NSW Priority Schools Programs
   

Best Start

Implementing Best Start in Priority Schools

Introduction

How can teachers in Priority Schools support the diversity of Kindergarten students when implementing the Best Start assessment process?

The Best Start Kindergarten Assessment identifies the literacy and numeracy knowledge and skills that each student brings to school as they enter Kindergarten.

Find out about the three components to Best Start.

Resources and information are available to support NSW public schools in the implementation of the Best Start assessment process.

The NSW Quality Teaching model (intranet users only) provides a range of information, research and resources which can support the implementation of quality teaching within the Kindergarten classroom.
 

 image of child counting

Teacher beliefs and expectations

Increasing students’ chances of school success relies not only on high expectations and aspirations, but also on supported learning from both the home and the school. Raised expectations need to be accompanied by changes in teaching practices and teacher/student/parent interactions.

 (Raising Expectations: achieving quality education for all: p. 16)  

Implementing the Best Start assessment means revisiting teacher beliefs and expectations. Effective classroom teachers in Priority Schools understand that is important to:

  • acknowledge that students come to school with diverse skills, knowledge, talents, experiences and preferences. They bring specific cultural knowledge or “cultural capital,” including their particular experiences and prior knowledge
     
  • focus assessment for learning for each child, finding the starting point and moving on to support literacy and numeracy development
     
  • revisit syllabus outcomes and use the Best Start information, in conjunction with other data, to inform future teaching and learning
     
  • view assessment as ongoing over a period of time and not an isolated, one off experience 
     
  • view assessment tasks as only one part of the overall teaching and learning process
     
  • value their own professional judgement based on multiple sources of student data including conversations with parents, family members and early childhood providers as appropriate to the individual child
     
  • promote and maintain high expectations for all students and avoid making assumptions about the student’s ability based on social, economic, cultural, linguistic, developmental, geographic or economic factors. The growing body of research points to the significant risk posed by teacher assumptions about students’ prior learning and future achievement being pre-determined by their socio-economic or cultural background and related experiences prior to the commencement of the Kindergarten year (DEST, 2005). Refer to the PSP working paper Raising Expectations: Achieving quality education for all. This working paper has been developed to support school communities to engage in dialogue and encourage personal reflection about the impact of student, teacher and parent expectations on student learning.
     
  • reflect on each of the three dimensions of the NSW Quality Teaching model to enhance assessment practices
     
  • value students’ cultural knowledge and building upon it is a key component of inclusive teaching and learning
     
  • recognise that not all students have had access to formal care programs (preschool or child care) but commence school with rich and varied literacy and numeracy experiences
  • recognise that there may be differences between valued home and school literacy practices 
  • continuously challenge any negative assumptions about the learning of individuals and groups of students
     
  • recognise, that for some students, the Best Start assessment tasks will not provide classroom teachers with an opportunity to assess the full range of English literacy and numeracy skills
     
  • recognise that the Best Start Assessment process involves teachers using multiple sources of information to make informed judgements about students’ learning to develop teaching and learning programs
     
  • build genuine home, school and community partnerships. Refer to the PSP working paper Developing home, school & community partnerships. This paper is a stimulus for school and community workshops around the issues, challenges and possible strategies for developing partnerships between home, school, the families they serve and their wider communities. Be aware of community diversity and the many local cultures and protocols. Ongoing and two-way communication is the key to developing positive partnerships with parents/carers in support of student learning, particularly at this critical early stage of learning.

Quality teaching and assessment practices in the implementation of Best Start

Implementing the Best Start assessment means a strong focus on quality teaching and assessment practices. Effective classroom teachers in Priority Schools understand that it is important to:

  • provide a supportive learning environment where all responses and risk taking are valued and every opportunity is given for students to fully participate in tasks
     
  • administer the Best Start assessment tasks in a supportive learning environment which allows all students the best opportunity to demonstrate what they know and can do
     
  • accept all responses positively and sensitively
     
  • allow for wait time
     
  • record all responses, including the way the student attempts each task, as this will enhance the development of a student profile
 image of students reading
  • encourage students to attempt every task. The teacher must use their informed professional judgement to determine when to move on to the next task, postpone or end the task
     
  • stop the activity sensitively and use your informed judgement if the child is demonstrating difficulty responding to a task
     
  • allow the use of gestures, non-verbal communication and visual representations
     
  • encourage the student to use their first language and record if the student responds in a language other than standard Australian English
     
  • utilise the ESL Scales for additional assessment information to track and monitor ESL student achievement and plan appropriate teaching programs
     
  • use the information from the assessment process to inform teaching that results in richly engaging teaching programs that explicitly build the critical literacy and numeracy foundations. These will support all students to experience ongoing success within the first three years of their schooling
     
  • use the Best Start assessment information to continue conversations with parents and caregivers on ways they can support their child’s literacy and numeracy learning.

Remember

It is not what students bring to school that is crucial to their future learning, rather, that the teacher knows what they bring to school and designs the most effective teaching and learning program to move them on.

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References

DEST, 2005 (Reprinted) Raising Expectations: Achieving quality education for all. Working Paper, NSW Department of Education and Training

Resources and support for teachers

There is a range of regional, state and community services that teachers can access.

At the school level the Learning Support Team plays a crucial role in assisting the classroom teacher to plan for the learning needs of students needing additional support. Stage teams that operate with an early years focus can collaboratively plan, share, review and evaluate the quality and effective of teaching and assessment practices.

 At the regional level support personnel may include:

  • PSP Consultant
     
  • PSP Partnerships Officers
     
  • Regional Equity Coordinators
     
  • Best Start Assessment Officers
     
  • Quality Teaching Consultants
     
  • Literacy Consultants, including Reading Recovery Tutors and Literacy on Track Facilitators
     
  • Numeracy Consultants
     
  • SEO2, Aboriginal Education Consultants
     
  • Multicultural/ESL Consultants
     
  • Community Information Officers
     
  • Aboriginal Community Liaison Officers
     
  • Assistant Principal Learning Assistance
     
  • Disabilities Consultant
     
  • Student Welfare Consultant
     
  • Local and Regional Aboriginal Education Consultative Group 
     

At the state level there are number of useful website links.

  • Download Our Young Learners: giving them the best possible start - An Education Strategy for the Early Years from Kindergarten to Year 4 at https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/media/downloads/newsroom/yr2006/oct/k4_strategy.pdf
     
  • The Assessment Resource Centre on the Board of Studies website contains information about assessment, including student work samples.
     
  • The K-6 Foundation Statements can assist teachers with developing consistent understandings about educational standards from Early Stage One onwards.
     
  • The School Stories section of this website contains a number of useful school stories that focus on supporting K-4 learners. See particularly Bellambi Public School, Kempsey South Public School and Koonawarra Public School.

Other useful resources available from the Henry Parkes Equity Resource Centre

  • First Day: a guide for parents, carers and school teachers - a video and guide book on the experiences of students from diverse backgrounds starting school.