Formal Diagnostic Assessment differentiation.

During my last practicum, I was able to observe my mentor teacher prepare for differentiation
and administer the Schedule for Early Number Assessment

[SENA] 1. SENA 1 (New South

Wales, Department of Education, n. d.) is a formal diagnostic assessment used to assess

aspects of the learning framework in Number, for Early Stage One students [ES1]. The
assessment is administered on a one to one basis but includes the same criteria for all students
working within this stage. Outcomes from the SENA assessment are then used as a baseline
for teaching numeracy skills and determining student learning goals which support its use for
student learning.
Before administering the assessment, the Mathematics curriculum team met to moderate
aspects of differentiation to ensure questioning would provide all students opportunities to
demonstrate their understanding of aspects of learning from [ES1]. This moderating process
demonstrated the teachers proficiency for knowing their students physical and intellectual
development and how they learn by being responsive to their learning strengths and needs and
differentiating questions to meet the specific learning needs for a full range of abilities (1.5,
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL], 2014). The moderation
process also identified the modifications needed in the assessment that would provide
consistent and comparable judgments of student learning across a range of abilities and provide
these students with suitable opportunities to demonstrate their understanding (5.1, 5.3,
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership [AITSL], 2014). The design of this
formal diagnostic assessment is not to provide feedback but through moderation processes it
was decided to give positive feedback to students to alleviate the anxiety students experience
when presented with test situations in order to increase motivation for assessment completion
and enable a clearer picture of the students learning goals (5.2, AITSL, 2014). Incorporating
differentiation into the diagnostic assessment allowed facilitators to be prepared to meet the
specific learning needs of students across a range of abilities within their class.
The differentiation to the formal diagnostic assessment made provisions for students with
diverse abilities by using visual supports such as a One hundreds chart, concrete materials and
alterations to the presentation of the assessment, for example; not screening collections when
adding new collections. Readman and Allen (2013, p. 250) determine that making
accommodations in assessment will promote a comprehensive view of the learner and not
exclude them from the assessment task or instrument. Hall (2009) concurs by suggesting the
development of differentiated strategies for assessment will assist and meet the specific

learning needs of students across a full range of abilities and provide a more consistent
judgment of their learning needs. It was evident when observing the formal diagnostic
assessment that had accommodations applied, made the tool accessible for the student that a
hearing impairment (visual aids) and was catagorised as Intellectually Ordinary (adjustments to
language in presentation), through the use of visuals and the alternate presentation strategies.
Evidence of student understanding was collected through anecdotal notations on the SENA 1
recording sheet (Artefact 1). The data was then interpreted and used to determine the students
learning goals for aspects of the Number framework ES1 (5.4, AITSL, 2014). Individual student
learning goals were then developed and teaching strategies were suggested for student
learning (Artefact 2). It therefore could be determined that an absence of accommodation in this
assessment design would not demonstrate the specific learning needs and goals of students
across a range of abilities and would present an inconsistent judgment of student
understanding. This inclusion of accommodations in this assessment provided facilitators with
data that represented student understanding and strategies for student learning for all
classroom cohorts.