Successful Learning Conference 2013 Making Adjustments for Students with Special Education Needs, Years June, 2013

Sources Assessment Certification Examination (ACE) Board of Studies NSW Assessment Resource Centre Board of Studies NSW Special Education Needs NSW SYLLABUSES for the Australian Curriculum

CURRICULUM OPTIONS

All students with special education needs should choose the most appropriate courses, and options within courses, in keeping with their learning needs, strengths, goals and interests. (ACE Website 3004) All students with special education needs participate fully in learning experiences and assessment activities provided by the Years 7–10 curriculum but may require adjustments to teaching and learning activities and/or assessment. For a small percentage of students with special education needs, particularly those with an intellectual disability, it may be appropriate to select Life Skills outcomes and content in one or more Years 7–10 syllabuses. (ACE Website 3001) Curriculum planning

The decision-making process will identify the courses that the student with special education needs should study. Planning should take into consideration: –the student’s learning needs, strengths, goals and interests –the adjustments and/or support required for the student to access course work and demonstrate achievement of outcomes –the transition needs of the student. (ACE Website 3005) Collaborative curriculum planning

ADJUSTMENTS

Disability Standards for Education, 2005 ‘The education provider must take reasonable steps to ensure that the course or program is designed in such a way that the student is, or any student with a disability is, able to participate in the learning experiences (including the assessment and certification requirements) of the course or program … on the same basis as a student without a disability … 6.2 Standards for curriculum development and accreditation and delivery

Adjustments Adjustments are measures or actions taken in relation to teaching, learning and assessment that enable a student with special education needs to access syllabus outcomes and content on the same basis as their peers. The types of adjustments made will vary according to the needs of the individual student. (NSW Syllabuses for the Australian Curriculum)

PLANNING & PROGRAMMING

Planning and programming model (NSW Syllabuses for the Australian Curriculum)

ASSESSMENT

Assessment vs Reporting Assessment – measuring student achievement Reporting – communicating student achievement

Reporting Students in K–11 are reported using the A–E grade scale or equivalent:  Common Grade Scale for K–8  Course Performance Descriptors for Stage 5  Common Grade Scale for Preliminary Courses

Reporting Schools award students with a grade for each course completed in Stage 5. The grade should: indicate the student’s overall achievement in relation to the course performance descriptors involve the teacher’s judgement on the basis of available assessment information. Students may require adjustments in order to demonstrate achievement in both informal and formal assessment experiences. Students undertaking a course based on Life Skills outcomes and content are not allocated a grade in that course. (ACE Website 4021)

Assessment Providing adjustments for assessment should assist students to: access the task. demonstrate what they know and can do.

adjustments to the assessment process (eg the use of a reader and/or scribe, provision of scaffolds, additional instructions / prompting) adjustments to the assessment activities (eg reduced number or different outcomes, rephrasing questions, simplified language) alternative formats for responses (eg oral responses to exam instead of written) Assessment – applying adjustments (NSW Syllabuses for the Australian Curriculum)

Mathematics sample assessment activity Class intervalFrequency 155–< –< –< –< –< –< –< –<1951 Height (cm)

Mathematics sample assessment activity TitleHeadingsData valuesFrequency Title is appropriate and describes the purpose of the table All column headings are appropriate All data values included and in ascending order All frequencies are correct Title may not fully describe the purpose of the table Some column headings are appropriate All data values included but in incorrect order OR Some data values missing Some frequencies incorrect or missing No titleNo column headings No data valuesNo frequencies Marking guidelines

Sample Assessment Task Applying Adjustments 1.Will the adjustments enable the student to demonstrate achievement of an outcome? 2.Can the criteria for assessing learning and the marking guidelines still be applied if adjustments are in place? 3.Can a grade be applied to the student’s overall performance in the course if adjustments to the assessment task are applied?

Sample adjustments 1.Provide a template or scaffold 2.Support the student to establish data values, eg ‘What is the most number of songs a student has on their portable music player?’ ‘What can you count by to get up to that number?’ eg, 10s, 20s, 50s – each of these becomes a data value. 3.Support the student to present the data values, eg provide the data values on individual cards for the student to put into the correct order. 4.Support the student to count the frequencies, eg include an additional column in the table for tallies group the data collected into the correct data values for students to count. 1.Will the adjustments enable the student to demonstrate achievement of an outcome? 2.Can the criteria for assessing learning and the marking guidelines still be applied if adjustments are in place? 3.Can a grade be applied to the student’s overall performance in the course if adjustments to the assessment task are applied? 0–<2020–< Number of songs Tally Number of people 0-<20III3

Mathematics sample assessment activity – marking guidelines TitleHeadingsData valuesFrequency Title is appropriate and describes the purpose of the table All column headings are appropriate All data values included and in ascending order All frequencies are correct Title may not fully describe the purpose of the table Some column headings are appropriate All data values included but in incorrect order OR Some data values missing Some frequencies incorrect or missing No titleNo column headings No data valuesNo frequencies Adjustments:

Mathematics sample assessment activity – marking guidelines AchievedPartially achieved Achieved with support Title Title appropriately describes the table Column headings Headings are appropriate for each column Data values All data values are correct Data values are listed in ascending order Frequency Frequency for each data value is correct

Assigning a grade A The student has an extensive knowledge and understanding of the content and can readily apply this knowledge. In addition, the student has achieved a very high level of competence in the processes and skills and can apply these skills to new situations. B The student has a thorough knowledge and understanding of the content and a high level of competence in the processes and skills. In addition, the student is able to apply this knowledge and these skills to most situations. C The student has a sound knowledge and understanding of the main areas of content and has achieved an adequate level of competence in the processes and skills. D The student has a basic knowledge and understanding of the content and has achieved a limited level of competence in the processes and skills. E The student has an elementary knowledge and understanding in few areas of the content and has achieved very limited competence in some of the processes and skills.

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” - Albert Einstein

Marina Laing Senior Curriculum Officer, Special Education Ph: (02) Fax: (02)