The four levels on the criteria sheet (the first column) relate to the levels of the Victorian Curriculum F-10 EAL, as shown in the right hand column. This indicates the levels of performance of the task that might be expected of students at the relevant stage.
The criteria dot points provide a view of student accomplishment contextualised to that particular task, but which also relate directly to the Victorian Curriculum F-10 EAL content descriptions.
The Department of Education and Training has developed the Reporting Resource, which describes two additional proficiency levels (Beginning or .1 and Consolidating or .2) a student will progress through before reaching the achievement standard (Achieved or .3). This means that teachers can report EAL learners’ progress towards – as well as at – the Victorian Curriculum F-10 EAL achievement standards.
Points of achievement are numbered, for example:
B2.1 Beginning
B2.2 Consolidating
B3.3 Standard (Achieved)
Combining information from the common assessment tasks with other formal and informal assessments and observations gathered over time is likely to indicate that your student is falling within a particular level of the Victorian Curriculum F-10 EAL. Once you have enough information about your student, you can:
- begin the process of assigning a Victorian Curriculum F-10 EAL level
- validate or realign your assessment against the Victorian Curriculum F-10 EAL
- decide where your student is using the DET Reporting Resource, for example A2.2 or C1.3.
A process for doing this could be:
- As you gather information on the criteria sheets on a specific student, and relate it to the stages in the right hand column, you will notice whether the student seems to be showing development that is early in the level or later in the level, or perhaps crossing over into the next level.
- Decide on an ‘on-balance’ stage of development from this information, and then read the Reporting Resource descriptions for that level, relating them back to dot points from the criteria sheets.
- Read descriptions below the level if the criteria sheets are indicating the student may be early in the level
- Read the indicators from higher levels if the criteria sheets are indicating the student may be later in the level.
- Highlight the descriptions when you feel that they describe what your student is consistently able to do.
- Taking into account everything else you have observed about what your student can do, come to an on-balance decision about which level you student is at.
- Refine and modify this assessment over time.
Assessment against the Reporting Resource can be used for acknowledging and talking about student progress, and for reporting to parents and other teachers.
Further tasks and ongoing assessment and monitoring of students over time will help you to notice:
- aspects of oral language in which the student is improving, compared to earlier assessments
- aspects of oral language where the student is not making expected progress, and which may need some focused attention or intervention.
