Introduction:

Scoil Phádraig Naofa is committed to the ongoing development of pupils and to carrying out effective assessment of and for learning. This policy has been formulated to provide a transparent and uniform approach to assessment throughout the whole school.

Policy Rationale:

The core of the policy is that all children should experience success at school. Assessment activities used in this school will contribute to pupil learning and development by gathering relevant information to guide each pupil’s further learning (assessment for learning) and by providing information on each pupil’s achievement at a particular point in time (assessment of learning). We aim to enable all children to develop to their full potential physically, intellectually, linguistically, emotionally, and socially through a child-centred curriculum. This policy endeavours to identify children who may have learning difficulties and put in place a school response to their needs at the earliest possible opportunity. An effective assessment policy is central to this core objective.

Policy Content:

This policy is geared towards using assessment to inform planning and identify the needs of all pupils, including the exceptionally gifted so that adequate strategies are put in place early enough to facilitate remediation. These strategies may include pupil self-assessment, peer assessment, pupil profiling, two-way communication between parents and teachers, modification of teacher programs, and the use of a continuum of support leading to individual education plans.

Overall Aims and Objectives:

The primary aims/objectives of the policy are:

1. To facilitate improved pupil learning through evaluation and monitoring of progress.
2. To create a procedure for monitoring achievement.
3. To track learning processes at each stage, which assists the long and short-term planning of current teachers and future teachers.
4. To coordinate assessment procedures on a school basis involving parents and pupils in managing strengths, styles and difficulties.

Relationship to School Ethos:

The school adopts a holistic approach to the education and development of each child and the enhancement of teaching processes. An effective Assessment policy identifies early interventions that need to be put in place to ensure that enhancement, increased confidence, and raised self-esteem are achieved.

Definition of Assessment:

In line with the NCCA, our staff believes that assessment is integral to teaching and learning and is concerned with children’s progress and achievement. It involves gathering information to understand how each child is progressing at school and using that information to further a child’s learning. We concur with their definition of classroom assessment as “the process of gathering, recording, interpreting, using and reporting information about a child’s progress and achievement in developing knowledge, concepts, skills, and attitudes.” Assessment, therefore, involves much more than testing. It is an ongoing process that concerns the daily interactions between the teacher and the child, including moment-by-moment conversations, observations, and actions. (NCCA, Assessment in the Primary School Curriculum – Guidelines for Schools. November 2007 p.7).

Legislative requirements that have guided the development of our assessment policy:

• Education Act (1998)
• Data Protection Act (2018)
• Education Welfare Act (2000)
• Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act (2004)
• Freedom of Information Act (2014)

Aims of our Teacher Assessment Strategies:

· To benefit pupil learning.

· To monitor learning processes.

· To generate baseline data that can be used to monitor achievement over time.

· To involve parents and pupils in identifying and managing learning strengths or difficulties.

· To assist teachers’ long and short-term planning.

· To coordinate assessment procedures on a whole school basis.

Purposes of Assessment:

· To inform planning for all areas of the curriculum.

· To gather and interpret data at class/whole school level and in relation to national norms.

· To identify the particular learning needs of pupils/groups of pupils including the exceptionally able.

· To enable teachers to modify their programs and their teaching methodologies in order to ensure that the particular needs of individual pupils/groups are being addressed.

· To compile records of individual pupils’ progress and attainment.

· To facilitate communication between parents and teachers about pupils’ development, progress, and learning needs.

· To facilitate the active involvement of pupils in the assessment of their own work.

Range of Assessment Methods used Throughout the School:

Both assessment of learning and assessment for learning are used by teachers to make professional judgements about pupil achievement/progress. Deciding what to assess will be based on the curriculum objectives in each curriculum area/subject and on what the teacher intends to help the children to learn. Pupil’s progress is assessed on a continuous basis. The range of assessment methods that are used are outlined below but are not limited to these.

Assessment for Learning Strategies:

Assessment for Learning is 'formative' assessment, aiming to support and advance students in their learning. At its heart, assessment for learning is a way of informing and involving the learners themselves in the process of assessment. The following methods of Assessment for Learning (Afl) can be chosen from:

• Teacher-designed tasks and tests.

· Designed at the teacher's discretion.

• Class assessments

• Class tests/scores/work samples are recorded and stored by the class teacher in the class assessment folder/on the classroom tests module on the Aladdin system.

• Success and improvement strategy

• Children will be given either oral or written feedback on how to improve their work. This would aim to be a mix of positive feedback and identifying areas for improvement.

• Sharing the learning intention/objective and devising success criteria - Telling children what they are going to learn… and agreeing on the criteria for judging to what extent the outcomes have been achieved e.g.

· We are learning to……………….. We will know when we’ve achieved this because………….

· The learning objective(s) and the success criteria may be displayed on a chart/whiteboard/post its etc).

· Teacher/peer/self-evaluation in terms of these by identifying successes and improvement needs against the set criteria.

• Effective teacher questioning – Teachers use higher-order questioning to provoke fruitful discussion. Strategies for turning recall questions into formative questions include –

· Giving a range of answers.

• A statement (e.g. instead of asking ‘what foods are considered healthy?’, state ‘All foods are good for you. Do you agree or disagree and why?)

· Right and wrong – two examples/pictures, one ‘right’ (e.g. a healthy meal on a plate) and one ‘wrong’ (a junk food meal), and asking children to discuss.

· Give the answer – and ask how it was arrived at.

· An opposing standpoint – e.g. what would a mother whose children were starving think of shoplifting?

• Challenging traditional thinking- ‘What if the wolf in the story of the 3 Little Pigs was innocent?’

• Individual oral feedback – to include enabling children identify the next steps in their learning.

• Quality marking by teacher – occasional pieces of work marked focusing on pointing out success and improvement rather than marking every error in existence. On occasion ‘test’ marking will be undertaken whereby all aspects of the work will be marked e.g. a story where comments are made re. spelling, grammar, punctuation, handwriting, and the overall quality of the work.

• Quality marking by children. Children are gradually trained to identify their own successes and improvement needs, with control gradually handed over from the teacher to the child.

• Oral responses of pupils

• Teacher Observations

• Conferencing where appropriate/necessary

• Completed assignments by pupils – projects, copybooks, work samples, homework.

• Parental/pupil feedback or observation.

• Standardised tests

• Diagnostic tests (where appropriate)

• Assessment by a psychologist (where appropriate)

• Pupil Self-Assessment

Self-assessment is the means by which pupils take responsibility for their own learning. However, we need to train pupils to self-assess. Teachers can select from the following strategies to aid self-assessment as appropriate for their own class;

• KWL
• Children can self-assess using- a traffic light system, thumbs up or down, smiley faces, talking partners, two stars, and a wish.

· Concept maps, mind maps, brainstorming.

· Evaluation sheets

· Self-Editing, drafting, and re-drafting

· Pupil Questionnaires/Interviews

· Pupils Logs e.g. spelling log, reading log, etc

· Reflection; Representation; Reporting: Children think about what they have been learning. They then represent what they have learned (e.g. through a drawing, concept map, brainstorming, questions, think-pair-share, paragraph etc.) Children then report on their learning – to the teacher; class; group; parent; partner etc.

Assessment of Learning:

Assessment for Learning is 'formative', while Assessment of Learning is 'summative', i.e. Its main purpose is to grade and certify students' achievement and inform future planning and learning.

• Standardised Tests- (Refer to Circular 26/19)

Some of the following tests are used:

· MIST (Middle Infants Screening Test)

· Micra T (English) - 1st to 6th

· Sigma T (Maths) 1st – 6th Class

The purpose of the standardised tests is to allow teachers to make placement and progress decisions based on assessment results and to develop appropriate interventions for certain children.

Standardised tests are administered on a class basis by the class teacher. In the event that a pupil is absent on the day of the test the SET teacher or class teacher if suitable will administer the test at a later date. Pupils may be excluded from the tests if in the view of the principal they have any learning or physical disability which would prevent them from taking the test or newcomer pupils, where their level of English is such that attempting the test would be inappropriate.

· Each child’s raw score, standard score, percentile rank, STEN and reading age is recorded. The percentile rank, reading age (where appropriate) and STEN score is recorded on the tracking system. (Aladdin)

· The results are communicated to parents in their school report. The STEN score will be given to parents with the end-of-term report.

· The results will determine the allocation of SET hours in the school and the nature of the support provided (in-class or withdrawal). See Special Education Policy

• If diagnostic testing is considered necessary, a meeting will be organised with the parents, class teacher, and/or SET teacher.

• Screening: (Refer to Guidelines for primary Schools: Supporting pupils with Special Educational Needs in Mainstream schools and circulars 13/17 and 7/19)

· The first step in identifying children who may need SET in either numeracy or literacy is through teacher observation and teacher-designed tests. The particular measures that are administered will depend on the age and the stage of development of the child in question.

• Infant classes

Literacy

• Jolly Phonics sound recognition, tricky word/high-frequency word recognition, blending, letter formation, writing CVC/CVCC words, simple dictation, oral language checklists. (Teacher designed tests)
• Infants self-assess their own work using a smiley face system or thumbs up or down.
• Weekly spelling (sound) tests (in Senior Infants)
• Middle Infant Screening Test (MIST)
• Drumcondra Early Literacy Test (Senior Infants)

Numeracy

• Terms tests based on the Maths program.
• Smiley face system used on written exercises completed from the Maths program.
• Drumcondra Early Numeracy Test (Senior Infants)

• Whole school

Literacy

• Teacher designed spelling/dictation or comprehension tests.
• Standardised tests (Micra-T)/(Drumcondra Spelling Test)
• Children self-assess their own work using a variety of methods (depending on the class teacher or stage of development)

Numeracy

• Teacher-designed tests e.g. mental maths or tables tests
• Topic-based or termly tests
• Standardised tests (Sigma-T)
• Children self-assess their own work using a variety of methods

(depending on the class teacher or stage of development)

The SET team, in conjunction with the class teachers, analyses the results of these assessments to identify children who need to be timetabled for SET the following year. The results of some of these tests are provided to the parents in the end-of-year report

Diagnostic Assessment: (Refer to Learning Support Guidelines, Chapter 4).

Some diagnostic tests are used by the school to determine the needs of individuals. Such tests are administered by the SET Team following referral by the class teachers in consultation with parents/guardians. The administration of such tests is in keeping with the Special Education Needs, A Continuum of Support where a staged approach is used by the individual class teachers before recourse to diagnostic testing /psychological assessment. Parents are provided with test results and if a psychological assessment is warranted, parental permission is sought and a consent form is completed.

The following are some of the formal diagnostic tests used in school to determine the appropriate learning support for individual pupils who present with learning difficulties:

• NNRIT
• PM READING Assessment Kit
• Schonell Graded Word Reading Test
• Schonell Graded Spelling Test
• Rain Sentence Test
• WIAT-III
• Belfield Infant Assessment Profile
• Primary School Assessment Kit(DES 2007)
• Outside the Box Diagnostic Resources

SET Team regularly reviews diagnostic tests and selects tests most suitable for children’s needs.

· Class teacher, SET Team, and parents are involved in selecting children for diagnostic assessment

· Parental permission will be sought prior to carrying out the assessment.

· A member of the SET team administers the individual diagnostic tests

· The SET team and class teacher interpret the diagnostic results.

• Written permission is always sought when an outside agency is involved.

• For children under the age of 6, a referral may be made through the Assessment of Needs process for further assessment, in conjunction with the parents.

• Appropriate different learning interventions are initiated to ensure that the results of the assessments inform subsequent learning plans. This is evident in SET teachers’ plans and class teacher plans e.g. differentiation and on the continuum of support.

· SET team schedules a meeting with parents (and relevant agencies) following testing to share information about diagnostic results.

· If it is felt necessary to consult a psychologist (NEPS or other) about diagnostic test results the Principal/SET team will organise a consultation meeting.

Psychological/ OT/ Speech & Language/Other Assessment

If it is felt that a psychological assessment may be the most appropriate action, having followed the staged approach, the class teacher/Principal will contact the parents for permission to secure or suggest a psychological assessment for their child. An assessment will determine the subsequent level of intervention, be it classroom support, School Support, or School Support Plus.

The principal, SET coordinator, and class teacher liaise with parents if a psychological assessment is deemed necessary. Standard consent forms are used.

· The principal, in consultation with the class teacher, SET Team, and parents will usually arrange an assessment from specialists i.e. psychologist, OT, speech & language, etc.

· SET Team will use assessment results in drafting a support plan for the pupil, if appropriate. This determines the level of intervention needed.

· The 6^th class teacher/principal will ensure that the details of relevant reports/results of 6^th class pupils will be transferred with them on their move to Second Level Education.

Recording Results of Assessment:

Each class teacher has a hard copy assessment folder. This may include tests, assessments, results, work samples, and samples of pupils’ self-assessments. The data is sensitive to each child and the class teacher is responsible for the safe storage of their assessment folder.

In addition, results of standardised tests are logged and stored on the school Aladdin on a yearly basis.

Results of classroom tests may also be logged and stored on the school Aladdin on an ongoing basis throughout the school year.

Hard copies of pupils’ professional reports are stored in a locked filing cabinet in the SET rooms along with their support files.

Standardised test results may be transferred to the relevant secondary school on transfer from Primary to Second Level as per the pupil passport system.

Results of end of year assessments will determine what pupils receive SET hours the following academic year.

Results of the standardised tests can be made available to the BOM to analyse the school’s standards in Literacy and Numeracy.

Success Criteria:

This policy is considered successful if;

• Early identification and intervention is achieved
• Clarity is achieved regarding procedures involved in a staged approach
• Procedures are clear, with roles and responsibilities defined
• The Special Education team have clearly defined roles and objectives
• There is efficient transfer of information between teachers

Roles and Responsibilities:

All members of staff, parents and BOM

Timeframe for review:

This policy will be reviewed every 3 years to meet the changing needs of the school.

Next review

May 2026

Ratification and Review

Ratified by the Board of Management on 18th May 2023