Inclusive Assessment Program

The Inclusive Assessment Program provides educators with two optional assessment tools to assess, support, and scaffold learning for students with complex learning needs. These are:

• The Literacy and Numeracy Precursors – a set of indicators intended to be precursors to the National Literacy and Numeracy Learning Progressions
• Passport for learning – a holistic formative assessment approach for students with moderate to severe intellectual disability that allows educators to record observations on a student’s cognitive, receptive, expressive, and social skills.

The assessment tools are accessed via ALAN. Additional support materials are provided to support the implementation of the assessments.

For more information, visit Inclusive Assessment Program.

Interview for Student Reasoning

A suite of one-to-one teacher-led numeracy assessments for students from Kindergarten to Year 10.

There are 4 assessments available:

• Number and place value
• Additive thinking
• Multiplicative thinking
• Proportional thinking.

The assessments are aligned to the NSW mathematics syllabus and are mapped to the National Numeracy Learning Progression. The assessments have been modularised to give teachers flexibility in assessing sub-skills for targeted teaching. Teachers use the online tool via ALAN to enter student responses, with information automatically recorded in PLAN2. A Student Assessment Analysis can be downloaded to provide teachers with feedback to inform decisions about next steps in learning.

For more information, visit Interview for Student Reasoning.

Phonics diagnostic assessment

A short phonics assessment administered by classroom teachers with individual students from Kindergarten onwards.

It is organised into 4 sets focused on specific phonic knowledge skills:

• VC and CVC words
• consonant digraphs and one-syllable words
• split/vowel digraphs and longer one-syllable words
• multisyllabic and more complex words.

The assessment is mapped to the National Literacy Learning Progression. Teachers select individual or multiple sections to administer and enter student responses via ALAN, with information automatically recorded in PLAN2. A class summary can be downloaded to provide teachers with information to inform decisions about next steps in learning.

For more information, visit Phonics diagnostic assessment.

Phonological awareness diagnostic assessment

A short assessment administered by classroom teachers with individual students from Kindergarten onwards.

It assesses 5 subskills:

• word
• syllable
• onset/rime awareness
• basic phonemic awareness
• advanced phonemic awareness.

The assessment is mapped to the National Literacy Learning Progression. Teachers select individual or multiple sections to administer and enter student responses via ALAN, with information automatically recorded in PLAN2. A Student Assessment Analysis can be downloaded to provide teachers with information to inform decisions about next steps in learning.

For more information, visit Phonological awareness diagnostic assessment.

Pre and post assessments

Paired assessments of 6 to 12 questions on reading or numeracy, designed to monitor student learning before and after a period of explicit teaching across Stages 2 to 4. They are available as Microsoft Forms. Assessment summary documents outline aligned syllabus outcomes, progression indicators and teaching strategies.

For more information, visit Pre and post assessments.

Short assessments

Short assessments of typically 5 to 10 questions on reading, language conventions or numeracy across Stages 1 to 5 for English, mathematics, and some other syllabuses. They are available as Microsoft Forms. Syllabus outcomes, progression indicators and supporting teaching strategies are matched to each assessment.

For more information, visit Short assessments.

Spelling diagnostic assessment

A paper-based spelling assessment that can be administered with individual students, small groups, or a whole class. Each set is aligned to a stage (Early Stage 1 to Stage 3), divided into multiple sections, and includes teacher materials and student recording sheets (as PDF documents).

The assessment identifies a student’s:

• phonological knowledge – the ability to segment spoken words into smaller units of sounds within a word (syllables, onset and rime, and individual phonemes)
• orthographic knowledge – knowing letter patterns within words (26 letters of the alphabet to represent 44 phonemes)
• morphological knowledge – understanding the meaningful word parts and how they can connect.

For more information, visit Spelling diagnostic assessment.

Stage snapshots

Cohort assessments of approximately 40 questions on reading or numeracy, across Stages 2 to 4 for English and mathematics. They are available as Microsoft Forms. Teacher support booklets provide a table of answers, question previews and aligned syllabus outcomes, progression indicators and teaching strategies.

For more information, visit Stage snapshots.

VALID Science quick quizzes

Validation of Assessment for Learning and Individual Development (VALID) Science quizzes of 5 to 11 questions, assessing knowledge, understanding and skills in science across Stages 3 to 5. They are available as Microsoft Forms, Google Forms or PDF files. A Stage 3 summary table provides an additional syllabus coding key.

For more information, visit VALID Science quick quizzes.

PLAN2

Planning Literacy and Numeracy (PLAN2) tool for recording, monitoring and analysing students’ literacy and numeracy skills against the learning progressions, from Kindergarten to Year 10.

It allows teachers to:

• update and analyse observations against progression indicators
• access observations sent directly from a range of department assessments
• create differentiated areas of focus aligned to syllabus outcomes
• monitor student progress at student, class, stage or school level.

For more information, visit About PLAN2.