Successful Learning Conference 2013
Making Adjustments for Students with
Special Education Needs, Years 7-12
24 June, 2013
Sources
Assessment Resource Centre
Board of Studies NSW
Assessment Certification
Examination (ACE)
Board of Studies NSW
Board of Studies NSW
Special Education Needs
NSW SYLLABUSES
for the Australian Curriculum
CURRICULUM OPTIONS
Curriculum planning
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)
Collaborative 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)
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.
Assessment – applying
adjustments
• 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)
(NSW Syllabuses for the Australian Curriculum)
Mathematics sample
assessment activity
Height (cm)
Class interval
Frequency
155–<160
3
160–<165
2
165–<170
9
170–<175
7
175–<180
10
180–<185
5
185–<190
5
190–<195
1
Mathematics sample
assessment activity
Marking guidelines
Title
Headings
Data values
Frequency
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
Some column
fully describe the headings are
purpose of the
appropriate
table
All data values
included but in
incorrect order
OR
Some data
values missing
Some
frequencies
incorrect or
missing
No title
No data values
No frequencies
No column
headings
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.
2.
3.
Will the adjustments enable
the student to demonstrate
achievement of an outcome?
Can the criteria for assessing
learning and the marking
guidelines still be applied if
adjustments are in place?
Can a grade be applied to the
student’s overall performance
in the course if adjustments to
the assessment task are
applied?
1.
2.
Provide a template or scaffold
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
Number of
Tally
Number of
songs
0-<20
III
people
3
group the data collected into the correct data
values for students to count.
0–<20
10 15 12 10 8 5
20–<40
20 32 36 20 25
Mathematics sample assessment
activity – marking guidelines
Title
Headings
Data values
Frequency
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 title
No column
headings
No data values
No frequencies
Adjustments:
Adjustments:
Adjustments:
Adjustments:
Mathematics sample assessment
activity – marking guidelines
Achieved
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
Partially achieved
Achieved with
support
Assigning a grade
A
B
C
D
E
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.
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.
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.
The student has a basic knowledge and understanding of the content and
has achieved a limited level of competence in the processes and skills.
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) 9367 8148
Fax: (02) 9367 8476
marina.laing@bos.nsw.edu.au