Ability

IEP's Assessment and Reporting - Information about changes to assessment and reporting

Dear families and carers,

This letter provides Yarrabah School's approach to IEPs, Assessment and Reporting in the first half of 2020.

Due to the Pandemic, we are unable to adequately provide fair and equitable assessments for our students or report on these assessments. Formal and Informal assessment is challenging and restricted to the amount of time spent, face to face with a child onsite, on video or over the phone. A fair and equitable report relies on evidence and knowledge of student participation and engagement. In this time, we will need to modify our approach.

We do, however, need to provide a report on progress.

IEP:

The Individual Education Plan (IEP) sets out three goals to support the student in Communication, Life Skills and Personal and Social Capabilities. The school have identified these areas as critical in supporting your child in their pursuit of Learning for Life (REA Learning for Life).

The IEP goals provide teachers, co-educators, therapists and families opportunities to embed strategies in a variety of learning situations. By no means are they the only way we support your child in communication, life skills or personal and social learning.

When students return to school, and SSG meetings occur, IEP goals, strategies and progress will be discussed to identify if your child has made progress towards goal achievement.

We would like to apologise for a misspelt heading in the IEPs (resouces instead of resources).

Curriculum:

Yarrabah School supports full implementation of the Victorian Curriculum and Individual Learning Programs (ILPs) for each student. Yarrabah School has a sequential curriculum framework that guides student learning. Please refer to our curriculum policy on the school website for more information.

Teachers provide a full curriculum relevant to level. Student progress must be regularly reviewed using a variety of assessment approaches.

Student Assessment:

The 'Assessment Schedule' provides teachers guidance in the delivery and implementation of core assessment tasks used to assess achievement standards and levels.

Yarrabah School will not undertake a formalised schedule of assessment during remote learning. Assigning a level of achievement against the curriculum for our students at this time is fraught with challenge and difficulty, potentially giving rise to biased and inequitable assessment outcomes. We are also unable to undertake the ABLES assessments with any degree of fidelity, at this time.

Reporting:

Reporting on student progress for the first half of this year will look different to previous years at Yarrabah. You will be provided with a written progress report on each curriculum area that identifies activities, outcomes and photographic evidence of student involvement in the program. It is unclear at this stage if Yarrabah will be required to allocate a level of achievement for each student in each curriculum area.

Our staff feel strongly about the relative importance of formalised assessment Vs wellbeing at this time. The staff will be writing a progress report that includes recommendations for the transition back to school. We feel these recommendations will be much more beneficial to you and your child.

If you would like to ask any questions, have any concerns, issues or ideas related to our IEP, assessment and reporting approach, I encourage you to contact the school and ask to speak with me. Alternatively, I will be running a virtual parent meeting next week where your questions can be addressed.

Kind regards,

Matthew Harris

Principal

Yarrabah School

IEP letter.pdf