Assessment in Germany

1. Assessment in Germany European Agency Assessment in Practice Reutte, February 28, 2008 Ute Hoelscher Staatliche Schule für Sehgeschädigte Schleswig Hoelscher@sfs-schleswig.landsh.de

2. Assessment in Germany European Agency Assessment in Practice Reutte, February 28, 2008 Ute Hoelscher Staatliche Schule für Sehgeschädigte Schleswig Hoelscher@sfs-schleswig.landsh.de

3. Assessment in Germany • Assessment • within overall policies for education a statement from the Country Report from the German Bundesländer reflects the situation in the majority of countries: … the assessment of student achievement is a pedagogic process; it is, however, an administrative act as well, based on provisions laid down by law European Agency Assessment in Practice Reutte, February 28, 2008 Ute Hoelscher Staatliche Schule für Sehgeschädigte Schleswig Hoelscher@sfs-schleswig.landsh.de

4. Assessment in Germany • Assessment • within overall policies for education • … the German Bundesländer … are preparing to implement new policies/laws regarding quality systems and monitoring for education • these will impact on inclusion and assessment in inclusive settings particularly in relation to assessment and monitoring of national educational standards European Agency Assessment in Practice Reutte, February 28, 2008 Ute Hoelscher Staatliche Schule für Sehgeschädigte Schleswig Hoelscher@sfs-schleswig.landsh.de

5. Assessment in Germany • Assessment • to identify special educational needs like in other countries, to one degree or another multi-disciplinary teams are involved in assessment linked to initial identification of special educational needs European Agency Assessment in Practice Reutte, February 28, 2008 Ute Hoelscher Staatliche Schule für Sehgeschädigte Schleswig Hoelscher@sfs-schleswig.landsh.de

6. Assessment in Germany Assessment to identify special educational needs … assessment with the purpose of initial identification of SEN applies to students in all educational settings - inclusive and segregated however, students with SEN in inclusive settings might also be included in assessment procedures that students in segregated schools may or may not be involved in European Agency Assessment in Practice Reutte, February 28, 2008 Ute Hoelscher Staatliche Schule für Sehgeschädigte Schleswig Hoelscher@sfs-schleswig.landsh.de

7. Assessment in Germany • Assessment • to inform teaching and learning • within inclusive settings, on-going assessment: • is directly linked to programs of learning that all students (those with and without SEN) follow • is mainly non-comparative with the focus being on information that helps teachers plan next steps for individual student’s learning (formative assessment) • may or may not have some summative elements linked to strategic points in teaching programs European Agency Assessment in Practice Reutte, February 28, 2008 Ute Hoelscher Staatliche Schule für Sehgeschädigte Schleswig Hoelscher@sfs-schleswig.landsh.de

8. Assessment in Germany • Assessment • to compare students’ achievements • … the main focus of assessment procedures for all students in inclusive settings is to describe learning achieved at specific times … • … takes the form of school-based summative assessment linked to: • ‘end point reporting’ to parents and other interested parties • awarding of marks or grades linked to learning outcome European Agency Assessment in Practice Reutte, February 28, 2008 Ute Hoelscher Staatliche Schule für Sehgeschädigte Schleswig Hoelscher@sfs-schleswig.landsh.de

9. Assessment in Germany Assessment to monitor overall educational standards ... a move from assessment directed at the needs of an individual student towards assessment directed at the needs of groups of students this is … a policy-initiated movement linked to the wider issues of evaluation of standards within the educational system itself European Agency Assessment in Practice Reutte, February 28, 2008 Ute Hoelscher Staatliche Schule für Sehgeschädigte Schleswig Hoelscher@sfs-schleswig.landsh.de

10. Assessment in Germany • special needs education requires a systematic and criteria related observation of all learning and development processes of a student • diagnostic techniques essentially include: • criteria related observation of school-internal and external situations • criteria related observation of confrontations with new tasks • interrogations and exchange with students, parents, teachers and other educational and therapeutical staff • diagnostic examination procedures (commercial and non commercial) European Agency Assessment in Practice Reutte, February 28, 2008 Ute Hoelscher Staatliche Schule für Sehgeschädigte Schleswig Hoelscher@sfs-schleswig.landsh.de

11. Assessment in Germany the diagnostic results constitute the basis for individual SEN planning the special education plan contains the essential objectives, support measures, and offers from internal and external cooperation partners the results of learning process related diagnostics are documented and followed up in the education plan on a continuous basis European Agency Assessment in Practice Reutte, February 28, 2008 Ute Hoelscher Staatliche Schule für Sehgeschädigte Schleswig Hoelscher@sfs-schleswig.landsh.de

12. Assessment in Germany • references to the IEP • analyses of peculiar aspects in a restricted sense (speech, physical, motor, learning, …) • behaviour and use analyses (e.g. analysing orientation behaviour in every day life, e.g. reading of timetables) to develop hypotheses about the fundamental principles of behaviour • biographical analyses (e.g. what do the parents expect from their child, how are these expectations communicated to the child, …) European Agency Assessment in Practice Reutte, February 28, 2008 Ute Hoelscher Staatliche Schule für Sehgeschädigte Schleswig Hoelscher@sfs-schleswig.landsh.de

13. Assessment in Germany • the following persons participating in the process of children’s education and instruction are involved in special needs planning activities: • the teachers who instruct the students • the parents (as far as possible) • the students themselves (as far as possible) • if applicable, external institutions and organisations European Agency Assessment in Practice Reutte, February 28, 2008 Ute Hoelscher Staatliche Schule für Sehgeschädigte Schleswig Hoelscher@sfs-schleswig.landsh.de

14. Assessment in Germany • Assessement • for students with profound and severe disabilities • schools for special education, Sonderschulen, regularly evaluate students with special educational needs • assessments of multiply impaired students are recorded in form of individual progress reports • special educational assessment is based on multidisciplinary reports European Agency Assessment in Practice Reutte, February 28, 2008 Ute Hoelscher Staatliche Schule für Sehgeschädigte Schleswig Hoelscher@sfs-schleswig.landsh.de

15. Assessment in Germany • Assessement • for students with profound and severe disabilities • sample assessments used: • FIELA by Lilli Nielsen – observations and checklist of severely impaired students (with visual impairments) • PERM – developed by a school for the visually impoaired working with severely impaired students • Diagnostic by Hanns Kern – for severely impaired students with visual impairments European Agency Assessment in Practice Reutte, February 28, 2008 Ute Hoelscher Staatliche Schule für Sehgeschädigte Schleswig Hoelscher@sfs-schleswig.landsh.de

16. Assessment in Germany Assessement for students with profound and severe disabilities FIELA Curriculum: 730 Learning Environments describes behaviors for developmental levels from birth to 48 months (4 years) in three-month increments addressing the child's development in cognitive, physical and emotional areas Nielsen, Lilli, 1998. The FIELA Curriculum: 730 Learning EnvironmentsSIKON, Copenhagen, Denmark European Agency Assessment in Practice Reutte, February 28, 2008 Ute Hoelscher Staatliche Schule für Sehgeschädigte Schleswig Hoelscher@sfs-schleswig.landsh.de

17. Assessment in Germany Assessement for students with profound and severe disabilities PERM (considering visual impairment) from birth to 12 months , computer based 9 areas: gross motor, fine motor, eating, passive communication, active communication, visual perception, autitory perception, cognition, social behaviour School for the Visually Impaired, Paderborn, Germany European Agency Assessment in Practice Reutte, February 28, 2008 Ute Hoelscher Staatliche Schule für Sehgeschädigte Schleswig Hoelscher@sfs-schleswig.landsh.de

18. Assessment in Germany Teaching Staff (teacher training) • with reference to educational work this requires improved quality with regard to transparency, commitment and verifiability • the success is based on • new experiences gained in theory and practice, effectively interconnected • successful cooperation in the sense of networking European Agency Assessment in Practice Reutte, February 28, 2008 Ute Hoelscher Staatliche Schule für Sehgeschädigte Schleswig Hoelscher@sfs-schleswig.landsh.de

19. Assessment in Germany Teaching Staff (teacher training) • not yet area wide, but to an increasing degree, varying offers of information sessions and advanced education courses on different levels, covering topics such as: • special needs diagnostics embedded in learning processes • (individual) education and learning plans • team work • inclusive instruction or diagnostic action • optional and compulsory modules as part of teacher training European Agency Assessment in Practice Reutte, February 28, 2008 Ute Hoelscher Staatliche Schule für Sehgeschädigte Schleswig Hoelscher@sfs-schleswig.landsh.de

20. Assessment in Germany Thank You for Your Attention European Agency Assessment in Practice Reutte, February 28, 2008 Ute Hoelscher Staatliche Schule für Sehgeschädigte Schleswig Hoelscher@sfs-schleswig.landsh.de

21. Assessment in Germany European Agency Assessment in Practice Reutte, February 22, 2008 Ute Hoelscher Staatliche Schule für Sehgeschädigte Schleswig Hoelscher@sfs-schleswig.landsh.de