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The Year 2 Diagnostic Net Regional Moderation Guidelines

As part of the Year 2 Diagnostic Net moderation process, a regional moderation day will be held following school based moderation. Details of this day and the process involved should be forwarded to schools by the local regional office. Funding will be provided to schools to allow for one TRS day for each key teacher or school representative involved in regional moderation.

Principal Education Officers (Performance Measurement) or nominee, in consultation with the Manager, Education Services, will co-ordinate regional moderation and may act as process facilitators on the day. It may also be appropriate to nominate an experienced classroom teacher, key teacher or school administrator with literacy/numeracy expertise as process facilitator. The main responsibility of the process facilitator will be to mediate when a consensus cannot be reached regarding Phase allocation. TRS funding for officers with literacy/numeracy expertise to assist in regional regional moderation will be made available. Up to 2 TRS days per officer will be made available for this purpose.

For some small schools in remote locations, involvement in regional moderation may cause considerable disruption to their teaching/learning programs. This would particularly apply for those schools in which significant travel would be required to attend regional moderation. In such cases, the Principal Education Officer (Performance Measurement) or nominee should consult with the Manager, Education Services and principals of these schools in developing a suitable regional moderation process.

It is acknowledged that the moderation process may not need one full day to complete. It may be useful to use the rest of this day for additional professional development for key teachers. Decisions relating to the activities undertaken on the moderation day (eg additional professional development) rest with the Manager, Education Services.

Regional moderation is usually completed within the first three weeks of Term three, by a specified date announced early in the year.

The PURPOSE of the moderation process is to:

ensure consistent interpretations of key indicators and indicators across schools;
confirm phases allocated at school based moderation;
change (if necessary) phase allocation based on decisions made during the regional moderation day process;
collect data for accountability purposes.

The moderation process plays a key role in ensuring that consistency of judgment is being applied by teachers in all schools across the state. Reference should be made to the following resources when determining how key indicators are to be interpreted: Understanding the Key Indicators of Reading and Writing (QSCC, 1997) and Number Developmental Continuum (QSCC, 1997).

The expected OUTCOMES of the moderation process are that:

representative student cases presented will be discussed and confirmed;
- the possibility does exist that a phase may have to be changed based on decisions made during the regional moderation day process;
- if a Year 2 student case has to be changed, and the reporting to parents has been completed, the parent must be notified of any changes;
Continuing professional development occurs for key teachers/school representative
Principal Education Officers (Performance Measurement) and key teachers will be alerted to inconsistencies in interpretations.

PRE MODERATION activities

Regional office to advise schools of the details of the regional moderation day;

group composition for moderation to be decided, with preferred group size 4 to 6 participants per group.

Participants will need to be advised to bring the following materials to the regional moderation day:

ONE representative student case from EACH of the phases allocated in their school/small school cluster in EACH focus area.
ONE representative case of a student validated as requiring support from EACH focus area.
ALL unresolved cases from school based moderation.
SCHOOL Based Moderation Process Facilitator Summary sheet.

MODERATION activities

Introduction by Process Facilitator to:
- outline the purpose of moderation;
- indicate the outcomes to be achieved;
- present proposed time lines for sessions;
- outline roles and responsibilities.
  
  (the attached OHT's provide examples for this introduction).
Participants move into groups. Group leaders to be appointed.
Individual cases to be presented one phase at a time.

Suggested Order:

WRITING: Phase A, Phase B, Phase B (identified for Support through Validation Process, Year 2 only), Phase C, etc

READING: Phase A, Phase B, Phase B (identified for Support through Validation Process, Year 2 only), Phase C, etc

NUMBER: Phase A, Phase B, Phase B (identified for Support through Validation Process, Year 2 only), Phase C, etc

The following sequence may be used:

In turn, key teachers/school representatives will be asked to present materials for a child whom they believe is operating in Phase A.
Members of the group will be asked if they agree with this decision
If necessary, discussion will follow aimed at reaching a consensus.
If a consensus cannot be reached, the group leader will set the case aside until the process facilitator can assist. The process facilitator will mediate to help decide on the phase to be allocated.
The process will be repeated for Phase B, Phase B (identified for support), then C, D, E, F and cases where the phase allocation is uncertain until all cases have been presented.

For each child you will need a set of moderation materials (including validation recording sheets for Year 2 student cases). Advice regarding what represents a set of moderation materials can be found in Information Sheet 22 - Guidelines for School Based Moderation.

POST MODERATION activities

Principal Education Officers (Performance Measurement) in consultation with key teachers and/or administrators, devise action plans to address any school based issues arising from the regional moderation day process.
Principal Education Officers (Performance Measurement) complete Regional Moderation Summary Sheet [an error occurred while processing this directive] by the end of July.
One copy of this form should also be retained at the regional office. This summary sheet should enable monitoring of changes in phase allocation as a result of school based moderation. This data is useful in identifying schools where considerable variation is occurring with regard to mapping students on the continua.

PLEASE NOTE: The Regional Moderation Summary Sheet is a collection of data from the School Based Moderation Process Facilitator's Summary Sheet. It aims to document changes to Phase allocation and mismatches that occurred at the school level, not at the regional moderation level. The completion of this form therefore requires Principal Education Officers (Performance Measurement) to collate School Based Moderation Process Facilitator Summary Sheets and to record the totals of these sheets on the Regional Moderation Summary Sheet.

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