A new assessment for identifying and supporting difficulties in mathematics learning was launched in late July that has the potential to be of significant help in strengthening school’s and parent’s ability to appropriately plan for learners struggling with key aspects of maths study.
The assessment has been designed by the co-founder of the
Dyscalculia Network and experienced specialist teacher, Rob Jennings, alongside
Jane Emerson, the Director of Emerson House – a centre for dyscalculia,
dyslexia and dyspraxia.
Split into 19 sections, the assessment provides for a
comprehensive examination of learner’s abilities regarding early number
concepts such as number sense and counting, different mental and written
calculation strategies, interpreting word problems, working with and converting
between fractions and decimals, as well as basic length measure. The sections
have a mix of verbal and written questions, with some of the earlier ones
requiring the use of counters. The authors suggest that the assessment should
take roughly one hour (based on trials that have taken place to help refine the
test questions and assessment approach), however are at pains to point out that
the assessment should not be limited by time, either overall or for any one of
the sections, as this could lead to anxiety for the pupil that could skew the
results.
What sets this assessment apart, for me, from other
assessments and on-line screeners for dyscalculia and/or other maths
difficulties, is the level of detail that the assessor (which could be a
parent, teacher, or TA – not necessarily a qualified assessor) is encouraged to
capture about the pupil. As well as simply getting an answer correct or
incorrect, the assessor is encouraged to note down (through the use of a
provided assessor’s booklet) how long each section took, the strategies that
pupils used (to help capture whether these are efficient or immature
strategies), and any comments or questions that the pupil makes – either to
themselves or to the assessor. This sort of information is potentially crucial
in formulating a proper plan for addressing the difficulties that the assessed
pupil is facing with mathematics. In addition, there are actually two
assessments, an A assessment and a B assessment, which means that they could be
used as a pre- and post-test for an intervention specifically designed to support
the pupil.
Access to the assessment, assessor’s booklet, and answers
comes through the purchase of the companion guide called (straightforwardly),
“The Maths and Dyscalculia Assessment”, with a link and redemption code for the
online materials included in the guide.
The companion guide comes with much more than simply a
step-by-step guide on administering the test itself. Included is also guidance
for the assessor in preparing for the test, including how to make sure the
necessary things are organised in advance, how to create a good environment for
conducting the test, what to be on the lookout for and to record during the
assessment, and even making sure that the learner is at ease during the
assessment. There is also a chapter on interpreting the results of the assessment, including what
issues may have been highlighted by the assessment, what might then be included
in a teaching plan if these issues have arisen, and suitable specific
interventions that might be required, which I would definitely recommend
reading this before administering the
assessment – I feel like it would sharpen my focus on certain aspects of the
test and approaches that a child takes to the test beyond what is given in the
step-by-step guide.
In addition to the guidance provided for before, during and
after the assessment, the companion guide also contains a host of other
information and support for working with pupils that have difficulties with
mathematics, including different checklists or screeners that could be used in
advance of the assessment or to support its findings, a template summary report
along with a completed exemplar to help capture the results of the assessment
and plan for future teaching with the pupil, and an in-depth family
questionnaire that can be used to provide extra detail and context to be used
in the summary report. Both the templates for the summery report and the family
questionnaire are both included in the online materials accessed through the
guide, which means that the complete assessment package can be used with as
many pupils as is needed. The guide also contains lots of information about how
dyscalculia and other maths specific and non-specific learning difficulties
(such as maths anxiety, dyslexia and the like) might impact maths learning and
attainment, as well as some interesting statistics about occurrence of maths
difficulties and co-occurrence with other difficulties, and a host of sources
of further information and resources that could be useful for parents and
educators.
As I went through the book and the online assessments, I
reflected heavily about the numerous pupils I had encountered that displayed
some or many of these difficulties. In the last department that I led we
benefited from the assistance of a part-time numeracy intervention tutor and I
can see how this sort of assessment would be invaluable in supporting her work
alongside those of the main class teachers, as well as contributing hugely to
the work of our SENDCo and inclusion team in pinpointing the difficulties that
pupils were having and initiating conversations with parents and other agencies
about the diagnoses and support that these pupils might benefit from. Despite
my limited experience in the field, I have never seen anything that is designed
to capture how pupils approach maths problems alongside their accuracy and time
taken in completing them, or the depth of insight to guide future planning that
this test provides and for that reason alone I think this book/assessment is
well worth a look for any school or parent that wants to get a real handle on
the maths difficulties that their children are facing.