Overview

The Inclusive Assessment Program (IAP), formerly known as the Assessment for Complex Learners (AfCL) project, provides schools with two optional assessment tools for students with complex learning needs.  


This could include students: 

  • with moderate to severe intellectual disability or mild intellectual disabilities requiring extensive support for emotional regulation or physical disabilities 
  • who need support developing their early language and learning skills, particularly if non-verbal and/or pre-intentional in their communication. 


This program is part of the department’s Disability Strategy to improve the educational outcomes of children and young people with disability. The initial trial aimed to understand and describe what learning looks like for these students.  It was a collaboration between schools and the broader department, the project investigated the latest research and trialled the new assessment tools within NSW public schools. 

 

The Inclusive Assessment tools have been made more broadly available to enable educators to assess, support and scaffold the learning for students with complex learning needs. 


What personal information will be collected?

Personal information about students (name, school and roll class) has been copied from the Enrolment and Registration Number (ERN) database into the Precursors app. Personal information about school educators (name, school) has been copied from the Staff Management Utility (SMU) system into the Precursors app. 


School educators will record additional data in the Precursors app as they assess each student from time to time. This additional data will include:

  • a Student indicator status
  • zero, one or multiple Interactional Prompts
  • any text entered in the Comment field
  • author of the Comment / update, and
  • a date/timestamp for that update.

Taken together, this is known as ‘IAP assessment data’.


What is the primary purpose for which IAP assessment data will be used?

IAP assessment data about students will be used by teachers and learning support staff in the classroom, for teaching and learning purposes. This data may also be viewed by other teachers, learning support staff and/or school leaders within the same school. IAP assessment data is intended as a teaching aid, to help develop teaching plans for students, and as an input into reports to parents/carers (verbally or in writing).


As the data builds up over time, the IAP assessment data provides information on how students have progressed, or where they still need to improve. This information can also be used to help teachers and learning support staff to identify patterns, evaluate what works best, and strengthen their practice in response.


How else will IAP assessment data be used?

IAP assessment data about students may also be used by the department for the purposes of reporting, testing, research, evaluation and analysis, to improve the learning outcomes and progress of students in their sector.


In order to support such research, evaluation and analysis, the department may link IAP assessment data with other data about students, such as student vulnerability, academic performance, behaviour and wellbeing data, as well as teacher and school leader experience and professional learning data.


To protect the privacy of students, the department will use the ‘separation principle’ when linking data. This means that access to identifying information about students will be restricted to linkage officers who will create the link between two or more records (but not see the assessment data about those students). Researchers will use the de-identified dataset to conduct their analysis of the assessment data. In this way, linkage officers will not have access to the assessment data, while researchers will not have access to any data which would enable an individual student to be identified.


Only IAP assessment data that has been aggregated and de-identified in this way will be reported by the department. Text in the Comment field are no longer displayed after 3 years. 


What happens when a student changes schools or moves between sectors?

The Precursors app is currently only available for NSW government schools.


If a student moves to a new government school that is also using the Precursors app, the information already recorded in the Precursors app at the old school will become visible to users at the new school.


Once a student has moved to a new school, the author of any text in the Comments field at the previous school will be obscured. The rest of the IAP assessment data remains visible to users at the student’s new school, until the student leaves the school.


Unauthorised and unlawful use of IAP assessment data

IAP assessment data must not be used or disclosed other than for the purposes outlined above, unless authorised or required by law. The department reserves the right to make disclosures to relevant authorities where the use of its information holdings raises a suspicion that an offence is being or has been committed.


Access and correction

You can request to access or amend your information by contacting the department’s Information Access Unit.


If you have any questions about your privacy on this website or a general inquiry about the department's handling of your personal information, please contact:


Privacy Contact Officer

Legal Services - Privacy

Department of Education

GPO Box 33

Sydney NSW 2001