Benchmarks and assessment of dyslexia

The Experiences and Outcomes support effective planning, learning, teaching and assessment and a collegiate approach to moderation of planning learning, teaching and assessment.

Benchmarks support teachers’ professionaljudgementof a level and this is only achieved through the use of effective moderation of planning learning, teaching and assessment.

Teachers and other practitioners draw upon the Benchmarks to assess the knowledge, understanding, and skills for learning, life and work which learners are developing in each curriculum area. Benchmarks have been designed to support professional dialogue as part of the moderation process to assess where children and young people are in their learning. Importantly, they will help to support holistic assessment approaches across learning and this pedagogy supports the collaborative identification process of dyslexia very well.

Benchmarks for literacy and numeracy should be used to support teachers’ professional judgement of achievement of a level. In other curriculum areas, Benchmarks support teachers and other practitioners to understand standards and identify children’s and young people’s next steps in learning. Evidence of progress and achievement will come from a variety of sources including:

  • Observing day-to-day learning within the classroom, playroom or working area;
  • Observation and feedback from learning activities that takes place in other environments, for example, or on work placements;
  • Coursework, including tests;
  • Learning conversations;
  • Planned periodic holistic assessment; and
  • Information from standardised assessment.

All of the above has a natural synergy with the collaborative identification process of dyslexia.

Download the 2017 benchmarks for Literacy and English [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)]

Download the 2017 benchmarks for Numeracy

The ASL Act 2014 does not prescribe any particular model of assessment or support which schools and local authorities must use. Local authorities and other agencies use a wide range of approaches to support assessment and action and to promote inter-agency working. In education generally, these approaches reflect a staged approach (most commonly three to six stages).

Such approaches are built around discrete stages of intervention which seek to resolve difficulties as early as possible and with the least intrusive course of action. The diagram below show some of the common features to be found in most models of staged assessment and provision as well as the approach adopted through the ‘Getting it right for every child’ and the ‘National Practice Model’.

The 2017 Code of Practice highlights that ‘The getting it right for every child’ policy provides five questions practitioners need to ask themselves about a child or young person:

  • What is getting in the way of this child’s or young person’s wellbeing?
  • Do I have all the information I need to help this child or young person?
  • What can I do now to help this child or young person?
  • What can my agency do to help this child or young person?
  • What additional help, if any, may be needed from others?

When working in partnership with children or young people the My World Triangle can be used at every stage to think about the whole world of the child or young person and to seek their views. With the agreement of the child and parents as appropriate, it is particularly helpful to use the triangle to gather more information from other sources in order to identify the strengths and pressures in the child or young person’s world as part of a dynamic process of ongoing assessment. The My World Triangle allows practitioners, in partnership with the child and parents, to consider systematically:

  • How the child or young person is growing and developing
  • What the child or young person needs from others
  • The impact of the wider world on the child or young person.

The 2008 HMIe Dyslexia Report and the 2014 Education Scotland Making Sense review both highlighted that practices and processes which support dyslexic learners can vary across the 32 local authorities and indeed can vary from school to school within a local authority. Supporting school communities to develop a better understanding of dyslexia and inclusive practice will support the process of effective self-evaluation. However this is not without challenges and requires a collective understanding of the links highlighted in figure 6 and the reasons why this practice should be the approach taken.

Described image
Figure 6 Developing Inclusive practice

To achieve the required improvement of outcomes for learners who are dyslexic it is important that all educational practitioners and the wider school community have an awareness of their responsibilities with regards to meeting learner’s needs and have an understanding of the terms below.

  • Inclusion
  • Equality
  • Equity
  • Barriers to learning
  • Curriculum
  • Rights and entitlement to identification and support

Activity 5

Match the terms with the correct explanations.

Term Insert the correct letter e.g. A, B, C
Inclusion
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
Equality
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
Equity
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
Barriers to learning
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
Curriculum
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
Children’s rights
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
Rights and entitlement to identification and support
To use this interactive functionality a free OU account is required. Sign in or register.
Words: 0
Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).
AThe learning environment, health and disability, social and emotional factors and family circumstance.
B

Entitlements to fundamental human dignity. They are:

  • Universal – and they apply to every child
  • Interrelated, interdependent and indivisible – all the articles of the UNCRC are linked and should be read alongside each other to provide the full range of a child’s entitlement to dignity
  • Inalienable and inviolable – children's rights cannot be given or taken away: they are innate to the humanity and personhood of each child.
CAll of the experiences which are planned for children and young people through their education and includes all that is planned for children and young people throughout their education, not just what happens in the classroom.
D

Treating people fairly, but not necessarily treating people the same.

Equity in education means that personal or social circumstances such as gender, ethnic origin or family background are not obstacles to achieving educational potential and that all our young people are well supported to secure wellbeing, skills for learning, life and work and the best possible post-school destination, HGIOS 4 (2016). Equity is generally understood to refer to fairness and impartiality for people in general and sometimes especially relating to fairness for people facing socio-economic disadvantage.

EThe cornerstone to help us achieve equity and excellence in education for all of our children and young people
F The removal of discrimination, disadvantage, inequality and / or barriers which can affect people on the grounds of the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
GIs divided into two phases: the broad general education and the senior phase. The broad general education begins in early learning and childcare (at age 3) and continues to the end of S3 (the third year of secondary school). Its purpose is to develop the knowledge, skills, attributes and capabilities of the four capacities of Curriculum for Excellence for learners who do not have additional support needs.
HThe Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004 provides the legal framework for the provision of additional support for learning. It is the responsibility of all teachers to support learners.
IThe home environment, health and disability, social and emotional factors and family circumstance.

Answer

Inclusion

 

E The cornerstone to help us achieve equity and excellence in education for all of our children and young people.

Equality

 

F - Equality is the removal of discrimination, disadvantage, inequality and / or barriers which can affect people on the grounds of the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.
Equity

D - Equity means treating people fairly, but not necessarily treating people the same.

Equity in education means that personal or social circumstances such as gender, ethnic origin or family background are not obstacles to achieving educational potential and that all our young people are well supported to secure wellbeing, skills for learning, life and work and the best possible post-school destination, HGIOS 4 (2016). Equity is generally understood to refer to fairness and impartiality for people in general and sometimes especially relating to fairness for people facing socio-economic disadvantage.

Barriers to learning

 

AThe learning environment, health and disability, social and emotional factors and family circumstance.

Curriculum

 

E All of the experiences which are planned for children and young people through their education and includes all that is planned for children and young people throughout their education, not just what happens in the classroom.

Rights and entitlement to identification and support

 

B Entitlements to fundamental human dignity. They are:

  • Universal – and they apply to every child
  • Interrelated, interdependent and indivisible – all the articles of the UNCRC are linked and should be read alongside each other to provide the full range of a child’s entitlement to dignity
  • Inalienable and inviolable – children's rights cannot be given or taken away: they are innate to the humanity and personhood of each child.

Activity 6 Reflective questions for professional dialogue with colleagues

Can you think of how colleagues across the school community can work together to develop their understanding of the terms above as well as of inclusive practice and how this can inform the next steps for improvement?

Make some notes in your Reflective Log.

Discussion

Please note this list is not exhaustive

  • Bitesize CLPL opportunities
  • ‘Sharing Good Practice’ events within/across Education Groups in the local authority
  • Strategy of the month with staff discussing impact at staff meetings
  • Teacher Learning Community meetings with key Support staff staff/ASN co-ordinators
  • Monthly assessment meetings around children involving current and previous teachers
  • Modelling and coaching
  • Cooperative teaching
  • Peer observations
  • Networks
  • Cross sector networks – joint primary and secondary networks
  • Local management group networks

1.2 Assessment within Curriculum for Excellence

Supporting collaborative understanding of ASN assessment within Curriculum for Excellence