(Amended 6/1/2015)
National Standards have been developed for all students. For students who have special education needs, as with all students, showing progress in relation to the standards will be as much a focus as showing achievement.
Individual education plans (IEPs) will continue to be the basis for planning learning programmes for most students with special education needs.
Those who know the student best, including parents, family, whānau, and communities, will continue to work together to support students through an IEP process. Including goals relating to the National Standards will become part of the IEP process.
A very small group of students have very significant learning disabilities and are likely to learn within level one of The New Zealand Curriculum for most of their years at school. The IEP process helps teachers and parents to assess the fine-grained progress of students with the highest learning disabilities in relation to the National Standards. For this group of students, teachers may choose to use assessment approaches that better help them to identify, broaden, and deepen their understanding of what the students can do as the basis for developing the students' teaching and learning programmes.
Teachers will continue to use a range of valid assessment and IEP approaches to ensure they are supporting all students to learn within The New Zealand Curriculum. Narrative assessment is one such approach. Part of the project Assessment for Learners with Special Education Needs, involved developing a series of Curriculum Exemplars for Learners with Special Education Needs and the accompanying book Narrative assessment: A guide for teachers. Teachers can use these resources to focus on what students’ learning looks like when opportunities are maximised, and to identify possible learning pathways within The New Zealand Curriculum. These materials are available on the dedicated website – Through Different Eyes.
Boards will report school-level progress and achievement for all students, including those with special education needs, in relation to the National Standards.
In addition to their National Standards reporting for all students, boards can also report the progress and achievement of students with very significant learning disabilities separately.
Updated on: 08 May 2012
