting up the custom-built marking system, coordinating training and setting up systems for monitoring the marking process.  

What kind of experience do ISA markers have?

We use a group of highly experienced and professional markers, led by a team of expert lead markers, all of whom have extensive teaching experience in the relevant learning area (e.g. Mathematics, Science, Reading or Writing) that they are marking. As all our marking is completed online, our markers must also possess a high level of computer literacy.

How do you ensure the quality and consistency of the marking?

It is our top priority to ensure that marker accuracy and productivity remains at the highest standard. Our group of professional markers is thoroughly trained to ensure a deep understanding of each of the questions in each test. Our marking system also contains built-in checks to ensure marker accuracy is maintained. Additionally, lead markers continually monitor the markers and provide them with regular feedback on their accuracy and productivity against our high marking standards.

Do markers receive training specifically about the ISA? Who is involved in the training?

The ISA contains questions specific only to the ISA and the questions change regularly. ISA questions are also set in authentic contexts and a significant proportion of the questions in Reading, Mathematical Literacy and Scientific Literacy are open response questions that need to be marked by a team of trained professional markers. Additionally, the Writing tests contain tasks that prompt students to write extended responses which must be reviewed.

Therefore, it is essential that specific training is provided to each marker for each individual open response question and writing task. This training is delivered by a member of the team that wrote the test, one of our ISA test developers. The test developers are permanent research staff of ACER, with extensive teaching and broader educational experience. Detailed advice on how to mark each of the questions and writing tasks is also provided to the markers in marking guides and samples of student responses.

Is each individual response reviewed by a marker?                 

While the marking system automatically marks the multiple choice questions, ISA markers focus on the open-ended questions and writing responses. Each response written by a student is thoroughly reviewed by a marker to ensure the best outcome for the student based on the response. ISA markers are experienced at interpreting student responses and are also aware that over half of the ISA population do not have English as their first language; this is at the forefront of their minds as they evaluate student responses.