Confirmation FAQs

Confirmation is the quality assurance process that ensures the comparability of student results for summative internal assessment in General and General (Extension) subjects.

See Section 9.6 of the QCE and QCIA policy and procedures handbook for further information about confirmation.

All General and General (Extension) subjects require confirmation of summative internal assessment results. Results for summative assessment instruments in Applied and Applied (Essential) subjects do not require confirmation.

See Section 9.6 of the QCE and QCIA policy and procedures handbook for further information about confirmation.

Results for each of the three summative internal assessments for all General and General (Extension) subjects need to be confirmed annually.

For confirmation, schools need to:

• collect and store all student responses to summative internal assessment in General and General (Extension) subjects
• ensure school assessment policies developed from the QCE and QCIA policy and procedures handbook are applied
• submit student’s provisional marks for summative internal assessment in General and General (Extension) subjects in the Student Management application
• when submitting provisional marks, indicate whether a comparable assessment instrument was used for one or more students
• upload QCAA-identified samples of student responses, and the associated marked ISMG.

See Sections 9.6.1, 9.6.2 and 9.6.3 of the QCE and QCIA policy and procedures handbook for further information about confirmation requirements.

The Confirmation application in the QCAA Portal is the ICT platform through which confirmation processes are completed.

Schools use the Confirmation application to:

• upload required samples of student responses to summative internal assessment instruments
• track and manage the submission of sample responses
• receive confirmation decisions
• apply for a review of a confirmation decision.

Each year, the QCAA reviews the dates for confirmation after a review of the process and feedback from stakeholders.

See the SEP calendar for more information.

Schools submit provisional marks for summative internal assessments in the Student Management application as specified in the Senior Education Profile (SEP) calendar.

See the SEP calendar for more information.

The dates for the notification of samples and submission of sample files to the QCAA for confirmation are detailed in the SEP calendar. Schools use these dates to plan for the submission of samples.

The QCAA notifies each school via the Confirmation application in the QCAA Portal which samples are required for each confirmation event at a date specified in the SEP calendar.

Schools are responsible for ensuring their delivery of teaching and learning and assessment programs are in accordance with the rules and procedures specified in the Section 1.5 of the QCE and QCIA policy and procedures handbook.

If a school is unable to meet a confirmation deadline for provisional marks or required samples, they must contact the QCAA as soon as possible at confirmation@qcaa.qld.edu.au

The roles and responsibilities of principals, principal’s delegates, subject leaders and teachers are outlined in Section 12 of the QCE and QCIA policy and procedures handbook.

Confirmation decisions are communicated to schools via the Confirmation application in the QCAA Portal after the confirmation meeting for each event.

In most cases, QCAA notifies schools of confirmation decisions on the day specified in the SEP calendar. Where there are outstanding issues to be resolved, schools may receive a confirmation decision after the specified date.

See Section 9.6 of the QCE and QCIA policy and procedures handbook for further information about confirmation decisions and timelines.

In preparation for confirmation, schools must collect and store student responses to make judgments. Schools decide how best to gather evidence for confirmation in accordance with their resources and context. These are provided to QCAA, via the Confirmation app, electronically.

Schools should be prepared to electronically submit:

• samples of students’ responses
• the marked ISMG, indicating which performance-level-descriptors and criteria or criterion marks were allocated
• any supporting documentation specified by the QCAA for each summative internal assessment instrument in accordance with the confirmation submission information and to meet specified times.

See Section 9.6.1 of the QCE and QCIA policy and procedures handbook for further information about collecting and storing evidence.

The confirmation submission information is available via the Syllabus application’s Resources tab in the QCAA Portal.

A comparable assessment is not an opportunity to replace evidence gathered from a previously administered endorsed assessment instrument, nor does it provide an additional opportunity to gather evidence of student learning.

Comparable assessment is an alternative assessment instrument that is used when an endorsed assessment instrument cannot be used for an individual student, small groups of students within the cohort, or the entire cohort, including when:

• the integrity of an endorsed assessment instrument has been compromised
• the administration of an endorsed assessment instrument was interrupted by an emergent situation
• illness or misadventure prevents a student from completing an assessment on or by the due date.

Comparable assessment instruments are developed from the school’s endorsed assessment instrument and do not need to be endorsed or approved by the QCAA before use. Schools notify the QCAA of which student or students have completed a comparable assessment when provisional marks have been submitted in Student Management. Where a student selected as a sample for confirmation has completed a comparable assessment, the school may need to provide the QCAA a copy of that assessment via the Confirmation application.

When development of a comparable instrument is required, schools should contact the QCAA for support and advice if necessary.

See Section 9.6.3 of the QCE and QCIA policy and procedures handbook for further information about comparable assessment.

Only evidence generated in the student’s preparation of an assessment response collected on or before the due date can be used to make a judgment. The judgment must be made by matching the characteristics in the evidence to the ISMG (see Section 9.6.1 of the QCE and QCIA policy and procedures handbook).

A not-rated (NR) is only entered if there is no evidence from the student’s preparation of an assessment response.

For confirmation, schools submit all evidence used to determine provisional marks for a student’s response.

QCAA processes for the selection of samples and the determination of confirmed results relies on the school’s provisional marks awarded through teacher judgments for each student’s response to summative internal assessment.

The confirmation process is not a marking or re-marking process for student work. It is a quality assurance process examining the accuracy and consistency of teacher judgments to ensure comparability across Queensland.

Further information about expectations for confirmation is available in Section 9.6 of the QCE and QCIA policy and procedures handbook.

The school’s assessment policy sets out the school-based policies, procedures and strategies for managing response length and making judgments about student responses that exceed syllabus assessment conditions.

Schools require strategies to manage student response length proactively before assessment submission. The strategies for marking student responses that exceed assessment conditions for response length should be suitable for the school and assessment context and may include:

• marking only the work that meets the   assessment conditions for response length, excluding evidence outside the   required length
• allowing the student to redact a response to   meet the required length before a judgment is made on the student work.

When marking student responses, schools cannot penalise students for submitting a response that does not meet the response length conditions by arbitrarily reducing their result by any number of marks.

Further information is available in the School assessment policy resources accessible to schools through the Noticeboard application on the QCAA Portal, or in Section 8.4 of the QCE and QCIA policy and procedures handbook.

The QCAA uses provisional marks for a summative internal assessment to identify the samples that schools are required to submit for confirmation.

Each school has a unique sampling design based on the:

• distribution of achievement for each subject’s cohort
• number of students enrolled in each subject’s cohort
• confirmation decisions for the school in previous years.

The QCAA notifies schools via the Confirmation application in the QCAA Portal which samples are required for confirmation.

Schools can only submit the requested sample responses.

The QCAA may request additional samples (known as supplementary samples) to finalise a confirmation decision or respond to a request for a school review of confirmed results.

The number of campuses a school has does not affect the number of samples required to be submitted for confirmation. An exception to this is if each campus has a different QCAA school code.

Schools are not required to remove teacher comments and annotations on responses.

QCAA assessors (confirmation) use the evidence in the student response and the school’s annotated ISMG to make a decision for each sample.

QCAA identifies student samples by LUI, and QCAA assessors (confirmation) then confirm those samples identified by LUI. Assessors (confirmation) use endorsed instruments directly from the QCAA endorsement application that do not identify the school.

Schools are not required to remove references to student names made in teacher comments and annotations on responses. Video recordings of students performing or completing assessment in school uniform are not required to be de-identified for the purposes of confirmation.

Accreditation Course 3 in the QCAA Portal provides further information about how to annotate an ISMG and identify a mark to reflect teacher judgments.

Schools are expected to identify the characteristics of the student response under each criterion by using the ISMG. This could occur by highlighting, circling, checking or otherwise clearly marking the characteristics identified in the student response and the identified mark.

Schools are expected to identify the characteristics of the student response for each criterion by using the ISMG. No additional teacher annotations or comments are required for confirmation. However, if teacher comments have been made on the response for the purpose of feedback to the student, these comments do not have to be removed.

Accreditation Course 3 in the QCAA Portal provides further information about how to annotate an ISMG and identify a mark to reflect teacher judgments.

Any student completing summative internal assessment that has an approved AARA will have this information recorded in the QCAA Portal. Where a comparable assessment instrument is required to allow the approved AARA for the student, this will be uploaded with the confirmation sample evidence to the Confirmation application. QCAA assessors (confirmation) will not be provided details of the student’s specific circumstances relating to the AARA application.

Responses for students with approved AARA are marked using the same ISMG as other students for the summative internal assessment instruments. QCAA assessors (confirmation) will make judgments about samples from students with approved AARA using the same process as they use to make judgments for other samples.

Schools should use the Confirmation submission information available via the Syllabus application’s Resources tab in the QCAA Portal for electronic submission requirements.

Schools should consider the Confirmation submission information when collecting, storing and submitting evidence for confirmation.

As part of the school’s internal quality assurance processes, back-up strategies for the collection, storage and submission of evidence for confirmation should be considered.

Schools who are unable to comply with the Confirmation submission information for the provision of one or more requested samples must contact qau@qcaa.qld.edu.au to determine if an alternative submission strategy is required. A request for alternative submission strategy is made by the principal or principal’s delegate via the Confirmation application.

In the confirmation process, the QCAA initiates the supplementary sample process when further information is required about the school's application of the ISMG to finalise a confirmation decision.

See Section 9.6.5 of the QCE & QCIA policy & procedures handbook for further information about supplementary samples

Schools are notified if plagiarism has been detected in student samples. Schools are required to check the cohort and updated files and marks as required for the review to be finalised.

Schools are notified if the incorrect ISMG has been submitted in student samples. Schools are required to check the cohort and updated files and marks as required for the review to be finalised.

Schools will be notified of an intervention in writing by the QCAA. With the advice of the QCAA subject officers, the school will re-mark the assessment responses of the entire cohort, marking an ISMG and the student responses as appropriate. The school will submit updated provisional marks to the QCAA Certification Unit and may have new samples for confirmation identified. The school will be notified of samples via the Confirmation application. The confirmation review process will then resume with the upload of annotated responses and ISMG for the identified samples.

The confirmation decision includes:

• confirmed results (marks by criterion) for each LUI for the cohort
• criterion summary, where adjustments to provisional marks were made in confirmation
• a submission comment pertaining to any academic integrity issues and the reviewable quality of the files.

The confirmation decision does not provide individualised feedback for each student sample.

If schools wish to clarify information in a confirmation decision, they should contact the QCAA. For questions relating to the confirmation process, please contact confirmation@qcaa.qld.edu.au. For subject-specific questions, schools should contact the relevant subject Principal Education Officer (PEO) for help.

The confirmation decision includes:

• confirmed results (marks by criterion) for each LUI for the cohort
• criterion summary, where adjustments to provisional marks were made in confirmation
• a submission comment pertaining to any academic integrity issues and the reviewable quality of the files.

The confirmation decision does not provide individualised feedback for each student sample.

If schools wish to clarify information in a confirmation decision, they should contact the QCAA. For questions relating to the confirmation process, please contact confirmation@qcaa.qld.edu.au. For subject-specific questions, schools should contact the relevant subject Principal Education Officer (PEO) for help.

After each confirmation event, students are notified of their confirmed result for each summative internal assessment via MyQCE. Students receive their confirmed results after the QCAA has issued confirmation decisions to schools.

Schools should have a strategy for how provisional marks for summative internal assessment responses are communicated to students and parents/carers prior to confirmation and provide information about the confirmation process to assist in understanding any variation between school-awarded provisional marks and the confirmed result.

A school may request a review of a confirmed result.

This request is made by the principal or the principal’s delegate via the QCAA Portal. The QCAA considers requests on a case-by-case basis.

Further information about the school review process is included in Section 9.6.6 of the QCE and QCIA policy and procedures handbook.

After a confirmation event is complete, QCAA identifies subjects that require support in the application of the ISMG or in complying with the process for submission of samples for confirmation.

The QCAA determines the level of support to be provided to schools to clarify understanding of the ISMG and/or confirmation requirements. The support may be facilitated by face-to-face meetings or teleconference, or through the publication of additional resources for use by schools.

If schools would like more information regarding the process of confirmation then the QCAA will arrange professional development to help clarify the steps and decisions taken. Principal Education Officers (PEOs) can help with enquiries about the implementation of the syllabus and the ISMGs.

Schools can make corrections to data or files uploaded for samples until the date specified in the SEP calendar.

The QCAA will provide a tool for use by schools to facilitate the submission of provisional marks by criterion to the Student Management application. Alternatively, schools can choose to enter provisional marks directly into the Student Management application.

If a data error is identified after the due date, the school must contact the QCAA Certification Unit immediately via certification@qcaa.qld.edu.au.

If a file error is identified after the due date, the school should contact the QCAA Confirmation Unit via confirmation@qcaa.qld.edu.au.

In the first instance, help guides are available in the Confirmation application to provide necessary information and support to schools.

Schools that require assistance accessing the Confirmation application should contact QCAA Client Services by phone at 07 3864 0299 or email at ClientServices@qcaa.qld.edu.au.

If schools are unable to upload one or more submission files due to IT accessibility, the principal or principal’s delegate must request an alternative strategy for the submission of files by emailing confirmation@qcaa.qld.edu.au.