School assessment policies across Australia for students with special needs

The assessment policies across Australia have been critiqued. In the Australian Capital Territory, teachers are flexible to assess students’ achievement against the key learning area by developing Individual Learning plan (ILP) for students with special needs within their school curriculum. Similarly, student achievement in the Northern Territory is assessed by classroom teachers. The New South Wales Curriculum Framework describes expected learning outcomes for students’ assessment. In Tasmania all students are assessed against Standards 1-5 within the curriculum; for students with disabilities, the Individual Education Plan (IEP) forms the backbone of assessment for learning. However, in Western Australia, the assessment structure is more outcomes based. In Queensland, policy mandates that students’ assessment will be evaluated against state- wide and national standards with the responsibility of assessment being delegated to schools. Assessment policy in South Australia employs a range of negotiated and inclusive techniques specifically for students with special needs to demonstrate their achievement against the Learning Outcomes within the curriculum. Finally, Victoria adopts an integrated approach to assessment across a range of domains.