The purpose of this article is to update you on our progress and plans around assessment and reporting “post national standards.”

The following article includes the background and rationale behind the decisions we have made as we refine and refocus our assessment and reporting procedures. 

This is a detailed article. Here is a summary of the main points:

• the National Standards were dropped by the Ministry in December 2017 and schools are able to choose alternative methods of reporting to parents.
• Lemonwood Grove will now move to progressions based reporting which focusses on progress across the curriculum levels. This method of reporting is new and is been adopted by many other schools across Canterbury and New Zealand.
• The work in this space is complex and we have based our decisions on a range of data and sources including parent consultation.
• Progressions based reporting will be fully implemented by the end of this year and will be phased in throughout the year starting with the English curriculum.
• Progressions based reporting is an inclusive method of reporting which aligns with our vision and principles of learning as well as our strategic goals.
  

Background

As you may know, the national standards were discontinued by the government in December 2017. Please follow this link to a Ministry of Education page with more information around this.

Since then, schools received limited guidance around what would replace the National Standards. Lemonwood Grove School, along with many other schools across the country decided to continue with a similar method of reporting to the national standards using more inclusive language focussed around the New Zealand Curriculum until the Ministry of Education provided new guidelines.

During 2018 it became clear that the Ministry of Education was unlikely to mandate a replacement to the national standards. In response to this, our team reached out to other schools, continued to research best practice and worked with Linc-Ed (our student and learning & management system) around how they can support us with a structure to share meaningful and timely assessment data and progress. We have also referred back to and reflected on parent feedback data that was collect during a review carried out in April of last year to inform our practices.

In February we shared our thinking with our Ministry Of Education Advisor Karen Wilson who endorsed the changes we are making in this area.

Where to Next: Introducing Progressions Based Reporting

Linc-Ed is now able to provide “progressions based reporting” which shows your child’s progress referenced to the New Zealand Curriculum.

With progressions based reporting, the focus is on progress in relation to the New Zealand Curriculum rather than reaching a standardised target within the curriculum which was the focus of the National Standards. 

Please take the time to view this video clip for more information and to get a feel for how this will look within your child’s Linc-ed account (there are three parts to this clip - please focus on the first part specifically on progressions based reporting).

Image 1 (attached at the end of this article) is from a school in Christchurch who moved to progressions based reporting recently. This school has structured their progressions slightly differently, however the concept is the same. Each circle represents a curriculum level (or a division of a level). Each circle is made up of a series of goals. As learners master a goal (we aim to include evidence/ samples to demonstrate these), a section of the circle turns green. The beige area of the circle represent goals that learners are working on, while the grey areas represent goals not yet covered.

As your child achieves their goals they will be marked off by teachers in consultation with each student. You will immediately see your child’s progress as they reach these goals. You will see recently completed goals and the goals your child is currently working on.

As a parent, you may wish to know how your child is tracking in regard to the New Zealand Curriculum expectations. The graph in image 2 is from the New Zealand Curriculum (page 45) and shows how curriculum levels typically relate to year levels. For example a learner in year 4 may be working within curriculum levels 1, 2 or 3.

Many learners do not fit this pattern, including those with learning needs, gifted students, and students who come from non-English-speaking backgrounds.

We will refer back to this graph in future parent education sessions where we will further unpack progressions based reporting.

Future Schedule of Reporting - where are we heading?

Once fully implemented, we plan to break down our assessment and reporting schedule as shown in the table below. In practical terms, this means that the goals within the curriculum circles will be updated as indicated below:  

Term 1 :English which will include listening, reading & viewing and speaking, writing & presenting

Term 2: Mathematics and Statistics which will include the number & algebra, geometry and measurement, and statistics strands

Term 3: English which will include listening, reading & viewing and speaking, writing & presenting

Term 4: Mathematics and Statistics which will include the number & algebra, geometry and measurement, and statistics strands

Please see this document for the full 2019 reporting schedule.

                                                              *****

One advantages of a platform like Linc-Ed is that teachers no longer have to wait for a specific date to share information/assessment data. These can be updated in real time and the circular graphs will always be “live”.

The Roll Out of Learning Progressions in 2019

The transition from expectations based reporting (using the national standards) to progressions based reporting has been a lengthy process and one which we are continuing to work on.

We are wanting to implement this successfully and therefore this will be staged throughout the year. The first stage will be the roll out of the English curriculum. We will then implement progressions based reporting across other learning areas.

In week 8 of term 2, we expect to have these English progressions charts online and will be able to share these with you at our Ako Conferences.

In term 3, we hope to have our Mathematics and Statistics progressions online.

Our next steps will be to continue to roll out progressions based on the other learning areas in the New Zealand Curriculum for e.g science and the formulation of our dispositions (which are currently under development).

Please note that we will continue sharing snapshots of learning using Linc-Ed Celebrating Learning and Values posts (Kahurangi & Maunga) SeeSaw (Tui & Kereru) and My Learning posts (Kopara) throughout the year.

Ako Conferences will take place in week 8 of term 2 and week 4 of term 4. Please see this article for more on Ako Conferences. 

We are really excited about our move from expectations to progressions based reporting and sharing the progress that your child is making. Using Linc-ed’s progressions based reporting method aligns with our strategic goals around connecting you with your child’s learning. We feel that progressions based reporting aligns with our vision the best of you, as you.

We will continue to update you with our progress in this area.

Please feel free to reach out to Sean, Jen or Nick if you have questions in the meantime.

Kind regards,

The LWG Team