Professional learning

Aboriginal Education and Communities have produced a professional learning resource,  Aboriginal Ways of Using English,  consisting of videos and a discussion guide. This resource has been devised with a specific focus on Aboriginal students in NSW who use Aboriginal English (AE) or other Aboriginal Ways of Using English as their main home dialect AWoUE is a ONE hour self-directed course available on MYPL. It is suitable for all NSW Department of Education school staff.

The Capability Framework is a cross-jurisdictional initiative. It was developed to increase the capacity of teachers in rural, remote and metropolitan areas across Australia to better meet the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander EAL/D learners. The Framework is aligned with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers and can be used by teachers and school leaders. Use of the Framework is voluntary but it is highly recommended that teachers and supervisors familiarise themselves with it.

The EAL/D Hub is an online professional development course for teachers. It was developed collaboratively by experts from across Australia. NSW Department of Education staff can claim 25 hours PL once they have completed the 8 modules and 29 eBooks.

For NSW Department of Education staff there are also EAD Teaching Kits available from the  Henry Parkes Resource Centre  which teachers can borrow.

Types of Assessments

Curriculum-based assessment (CBA) is a type of formative assessment that allows students to demonstrate their level of skills along a continuum. A specific level curriculum-based assessment covers all the components in a specific skill. The information gathered can reveal exactly where a student needs to be placed in the teaching sequence.

Standardised or norm referenced assessments assess and report a student's achievement in comparison to other students. These are often used to determine whether or not a student has a complex reading difficulty.

Criterion-referenced assessment evaluates a student's performance against specific observable and measurable criteria.

Assessment of Reading

When choosing reading assessments, it is important to consider the following areas of reading:

• Phonological awareness
• Phonics
• Fluency
• Vocabulary
• Comprehension

The results of these assessments, along with professional judgement, will inform the plan for any reading intervention.

NSW CER provides a resource package to support schools when choosing appropriate reading assessments.

Useful websites

Motifoffers a bank of free evidence based reading assessments available for use.

DIBELS 8th Edition offers free screening tools with an Australasian version of materials. They are a a set of procedures and measures for assessing the acquisition of literacy skills. They are designed to be short (one minute) fluency measures that can be used to regularly detect risk and monitor the development of early literacy and early reading skills in kindergarten through eighth grade.