Mapping
Overview
Mapping expectations
Phase allocation
Identifying students for validation
Net folios
Retaining and storing folios
Transferring information
Common Issues
All teachers of Years 1, 2 and 3 are required to map students' learning progress on the Reading, Writing and Number Developmental Continua. Mapping is an ongoing process. Teachers gather assessment data through English and mathematics assessment programs, observation, consultation, focused analysis and self-assessment and peer assessment. This data informs them of children's progress and guides future planning.
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Teachers will manage assessment and mapping in a variety of ways. Mapping may involve:
- updating the Individual Student Profiles each month;
- reviewing and mapping learning outcomes as part of the teaching -learning cycle for example, on completion of a unit;
- mapping at the time of individual student conferences.
Teachers should also consider whether or not a behaviour has become an integral part of the student's learning before marking an indicator. Although it is not mandatory to date entries on the continua, dated entries are very useful when considering progress over time. Teachers are also reminded to enter student details, such as name, teacher and year level, on the Individual Student Profile.
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There can be some confusion among teachers about what operating in a phase means.
Operating in a phase in reading and writing means that the student has all the key indicators of a particular phase. Operating in a phase in number means that the student exhibits all the indicators of any particular phase. In all cases, Phase A can be assigned when any indicator is exhibited.
Working towards a phase is a frequently used phrase. It means that the student is progressing within a phase but has not yet attained all the indicators required for the phase to be assigned.
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Prior to validation, teachers will identify students who are operating in Phase B (that is, they have attained all the key indicators of Phase B but have not yet attained Phase C). These students will undertake the validation tasks to confirm teacher judgments about their development. (See the section on validation for further information.)
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The folios referred to in this document include only the essential records for example, Individual Student Profiles, validation recording sheets, work samples, observation/consultation notes and results of focused analysis. The management of assessment folios may involve a much broader range of data and work samples than these essential records.
As folios will be passed on to other teachers, they will need current samples of a student's work, which are representative of his/her development.
Folio contents
Folios should contain:
- Reading, Writing and Number Developmental Continua (Individual Student Profiles);
- validation recording sheets (where applicable);
- a range of work samples and other data to support mapping.
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As with all evaluation, teachers should store Individual Student Profiles in a safe place in the classroom to ensure confidentiality and security. The records should be easily accessible to allow teachers to record information as necessary. Parents may request access to their child's Individual Student Profile and folio. Teachers will need to follow the school's procedures in this instance.
The school in which the student completes Year 7 should keep the Individual Student Profile and validation recording sheets for a period of not less than ten years after the student has completed primary school, and destroy them as per student record cards. If a student transfers from the school, the school should archive the folio, unless a request is made for it. For more information refer to the Department of Education Manual, CM 10/2: Records Management in Schools.
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Within the school
- Teachers must ensure that all folios are up to date at the completion of each year.
- All folios should be forwarded to administration by class teachers in the last week of school to be collated into class groups for the new school year.
- Administration should forward each class's folios to the class teacher at the commencement of the new school year.
Between schools
- Teachers must ensure that all folios are up to date when a student is transferring to another school.
- The student's folio should be retained at the school until contacted by the new school. (Do not send the folio with the student.)
- Administration should send the folio as soon as possible when requested by the new school.
- If no request is received, the school must archive the student's folio.
It is recommended that schools use a pro-forma letter to request files from a student's previous school when they enrol. A sample is located in appendix B.
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- The publication Understanding the Key Indicators of Reading and Writing (Queensland School Curriculum Council 1997) gives explanations of all key indicators of reading and writing in Phases A D. Explanations of number indicators can be found in the Number Developmental Continuum (Queensland School Curriculum Council 1997). It is essential for teachers to read these explanations to ensure that they make consistent interpretations. Professional discussions also support the development of consistent interpretations, particularly when they require justification and explanation.
- The continua are developmental frameworks and a range of abilities is represented by any particular phase. In any class, some children will have just entered a phase while other students in the class will have been in the phase for some time and be progressing towards the next phase. It is not a year-level, lock-step process.
- To ensure consistency and comparability, teachers should use a range of assessment practices and the indicators of the continua to map student development. Department of Education syllabus documents provide further information about assessment practices.
- Teachers should keep the principles of inclusive curriculum in mind when identifying students for support. To make judgments, teachers will need to use assessment data and the indicators as well as consult with the appropriate support personnel for validation.
- To assist in observing individual progress from year to year, some schools may elect to use different coloured highlighters for each year level when marking indicators on the continua.
- Teachers are required to map key indicators only on the literacy continua, whereas the number continuum requires teachers to map all indicators.
- Phase D in literacy needs special consideration as pointed out in the document Understanding the Key Indicators of Reading and Writing (Queensland School Curriculum Council 1997, p. 6):
While some Year 3 children will begin to exhibit some of the indicators of Phase D, it may be possible that a very small group of sophisticated readers could be functioning as Phase D readers. This, however, requires more than the ability to read fluently. It requires the ability to reflect not only on texts read but also on the strategies used for a variety of purposes. This requires a certain maturity and depth of experience which will not be readily available to Year 3 children. Many children will continue to operate as Transitional Readers for the remainder of their primary schooling. It needs to be recognised that many of the indicators will not be achieved without explicit teaching.
- Furthermore, with regard to writing, indicator D3 refers to writing a range of genres including expositions. Understanding the Key Indicators of Reading and Writing (Queensland School Curriculum Council 1997, p. 25) states that as most school English overviews do not require written exposition to be taught in Years 1 to 3, it is highly unlikely that children in Year 3 would be able to write exposition with any degree of success
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