Academic Universal

Assessment Tools

Assessment by Presentation

Assessment by Presentation is designed to familiarise students with public speaking and provides an avenue to seek feedback on some of their achievements throughout the year. Year 9 students are invited to present 3 pieces of work to a panel drawn from the community to gain a certificate that celebrates their learning before moving into Year 10. Panel members may ask questions about their work and their experience in preparing for the presentation.

During the interview students will be assessed on the following criteria: personal presentation (uniform and physical appearance), clarity, fluency, expression, eye contact and knowledge of material presented. Feedback will be given to students by the panel.

Assessment Cycles

At MEC all students have assessment cycles throughout the year. This allows teachers to develop learning activities that suit their current learning level and plan a scope and sequence for their future development.

Assessment can be described as the ongoing process of:

gathering, analysing and interpreting evidence
reflecting on findings

making informed and consistent judgements to improve student learning.

Please refer to the following link for further information https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/practice/Pages/assessment.aspx

Student Voice Conference

Students can provide us with beneficial information about how they learn and feel connected to school. Question started such as those below can reveal invaluable information.

What helps you feel welcomed?
How do you like to be greeted?
What strengths do you bring to classrooms? The school?
When do you feel you are being listened to?
When do you feel cared for and about?
When do you get a chance to be a leader?
When do you feel most safe/unsafe?
When do you laugh at school?
Who believes you can succeed?
What happens in school that makes you afraid? Frustrated? Defeated?
What inspires you in school?
Who helps you bounce back from setbacks?
Who is always happy to speak with you?
When do you feel it’s OK to make a mistake, or show that you don’t know something or how to do something?

ABLES (Ability Based Learning and Education Support)

The ABLES Assessment Tool is available online for teachers through a secure website at http://www.arc-ots.com/ABLES/home.php The School Number and Password are both 5027 It takes approximately 10-15 minutes to complete the assessment tools based on the teacher’s observations of a student.

The ABLES assessments produce three reports:

Learning Readiness Report

For each student whose learning is assessed with the full suite of ABLES assessment tools, four Learning Readiness Reports describe the student’s learning on pathways of English: Speaking and Listening English: Reading and Writing, Personal Learning, Interpersonal Development.

The report summarises the skills and abilities the student is currently developing and those that the student might learn next. It also can be used to reflect on set objectives and an appropriate focus for student learning. A student’s estimated level on the Learning Readiness Report is not an achievement level, but rather an indication of the sorts of things the student is currently learning to do. It is a point of intervention that teachers can draw upon to make decisions about the best possible learning program and experiences for the student. All of the Learning Readiness Reports generated by ABLES provide the teacher with a range of teaching and learning strategies developed by the University of Melbourne through research with teachers.

Student Profile Report

This maps a student’s level of learning and progress across two consecutive assessments, and in all four of the learning pathways. The black bars on the report show the student’s “readiness to learn” at the time of the most recent assessment. The level description that appears in the lower half of the report provides a summary statement of indicative skills and abilities for the student’s assessed level for each learning area, as also shown on the Learning Readiness report. Following the second round of assessment (using an alternate and matched form, and conducted at least six months apart), this report shows changes over time in terms of a student’s learning readiness.

Class Report

This provides an opportunity to reflect on the learning of groups of students who are working at the same or adjacent levels on the learning pathways. The class report allows the teacher to reflect on the curriculum and teaching and learning strategies that have been used, why they have been successful and how they may need to be adapted to meet the changing learning needs of the class. The teacher can also reflect on why some students have not progressed, consider their individual circumstances, and decide whether further adjustments to curriculum or teaching and learning strategies might be implemented.

For further information go to https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/learningneeds/Pages/ables.aspx

HIWS (High Impact Wellbeing Strategies)

Developed in partnership with Monash University, the HIWS are 7 practical, evidence-based strategies that have demonstrated a significant and positive effect on student wellbeing. The HIWS empower teachers with the knowledge and skills to be active agents in building their students’ wellbeing as part of their practice.

https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/school/teachers/teachingresources/practice/High-Impact-Wellbeing-Strategies-Resource.pdf

Developmental Rubrics

Developmental rubrics are a formative assessment tool based on a progression of knowledge and skills derived from a curriculum. These rubrics include increments in a learning continuum that detail the development typically seen in students as they become more proficient.

Developmental rubrics enable differentiation within a classroom to target teaching at each student’s point of need. Students can also use the rubrics themselves to identify their own next steps in their learning.

Further information can be found here

Diagnostic Assessment Tools in English

There are nine Early Literacy in English Tools. Table 1 outlines what skills are being assessed in these tools.

Table 1: Early Literacy in English Diagnostic Tools

Diagnostic Tool	Skill *	Beginning (well below Progression Point 0.5)	Progressing (around Progression Point 0.5)	Progressing towards AusVELS Level 1
Alphabet letters	RLCL RUCL	Identify letters of own name	Name and give a sound for some upper and lower case letters	Name and give a sound for all upper and lower case letters
Comprehend Text	RC	Listen to Ella and Luke (book) and answer questions	Listen to The Magic Pants (book) and answer questions	Listen to Crab and Fish (book) and answer questions
Concepts of Print	CP P	Front of book Where is title Trace around a word/letter	Where does the story begin? Which way to go Name and purpose of full stop	Name and purpose of quotation marks & question marks
Listening and recall	CR	Repeat sequence of digits Repeat sentences Follow simple directions with common positional language	Repeat sequence of digits Repeat sentences Follow instructions to construct a figure	Repeat sequence of digits Repeat sentences
Phonemes	PA SW	No phonemes task at this level.	Identify initial phoneme Identify same initial phoneme Identify final phoneme Blend phonemes	Segment words into phonemes Delete phonemes Substitute phonemes
Phonological Awareness	WS	Identify syllables in words Identify words that rhyme	Blend onset and rime Identify words that rhyme	Generate words that rhyme
Oral Language	OL:C OL:R	Name objects in a picture Describe actions in a picture	Use positional language to describe objects in a picture Describe clothing in a picture	Engage in conversation with the teacher with a picture prompt extent of utterance coherence vocabulary clarity

Page BreakTable 1: Early Literacy in English Diagnostic Tools (continued)

Diagnostic Tool

Skill *

Beginning (well below Progression Point 0.5)

Progressing (around Progression Point 0.5)

Progressing towards AusVELS Level 1

Reading

Read environmental print

Listen to text and match words back to the text

Identify common sight words in text

Read a story well supported by illustrations with a simple repetitive structure

fluency
accuracy

Answer questions about the story

Early Writing

Distinguish writing from pictures and numbers

Write own name

Write other known words

Orally dictate a sentence

Write high-frequency words

Write and read back own sentence

Spell some common words

Write a dictated sentence

Write and read back own sentence

Build words with common spelling pattern

* The second column of Table 1 shows the skills that are assessed in the Early Literacy in English Tools.

The abbreviations are listed below in the order in which they appear in the table:

RLCL: recognition of lower case alphabet letters

RUCL: recognition of upper case alphabet letters

RC: reading comprehension

CP: concepts of print

P: punctuation

CR: comprehension of retell

PA: phonemic awareness

SW: segmenting words

WS: words and sounds

OL:C: oral language conversation

OL:R: oral language retell

RA: reading accuracy

RF: reading fluency

W: writing

S: spelling

WB: word building

English Online Interview

Purpose of the Tool

The English Online Interview is a powerful online tool for assessing the English skills of students in Years Prep to 2.

The Interview assesses students across the three modes of English in AusVELS (the Australian Curriculum in Victoria) – Reading, Writing and Speaking and Listening.

The English Online Interview is a one-to-one interview between a teacher and student, using texts and downloadable resources designed specifically for the Interview.

The English Online Interview can be accessed through a secure website at English Online Interview

How to Administer

The English Online Interview assessment period occurs only within the first month of the school year. For further information, including the dates that the interview will be open, go to https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/assessment/f-10assessment/insight/Pages/assessment-tools.aspx

Resources to Support the English Online Interview

A range of materials are provided to support teachers and school administrators to become familiar with and administer the English Online Interview.

Understanding the English Online Interview

A series of video clips to assist teachers using the English Online Interview to identify what to look and listen for as they progress through a given module with a student

Reports

Includes a summary and examples of the new reports generated using the English Online Interview.

English Online Interview Teaching Resource

This supports teachers to build on students’ existing English skills and understandings as assessed through the English Online Interview.

Help and Support

This includes information for schools seeking technical assistance or other advice about the English Online Interview.

Essential Assessment

Essential Assessment is the leading provider of Victorian Curriculum Numeracy and Literacy assessment and curriculum model that delivers a whole school approach to summative and formative assessment for Australian schools. Essential Assessment was established out of the increased need for consistency in reporting practices and curriculum development within Australian schools.

Essential Assessment provides tools for teachers to pre-assess students within each strand or sub-strand of the Victorian Curriculum. Student results are automatically compiled, advising the teacher of each student’s current achievement level and analysis of the achievement standards that has been understood and misunderstood for each student, group and class.

Essential Assessment differentiates the curriculum within each sub-strand based on each assessment result and creates a tailored paper-based and online curriculum (e.g. My Numeracy) for each student, group or class. These tools act as a formative assessment model with an interactive teaching and learning function that enables students to progress through the four proficiency strands of each content description of the curriculum.

Post-assessment identifies each student’s new Victorian Curriculum achievement level, demonstrating the growth achieved by each student. Continued analysis of class and cohort data within each strand and sub-strand is provided along with guidance on the developed and potential Numeracy progressions within each sub-element.

For more information see:

https://www.essentialassessment.com.au/

Fountas and Pinnell

 Fountas & Pinnell provide quality research/evidence-based tools to support students’ growth in literacy. Maryborough Education Centre uses Fountas and Pinnell reading resources including:

Fountas and Pinnell Benchmarking System (BAS)- provides the most reliable resource to accurately identify each child’s instructional and independent reading levels according to the F&P Text Level Gradient™, A–Z and document their progress through one-on-one formative and summative assessments. The Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment Systems provide teachers with precise tools and texts to observe and quantify specific reading behaviours and then interpret and use that data to plan meaningful instruction.
Fountas and Pinnell Levelled Literacy Intervention (LLI). This is a powerful, short-term intervention, that provides daily, intensive, small-group instruction, which supplements classroom literacy teaching. Students are first assessed using BAS which then allows for the intervention to be targeted around their reading needs. The goal of LLI is to lift the literacy achievement of students who are not achieving grade-level expectations in reading.

Further information can be found here.

Fractions and Decimals Online Interview

Purpose of the Tool

The Fractions and Decimals Online Interview is a powerful tool to support teachers to assess the mathematical understanding of students in the Middle Years of schooling. The Interview is used to assess an individual student’s understanding and strategies in relation to ‘Overarching Ideas’ in the areas of fractions, decimals, ratio and proportion. The Interview is targeted primarily at AusVELS levels 6 to 8. Do not administer this interview if the student has not completed the Mathematics Online Interview.

How to Administer

Log in to https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/assessment/f-10assessment/insight/Pages/assessment-tools.aspx and click HERE to start.

Scroll through the classes and click on your class. Scroll through the students and click on the appropriate student. Select the appropriate session and click on Interview. When the Interview button is pressed the Interview defaults to question 1 and switches to Interview View. In Interview View, all questions are listed in the left-hand pane. The specific question under focus appears on the right. Instructions for the teacher are in italics. The script to use with students is highlighted in green. Check the required boxes and enter student responses as required. Click Next or Previous to go to the next or previous question or click directly on a question via the links on the left-hand side. If the student is no longer able to answer questions then click Stop to cease interviewing.

Recording the Data

What

Determines students’ point of growth to provide a profile of mathematical skills and understandings in Fractions, Decimals, Ratio and Percentages covering the content description and levels 3-8 of the AusVELS: Mathematics Curriculum

How

Interview individual students and record verbal and hands-on responses online

Using the Data

Analyse where a student sits within the AusVELS Maths Continuum in the areas of Fractions, Decimals, Ratio and Percentages
Monitor student progress and identify areas requiring specific teaching for students
Adjust teaching groups within the class as individuals progress

Track progress over time for individual students, class groups and whole cohorts

Mathematics Online Interview

Purpose of the Tool

The tool allows us to monitor student progress in one or more modes of Mathematics throughout students’ early numeracy development, gain additional diagnostic information about students’ learning strengths and challenges in Mathematics and plan for, and monitor the impact of, teaching and numeracy interventions throughout the year.

The Diagnostic information is developed to assess students working towards AusVELS Level 5. The tool allows teachers to track students’ learning through significant growth points in number, measurement and space, organised into the domains of counting, place value, strategies for addition and subtraction, strategies for multiplication and division, time, length, mass, properties of shape and visualisation orientation.

How to Administer

https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/assessment/f-10assessment/insight/Pages/assessment-tools.aspx click HERE to start.
Scroll through the classes and click on your class. Scroll through the students and click on the appropriate student. Select the appropriate session and click on Interview.

Do not start from the beginning unless there is no data.
If there is data, start the assessment a few questions before the student finished the last time they were interviewed.

Recording a student’s response varies according to the task.

The majority of tasks have a box where a correct response is indicated with a tick ■✔
If a task is not used or not answered correctly by the student, the box is left blank.

Some tasks require detail about the student’s response.

This might be the number the student counted to, the strategy used, or the explanation of the student’s thinking. It is recommended that teachers record as much as possible of students’ responses to gain a deeper understanding of mathematical thinking in the comments box at the bottom of each question page. *Do not record comments in the answer field. Read the instructions carefully as you go because some responses ask you to skip the next part of the question.

Recording the Data

What

Determines students’ point of growth to provide a profile of mathematical skills and understandings in Number, Measurement and Space by linking tasks from the Mathematics Online Interview to the Points of Growth, and the achievement standard, content description and levels Foundation to 5 of the AusVELS: Mathematics curriculum

How

Record students verbal and hands-on responses online

Using the Data

Analyse where a student sits within the Victorian Curriculum Maths Continuum
Monitor student progress and identify areas requiring specific teaching for students
Adjust teaching groups within the class as individuals progress Track progress over time for individual students, class groups and whole cohorts

On Demand Testing

On Demand Testing is an online diagnostic testing system provided to schools by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority. Tests are designed to link to curriculum and standards. It is a tool that can be administered to a single student and/or a whole class. Teachers can identify individual student’s strengths and challenges and use whole class results to support future planning.

Types of Computer Test Questions

The assessments are composed of items in the following formats:

multiple choice
type in short answer
hot spot
drag and drop
mathematical calculator

open text response.

Computer Adaptive Tests

Computer Adaptive Tests deliver sets of questions to students that vary according to student ability. Depending on the responses given in previous questions, the system presents progressively easier or more difficult questions to the student.

There are currently three reports available for Computer Adaptive Tests – the ‘Class Standard Score Report’, the ‘Student Test Session Performance Report’, and the ‘Student Tracking Report’. These reports provide immediate feedback on the results for each student, including an estimated ability score. Question level analysis is also possible for Computer Adaptive Tests through the ‘Student Test Session Performance Report’.

Oxford 400 Word List

About the Tool

The Oxford Word List contains the 404 words most commonly used by Australian students in their reading and writing. As students learn to read and write they draw heavily on their repertoire of spoken language. Research has found that regardless of location, gender, ethnicity or socioeconomic differences Australian children write with a largely common vocabulary. These 404 words represent the common discourse students use to communicate through spoken, visual and written texts and knowledge of them allows students to communicate appropriately with their peers.

For data to be comparable all teachers need to use the same word list. The Oxford Word List is the most

recently compiled and based on research data it is the most relevant to today’s Australian students.

Purpose of the Tool

The tool is used to track and monitor students’ ability to recognise, read and spell high-frequency words during the early stages of learning to read and write.

How to Administer

Print out the list of words and have each student individually read as many words as they can. If they are able to read 80% of the first hundred continue to the second hundred. Continue in this way for all words. Place all student names on the spreadsheet and indicate using ‘yes’ or ‘no’ whether students can read the listed words. If students can read 80% of all words begin the spelling assessment. Test the first hundred initially and then continue if they can spell 80% or more.

Recording the Data

What

Record the data in the spreadsheet

How

Indicate using the yes/no boxes whether students can read and spell each word.

Using the Data

Monitor individual students’ ability to recognise, spell and read frequently used words over time  Indicate students who are not making progress
Highlight areas of need for individuals and groups that require targeted teaching
Provide a basis for team discussion about teaching strategies for high-frequency words

Running Records

Purpose of the Tools

To assess the student’s use of each of the three cueing systems (Visual, Syntax/structure and Meaning) when reading levelled text and the integration of these to decode while also assessing student understanding of what they have read.

How to Administer

Check the assessment schedule for the minimum number of running records to be taken each term.

Choose text at the instructional level you believe the child is currently working at, based on their previous data and teacher observation during guided reading groups. The student reads the text whilst the teacher records the reading behaviours using the conventions of the running records.

Texts are selected from the PM Benchmarking Kits or the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmarking Kits. As the child is reading, further teacher observation that could include fluency, expression, tracking etc. should be recorded as notes. The comprehension questions that accompany each text should be asked and the responses recorded after the student has finished reading.

Recording Data

What Instructional Level

How

Record all information required in the spreadsheet including student number and place it on Sharepoint

Using the Data

Analyse the errors and self-corrections made by the student on the running record. Note the reliance on the use of one or more cueing systems to target future teaching

Analyse comprehension strategies used and adjust teaching to indicate this
Adjust guided reading and teaching groups within the class as individuals progress
Track progress over time for individual students, class groups and whole cohorts

NOTE: Please refer to the Running Records Data Collection Procedures to determine individual student levels

Running Record Data Collection Procedures

PM Benchmarking

Years P-3

PM Benchmarking

Years 3-6

PM Benchmarking Kits for students reading from level 1-15
Fountas and Pinnell Benchmarking Kits Level i and beyond

Years 7-10

Fountas and Pinnell Benchmarking Kits

Teachers will use the running record sheets to determine student comprehension and accuracy

A student will be assessed as an independent reader using the PM System from level 1-5 if they read with 95% accuracy, they are able to retell the text with minimal prompts and they answer the comprehension questions with 100% accuracy
A student will be assessed as an independent reader using the PM System from level 6-14 if they read with 95% accuracy, they are able to retell the text with minimal prompts, they answer the literal comprehension questions with 100% accuracy and they answer at least one inferential question correctly
A student will be assessed as an independent reader using the PM System from level 15-20 if they read with 95% accuracy, they are able to retell the text with minimal prompts, they answer the literal comprehension questions with 100% accuracy and they answer at least two inferential questions correctly

A student will be assessed as an independent reader using the PM System from level 21-24 if they read with 95% accuracy, they are able to retell the text with minimal prompts, they answer the literal comprehension questions with 100% accuracy, they answer at least two inferential questions correctly and they are able to apply some knowledge of context, content and prior knowledge to the text
A student will be assessed as an independent reader using the PM System from level 25-30 if they read with 95% accuracy, they are able to retell the text with minimal prompts, they answer the literal comprehension questions with 100% accuracy, they answer at least two inferential questions correctly, they answer at least one applied knowledge question correctly and they have a basic understanding of the vocabulary in the vocabulary section of the assessment
A student will be assessed as an independent reader using the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmarking System from level A-K if they read with 95% accuracy and they score a 5 or 6 in the comprehension section
A student will be assessed as an independent reader using the Fountas and Pinnell Benchmarking System from level L-Z if they read with 95% accuracy and they score a 7 or 8 in the comprehension section

Use two separate texts during the term to assess students. A seen text may be used during alternate terms.

Click here for Fountas & Pinnell/PM Benchmark Text /Victorian Curriculum Level Descriptions

Specialist Assessment Schedule

Detailed information can be found in this SharePoint.

The Supplementary Numeracy Interview

Purpose of the Tool

The Supplementary Numeracy Interview expands the Growth Points of the early stages of the mathematical continuum into Beginning and Consolidating Stages of Mathematical Development in Number, Space and Measurement, it also includes pre Mathematics Online Interview stages of Mathematical Development in Number. The Diagnostic information is developed to assess students working towards the AusVELS Foundation Level. The tool allows teachers to track students’ learning through significant growth points in number, measurement and space.

How to Administer

Simply follow the directions and script found inside the Supplementary Interview PDF ???. If assessing a student who has completed some elements of the assessment during previous years please start assessing from where the student was last assessed.

Recording the Data

What

Determines students’ point of growth to provide a profile of mathematical skills and understandings in Number, Measurement and Space by linking tasks from the Supplementary Numeracy Interview to the Points of Growth (PoG), and the achievement standard, content description and levels A to Foundation of the AusVELS: Mathematics curriculum

How

Record students verbal and hands-on responses on the appropriate baseline recording sheets

Using the Data

Analyse where a student sits within the AusVELS Maths Continuum.

Monitor student progress and identify areas requiring specific teaching for students  Adjust teaching groups within the class as individuals progress.

VCAL and Applied Learning (APL) Assessment

Students are given opportunities to demonstrate the learning outcomes in a variety of contexts. The students are also provided information on what the learning outcomes for the unit are and what sort of evidence will be collected to demonstrate achievement.

While all students need to successfully demonstrate achievement of the learning outcomes, tasks assigned to the learning outcomes take into account different learning styles. This may involve consideration of approaches that can assist in overcoming learning difficulties and/or disabilities. This may also involve tailoring delivery and modifying teaching practices as well as timing the assessment activities to suit the pace at which the students learn.

The criteria used for good assessment with VCAL and APL are that it:

has a clear purpose
is set in a relevant context
provides resources appropriate to the task

caters for different learning styles
allows students to perform at different levels
allows adequate evidence to be collected
covers more than one learning outcome

Assessment within applied learning activities (VCAL and APL) should be based on the following principles:

Assessment tasks/activities should be grounded in a relevant context and not be culturally biased.
Students should have the opportunity to demonstrate achievement at their own pace.
Instructions for assessment tasks/activities should be clear and explicit. Students must know what is expected of them and the criteria by which satisfactory completion will be established.
Time allowed to complete a task should be reasonable and specified and should allow for preparation and reflection as appropriate to the activity. Where the assessment task is linked to a project or activity the assessment tasks/activities may take place over a number of weeks.
Assessment tasks/activities should be open-ended and flexible to meet the specific needs of students.

In order to demonstrate competence, students are to compile evidence portfolios through participation in and completion of tasks. The features of evidence is that it is:

Valid (Is the task consistent with the unit of works purpose statement? Have the learning outcomes been taken into account? Is the level appropriate?)
Sufficient (Is there sufficient evidence to enable a decision to be made? This is important for activities involving a group of students working on an activity. Is there a balance of direct and indirect evidence?)
Authentic (we know this is the work of the student?)
Current (How do we know this is current work?)
Consistent (Has the evidence been collected overtime to ensure there is a consistent demonstration of competencies in the learning outcomes?)

As part of the assessment process, students will build up a portfolio of evidence.

This portfolio may include but is not restricted to:

student self-assessment
teacher observation records/checklists of oral presentations, practical activities, role-plays
reflective work journals
student logbooks
oral presentations
oral explanation of text
written text
physical demonstration of understanding of written or oral text
discussion
debates
role-plays
folios of tasks or investigations
photographic/video productions
Microsoft PowerPoint presentations
program awards or statements of completion

Prior to each reporting cycle, teacher PLC’s moderate on the achievement of learning outcomes based on the evidence portfolios compiled by each student.

Link to VCAA

https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/curriculum/vcal/Pages/index.aspx

Berry Street Education Model

The Berry Street Education Model (BSEM) is a practical approach to teaching and learning that enables teachers to increase engagement with students with complex, unmet learning needs and successfully improve all students’ self-regulation, growth and academic achievement. The pedagogical strategies incorporate evidence-based trauma-aware teaching, positive education, and wellbeing practices.

Please refer to the following link for more information https://learning.berrystreet.org.au/focus-areas/berry-street-education-model

Stamina

Information on Stamina can be found here.

Engagement

The full document can be found here.

Careers and Tertiary Study Options

MEC provides careers education and opportunities to all students from years 7 to 12 in alignment with the Victorian Careers Curriculum Framework. This involves all students working on their My Career Portfolio through completing and uploading a range of activities, being encouraged to upload copies of their achievements, resumes, etc. and completing a Career Action Plan each year as they work towards their post-school pathways.

Students are encouraged to visit the Careers Centre if they have any questions.
Our Careers & Pathways Coordinator is available to all students and parents for support in relation to employment (resumes, cover letters, interview tips), tertiary study options (University, TAFE, apprenticeships & traineeships, scholarships and applications through VTAC (including SEAS).

MEC students and parents also have access to a huge range of resources and further information through the MEC Careers page.

Mentor and Volunteer Options

Student are provided with the opportunity to develop their mentoring or volunteering skills through school programs such as the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCAL), Duke of Edinburgh Awards, Energy Breakthrough, school musical production and the Maryborough Education Centre canteen. They can also participate in the running of school events such as information evenings, school athletics carnivals and swimming carnivals.

Differentiation

Differentiated teaching are methods teachers use to extend the knowledge and skills of every student in every class, regardless of their starting point.

The objective is to lift the performance of all students, including those who are falling behind and those ahead of year level expectations.

To ensure all students master objectives, effective teachers plan lessons that incorporate adjustments for content, process, and product.

Further details can be found here.

A-D Victorian Curriculum

The ‘A-D Victorian Curriculum’ ensures a rigorous and differentiated curriculum is provided for all students. It is integrated directly into the Victorian Curriculum and is also referred to as ‘Towards Foundation Level Victorian Curriculum’. Levels A to D focuses on progressing students from a pre-intentional to intentional engagement in learning. The curriculum support students to develop their independence as they explore, participate and engage in the world around them. As students progress through these levels, the amount of support decreases as they proceed towards becoming independent learners. ‘Levels A to D’ are not associated with any set age or year level that links chronological age to cognitive progress.

Guidance for children with additional needs

A guide with information on how educators can support students with additional needs can be found here. The guide contains information about a number of conditions and strategies that educators can use to support students.

Teachers can find further details here.

Instructional Scaffolding

Instructional scaffolding is the support given to a student by an instructor throughout the learning process. This support is specifically tailored to each student; this instructional approach allows students to experience student-centred learning, which tends to facilitate more efficient learning than teacher-centred learning. This learning process promotes a deeper level of learning than many other common teaching strategies.

Instructional scaffolding may include:

Modelling—students watch the teacher do a task
Think-alouds—teacher models helpful thinking and strategies while accomplishing a task (e.g., what to think while trying to read an unfamiliar word)
Adapting—use a simplified version of something
Instructional materials—manipulatives help students to learn math
Prompts and cues— “i before e except after c” or other ways of remembering information and processes.

Examples of scaffolds are

Math: manipulatives, graphing calculators
Music: simplified notation, “ta and ti ti,” teacher bows violin while student notes fingerboard
Reading: repetitive language books (child memorizes repeated phrase and can “read” it); these reading guides are scaffolds for understanding and applying difficult concepts in educational psychology
Writing: teacher helps the student to form alphabet letters; the teacher provides forms for poems until students feel more confident about developing their own poetic forms
Science: lab book guides students as they learn to write up experiments in scientific form

FISO Improvement Model

The Framework for Improving Student Outcomes (FISO), the continuous improvement framework for all Victorian government schools. FISO has three elements. The first of these is the FISO Model, which provides a common language for school improvement across the Victorian government system. The second element is the FISO Improvement Cycle, which supports schools to focus with greater precision on better outcomes for students by guiding schools through an effective inquiry process. The third element is the FISO Improvement Measures, which include the Differentiated School Performance Method (DSPM). The Improvement Measures inform the school’s ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the progress of practice and performance against the goals, targets and key improvement strategies of a school’s strategic plan.

Further details can be found here.

FISO Resources

The FISO connecting resources model provides links to tools to support education to provide:

Excellence in Teaching and Learning
Community Engagement in Learning

Professional Leadership
Positive Climate for Learning.

Further details can be found here.

HITS

The high impact teaching strategies (HITS) are 10 instructional practices that reliably increase student learning when they’re applied. HITS have emerged from the findings of tens of thousands of studies on what has worked in classrooms across Australia and the world. International experts often rank HITS at the top of strategies that contribute to student learning.

Further details can be found here.

Pedagogical Model

The Pedagogical Model consists of five domains:

Engage

Teachers know their students well and engage them in building supportive, inclusive and stimulating learning environments. Teachers motivate and empower students to manage their own learning and develop agency.

Explore

Teachers present challenging tasks to support students in generating and investigating questions, gathering relevant information and developing ideas. They help students expand their perspectives and preconceptions, understand learning tasks and prepare to navigate their own learning.

Explain

Teachers explicitly teach relevant knowledge, concepts and skills in multiple ways to connect new and existing knowledge. They monitor student progress in learning and provide structured opportunities for practising new skills and developing agency.

Elaborate

Teachers challenge students to move from surface to deep learning, building student ability to transfer and generalise their learning. They support students to be reflective, questioning and self-monitoring learners.

Evaluate

Teachers use multiple forms of assessment and feedback to help students improve their learning and develop agency. They monitor student progress and analyse data to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of their teaching practices, identify areas for improvement, and address student individual needs.

Further details can be found here and here.

Practice Principles

The Practice Principles articulate how teachers can deliver the curriculum and engage students. Each Principle is supported by a theory of action that describes how the work of teachers can generate improved student learning over time. It explains the specific changes that can be expected and creates a brief evidence-based synopsis.

Principle 1: High expectations for every student promote intellectual engagement and self-awareness

Principle 2: A supportive and productive learning environment promotes inclusion and collaboration

Principle 3: Student voice, agency and leadership empower students and build school pride

Principle 4: Curriculum Planning and implementation engages and challenges all students

Principle 5: Deep learning challenges students to construct and apply new knowledge

Principle 6: Rigorous assessment practices and feedback inform teaching and learning

Principle 7: Evidence-based strategies drive professional practise improvement

Principle 8: Global citizenship is fostered through real-world contexts for learning

Principle 9: Partnerships with parents and carers enhance student learning

Further details can be found here.

VTML

The Victorian teaching and learning model brings the framework for improving student outcomes (FISO) into the classroom. It creates a line of sight between the whole-school improvement approach and classroom practice.

The model allows teachers and school leaders to:

focus on high impact improvement initiatives
drive those initiatives through evidence-based decisions about their teaching and student learning.

It encourages collaboration among principals, school leaders, teachers, students and parents/carers in effective learning communities to improve learning outcomes for students.

Further information can be found here.

Instructional Learning Tools (link for teachers)

Teachers employ instructional learning tools to assist students in engaging with, understanding and remembering new learning. Examples of instructional learning tools are Cornell Notes, Socratic Seminars, Costa’s Levels of Thinking and the Six Traits of Writing.

Online folders containing instructional learning tools for staff can be found here.

Learning Specialists

Learning specialists:

are highly skilled classroom practitioners who continue to spend most of their time in the classroom

build excellence in teaching and learning within the teaching service
support the learning and development of colleagues and are comfortable in demonstrating a wide range of teaching strategies, building excellence and leading change
use inquiry, evidence-based teaching strategies and evaluate their impact on student learning
have deep knowledge and expertise in high-quality teaching and learning.

Further details can be found here.

Lesson Plans

Berry Street Lesson Plan

The Berry Street Lesson Plan offers a lesson plan that incorporates tools to assist students to be engaged, self-regulated and mindful in their learning.

The plan can be found here

MEC Lesson Plans

The MEC VTLM Lesson Plan offers a lesson plan that incorporates key vocabulary and a Gradual Release of Responsibility teaching model.

The plan can be found here

MEC Library

Maryborough Education Centre boasts a magnificent library facility. Students have access to thousands of new fiction and non-fiction texts in a state-of-the-art setting. The library features computer labs, break-out rooms, a cultural space, a junior reading nook plus IT island workbenches. Experienced library technicians are always available to guide and support students.

Literacy Coaches

Maryborough Education Centre employs four literacy-focused coaches throughout the school. A reading coach attends two days per term in the P-6 area. This coach has enabled us to develop classroom libraries, an agreed approach to the teaching of reading, and use of the gradual release of responsibility. Two coaches support the 7-10 area and provide instruction on planning, developing and delivering a reading and writing block based on the use of the workshop model. The coach in the later years aims to support an increase in the ATAR score for English for VCE students and supports both Year 11&12 teachers with constructing effective plans to support this. In the future, the coaches will also support the development of progressive and developmental rubrics.

Staff Professional Learning

Bastow PL and Resources

Information on Bastow PL and resources can be found here.

Professional Learning Communities

What are PLCs?

PLCs are Professional Learning Communities where small groups of teaching staff get together and do focused assessment on areas of common concern in student learning. Teachers get together once a week to plan, prepare and deliver intervention strategies based on data collected from their team based around an improvement cycle lasting anywhere between 6-12 weeks.

What is the purpose of PLCs?

PLCs are a way for teachers to collaborate, communicate, brainstorm, research and come up with new strategies to assist learning and growth within the classroom. Teachers identify students and targeted areas to direct teaching and learning to develop those who are finding it difficult to grasp concepts of learning. PLCs can also be used to extend students to avoid them from becoming complacent with their abilities and teach these students the skills to become lifelong learners.

How does PLCs look in the classroom?

PLCs go through an improvement cycle which includes four major phases; evaluate and diagnose, practice and set goals, develop and plan and finally implementation and monitoring. During the evaluate and diagnose stage PLCs get together and conduct pre-testing of an area of concern. They then use the data in the practice and set goals phase to come up with a specific goal that they will work on throughout the cycle. After this, they get to develop and plan intervention strategies to help support the learning needs of the identified students before finishing up the cycle with post-assessment in the implementation and monitor phase. Each staff member has a double period a week dedicated to assessment and teaching in the classroom to work towards their PLC goal.

What data is produced?

PLCs have pre and post data collection at the beginning and end of every cycle

What is done with the collected data?

The data shows areas of concern or areas for potential growth. Staff use this information to make mini-lessons and targeted intervention, support and extension to students in the classroom. At the end of each cycle, the pre and post data is collated to see overall student achievement and growth.

Targeted Professional Learning

Professional Learning at MEC is targeted to improve the capacity of staff to contribute to the school goals which is centred around improving student outcomes.

Please refer to the MEC Professional Learning Policy here for further information.

Six Plus One Traits of Writing

The Six plus one Traits is a way of teaching, modelling, and assessing the instruction of writing. The Six Traits of writing are Voice, Ideas, Presentation, Conventions, Organization, Word Choice, and Sentence Fluency. It creates a common vocabulary and guidelines for teachers to use with students so that they become familiar with the terms used in writing. It develops consistency from grade level to grade level.

The Six Traits model allows teachers and students to focus on one or two elements of writing at a time creating a more manageable and effective way for students to learn how to write. It also is a means of providing specific feedback to students through the assessment of their writing. The Six Traits help both the student and teacher identify the areas of writing that the student needs work at improving. Good writing must incorporate the Six Traits. The “Plus One” trait is the presentation of the writing piece. This is the trait that is considered for all writing, but not specifically or directly taught as the other traits are.

Teach Like a Champion

Teach Like a Champion provides educators with practical knowledge and tools to create a positive and lifelong impact on student learning. The resources offer forty-nine classroom-tested and research-based teaching resources for a variety of grade levels and subject areas. Whether you are an aspiring, new, or veteran teacher, we want to help you make every teaching day your best.

Further details for staff can be found here.

Workshop Model

The Workshop Model provides a structure for the Gradual Release of Responsibility to be delivered.

I Do– Modelling
We Do- Guided Practice

You Do- Independent Practice

The plan can be found here and below.

Ourschool Alumni

Join our Alumni Community!
Are you a past student of Maryborough Education Centre, or any of its foundation schools, Maryborough
West 404, Maryborough East 2828, Maryborough Technical College, Maryborough High School or
Maryborough Regional College?
Maryborough Education Centre with its foundation schools has a proud history spanning more than 130
years. Many students have passed through the gates of these schools since 1889.
We’re working with Ourschool to find Maryborough Education Centre alumni studying or working in a
wide variety of areas to invite them back to school and speak to students about their career pathways
and give them practical tips about study and work.
Some alumni might even be able to offer a work experience placement to a current student.
Your experiences can help motivate students and open their eyes to opportunities they might never have
thought of.
We would love you to join our alumni community by:
– Liking our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/maryborougheducationcentre/
– Adding your primary or secondary school as your school on LinkedIn
– Email your contact details and career info to alumni@maryborougheducationcentre.vic.edu.au

Scholarships and Awards

Each year Maryborough Education and generous members of the school community present students with scholarships and awards in recognition of what they have been able to achieve. Many of these awards are proudly presented at the Maryborough Education Centre Annual Presentation Evening. Recognising Student Achievement also occurs throughout the year at Celebration Assemblies, weekly unit assemblies and recognition of student responsibility.

Students are also encouraged to apply for external scholarship opportunities when they are eligible, and these are promoted to relevant students during year level assemblies.

ICT

Maryborough Education Centre supports student learning through the use of ICT.

Please go to https://mec.vic.edu.au/learning/digital-technologies/ to learn about Digital Technologies @ MEC.

Maryborough Education Centre aims to broaden students digital skills to best prepare them for the ever-changing needs of the 21^st Century. We focus on teaching students to use the right tool for the right purpose. In many cases, this means writing with a Pen or cutting a piece of wood with a Handsaw. Conversely, it may be about using a stylus to paint a three-dimensional model or a laser cutter to precisely cut an intricate pattern into wood. Often for complex collaborative tasks, it means using a specialist piece of software via a laptop. Enabling students to co-author and edit the same project in real-time. MEC leverages predominantly upon industry-standard Microsoft 365 platforms.

Essential to learning how to best any tool is also learning about the possible risks associated with using the tool inappropriately. MEC promotes positive and appropriate usage of digital media via our Digital Values, Acceptable Usage Agreements and Mobile Phone policies. Please visit this page to learn more https://mec.vic.edu.au/learning/digital-technologies/

Bring Your Own Device Program

Bring Your Own Device Program information can be accessed here.

Parent and Carer Collaboration

Information Evenings

Maryborough Education Centre hosts several information evenings across the course of the year. The information evenings provide one avenue for us to share information with students and their families. The evenings often focus on transition times such as students graduating from Year 6 or Year 7 and topics such as Careers or VCE, VET and VCAL requirements and support.

Careers

Careers and Pathways SharePoint can be found here.

Year 7

A Year 7 information presentation can be found here.

Collaborative Practice

The MEC Community believes in collaborative practice. This occurs when education and health professionals engage in partnerships with families in a way that shares their knowledge and skills, respects the uniqueness of each family and support families’ choices, knowledge and values. This role contrasts with that of professionals as experts who see their role solely as educating families.

Effective partnerships with families are characterised by:

mutual respect and trust
reciprocity
shared power and decision making
open communication and responsive listening
honesty
shared goals
clarity about roles and responsibilities
complementary expertise and contributions
negotiation.

Parent Opinion Survey

Participation in annual student, parent and staff opinion surveys helps our schools monitor and evaluate school improvement initiatives. The surveys are aligned with the Framework for Improving Student Outcomes and reflect current research and evidence about what matters most to improve student outcomes.

The information parents share with us is analysed to determine how we can better meet the aspiration and expectations of parents, students and families.

Parent-Teacher Interviews

Parent-Teacher Interviews provide an opportunity for the teacher and parents of students to promote communication between school and home. They enable both the teacher and the parents to work together toward the student’s learning and social wellbeing. The objective of parent-teacher interviews are to: involve the parents in the educational process, document the student’s progress for the parents, reflect on learning outcomes and goal, allow parents to express feelings, questions and concerns, and establish ongoing communication networks between the teacher, parents and student.

Teachers can find a guide to running a parent-teacher interview here.

Start-up Interviews

Start-Up Interviews are held at the beginning of each year and give parents and teachers the chance to meet for, sometimes, the first time. During the meeting, parents can assist teachers be familiarising them with their child’s learning and wellbeing needs. Teachers can provide families with up to date information for the new learning year and provide guidance on books, uniforms and school expectations. Similar to parent-teacher interviews, the objective of start-up interviews is to: involve the parents in the educational process, document the student’s progress for the parents, reflect on learning outcomes and goal, allow parents to express feelings, questions and concerns, and establish ongoing communication networks between the teacher, parents and student.

Teachers can find a guide to running a start-up interview here.

Student Reports

At Maryborough Education Centre we aim to provide regular, accurate and comprehensive information about a child’s intellectual, social and personal development.

The goal of our reporting procedures is to:

reflect the integrated nature of assessment and reporting
be based on valid and reliable assessment
be efficient and manageable
support student learning and enhance student motivation and commitment to learning
enable schools and parents to develop effective partnerships to support the learning of students
enable students to participate in the reporting process and hence encourage them to take responsibility for their learning
provide detailed, explicit and comprehensible information about what students have achieved to date
allow planning for each student’s or students’ future learning development
reflect student achievement in relation to the curriculum, both academic and non-academic
utilise a range of reporting strategies, to suit the needs of the school community
be inclusive and provide reasonable accommodations to ensure students and parents with special needs have access to appropriate reporting strategies
protect the privacy of individuals.

Tutorials

Levelled Literacy Intervention

The Tutorial Program offers Levelled Literacy Intervention System (LLI) and Middle Years Literacy Numeracy Support (MYLNS) for students in intensive, small-group, supplementary literacy intervention for students who find reading and writing difficult. The goal of the program is to:

Advance the literacy learning of students not meeting grade-level expectations in reading
Deepen and expand comprehension with close reading
Elevate the expertise of teachers
Increase reading volume by engaging students in large amounts of successful daily reading
Increase student engagement with books that build knowledge
Intervene with small groups of struggling readers to maximize growth
Meet the needs of struggling readers
Monitor student progress.

Online Tutorials

Maryborough Education Centre support students through the purchase of online tutorials such as Edrolo. Edrolo gives students an additional learning resource that can be visited at times of the student’s convenience. Edrolo assists teachers in the ongoing assessment of student progress, by providing catch up tool and revision resource; and by providing a flipped classroom option.

Please refer to the following link for further information https://edrolo.com.au/ .

Information regarding RESN Tutoring Service can be found below.

Thank you for registering your school with RESN! Your students are now able to use our RESN tutoring service – to access the service, each student simply needs to sign up on our website at this link.

A member of our communications team will be in contact with you shortly should you have any queries or requests.

RESN In-School Presentation
You have not requested the RESN team to visit your school to speak to your students. Please note you can request at any time for the RESN team to present: this involves an explanation of the RESN tutoring service to students and teachers and how to register. We also offer a presentation on study tips and tricks and how to survive Year 12.

If you would like to arrange for the RESN team to visit your school, please indicate this to our communications team when they contact you.

Video Presentation
You can access a short video with the below link which explains to students what RESN is and how they can access it. We recommend playing the video in a year level assembly or even emailing the link directly to the students – this will allow the students to register and start using our service immediately!

Click HERE to view the Video Presentation.

Important information
Please find below links to the RESN Privacy Guidelines and RESN Safety Guidelines for your reference.
Click here for the RESN Privacy Guidelines.
Click here for the RESN Safety Guidelines.
Contact
A member of our communications team will be in contact with you shortly, however, if you have any immediate queries or requests please feel free to contact the communications team at communications@resntutoring.com.au.

In-school Tutorials

Maryborough Education Centre supports students through school tutorials. These currently occur on WED and THUR between 3.15 and 5.00 pm

Subject teachers also schedule tutorials at other break times and after school.