Curriculum: Learning, Teaching and Assessment > Literacy and Numeracy > Year 2 Diagnostic Net > Information booklet for state schools >

Validation

Overview
Roles
Choice of text for literacy validation
Students undertaking the validation tasks
Exemption from validation
Identification for additional support
Validation support
Common issues

Overview

Validation is the process by which teachers confirm their judgments about those students who will be referred for consideration for additional support. Validation also provides some information that can be used as a basis for providing appropriate support.

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Roles

The Year 2 class teacher's responsibilities include:

identifying students who will participate in validation activities;
planning, selecting and implementing contextualisation activities for literacy;
administering validation tasks;
compiling appropriate samples for moderation.

The key teacher's responsibilities include:

providing training for class teachers where necessary;
assisting with the preparation for validation;
resolving mismatches with Year 2 teachers prior to moderation.

The principal/deputy principal's responsibilities include:

ensuring that mapping is up to date prior to the validation period;
coordinating validation classroom relief;
submitting the Class Data Collection Sheets and School Data Collection: Principal's Summary to central office and district office.

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Choice of text for literacy validation

The Queensland Studies Authority provides advice to schools on the selected texts suitable for literacy validation. Schools should keep copies of these texts out of general circulation so that each year, when selecting particular texts for use in validation, they will be unfamiliar to the students.

Before choosing a text for the validation tasks, teachers should consider whether:

the text's subject matter is linked to students' experiences and interests;
students have prior experience with the genre;
students have previously experienced the text, as validation requires the text to be unfamiliar.

It is essential to use only one text with a class to allow all children to participate in the contextualisation activities. It is not necessary, however, for every class in the school to use the same text. Sample literacy contextualising activities are outlined in 1997 Literacy and Numeracy Validation (Queensland School Curriculum Council 1997).

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Students undertaking the validation tasks

Students operating in Phase B in any focus area will undertake the validation tasks.

Students operating in Phase A do not need to undergo validation as they will be automatically referred for additional support.

Teachers may wish to undertake validation tasks with some students who are operating in Phase C to verify their judgments. It is not a departmental requirement for any student operating in Phase C to undergo validation.

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Exemption from validation

Decisions about exempting students from the validation tasks must be made by the classroom teacher in consultation with parents, the principal and relevant support personnel. Students will not be exempted from the validation task without this consultation. Schools are required to complete an exemption form for any student exempted from the validation tasks. This exemption form should be placed in the individual student folio.

Students who may be exempt from the Year 2 validation tasks include:

those for whom English is not their first language and who are assessed by an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher and classroom teacher as achieving at or below Reading Level 4 and Writing Level 4 using the National Languages and Literacy Institute of Australia (NLLIA) ESL Bandscales; also refer to bandscales for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders learners (Junior Primary) and for those students who have Auslan as their first language;
students who have been externally ascertained as having educational needs at level 6 intellectual impairment (ie. level 6 II and level 6 II-ASD);
some students on distance education programs.

Refer to Information Sheet 21 for further information on exemption.

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Identification for additional support

After validation, a subset of indicators is used to decide which students will be referred for consideration for additional support. Following are the key indicators that students must attain. If students do not achieve these key indicators, they are referred for consideration for additional support.

Key indicators students must attain
Reading Writing Number	C1, C4, C5, C6, C7 B1, B2, B5, B6, B7, B8, C2, C5 C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6, C8, C9, C10, C12

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Validation support

Arrangements will need to be made for the appropriate support personnel to assist students with special needs during validation.

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Common issues

The reading validation task requires that the student has not seen the text.
Teachers may need to reword some validation questions and instructions to better match classroom language and student needs.
Most Year 2 students will be operating in Phase B in writing at the time of validation and will therefore need to participate in the validation tasks.

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