Page 2846 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 14 August 2019
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• Alphabet Knowledge
• Reading (multiple aspects)
• Spelling (multiple aspects)
• High Frequency words
• Writing; and
• Oral language.
In addition, all ACT public schools administer the Performance Indicators in Primary School (PIPS) to students at the beginning and end of the Kindergarten year. Kindergarten and year one teachers are able to utilise this data to support planning for student learning. Teachers and school leaders are provided with training support to maximise their understanding of the results.
PIPS also assists in the identification of students who may be struggling with aspects of literacy and assists teachers to tailor instruction for all students, including phonics, and to tailor literacy instruction using a range of targeted strategies and adjustments. The ACT Taskforce on Students with Learning Difficulties determined that, as a measure, PIPS highly correlated with the Dynamic Indicators of Early Basic Literacy Skills test (DIBELS). DIBELS is a universal screening tool for identification of reading disabilities including dyslexia.
The Education Directorate’s suite of assessments is more comprehensive and finer grained than the proposed Year 1 Phonics Check and provides a wealth of information on a child’s reading behaviours at regular intervals to support teachers to plan targeted teaching and learning. The ACT Government is concerned that implementing the proposed National Year 1 Phonics Check would provide negligible additional information for teachers, schools and systems to improve early detection, differentiate instruction and support literacy acquisition.
Learning disabilities such as dyslexia are defined by the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (DDA) and the Disability Standards for Education 2005 as ‘a disorder or malfunction that results in a person learning differently from a person without a disorder or malfunction’. Students with learning disabilities are a specific group who are considered to have learning difficulties but do not respond to appropriate intervention. The Disability Standards for Education 2005 requires schools to make reasonable adjustments to ensure these students are able to access and participate in education on the same basis as their peers. This requires teachers to exercise professional judgement, in consultation with the student and their family.
The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on Students with Disability (NCCD), introduced across Australia in 2015, supports teachers to identify students who require educational adjustments to support their additional learning needs. NCCD provides an annual collection of information about Australian school students who are receiving adjustments due to disability. It requires schools to be able to demonstrate evidence of educational adjustments provided to meet ongoing, long-term specific needs associated with disability that have a functional impact on the student’s schooling. Evidence may include teacher judgements based on observation, specialist diagnosis reports, individualised/personalised learning planning such as an ILP, records of
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