Nadia Walker

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Central Briefing 30 January 2007

• Nadia Walker
• Office of Learning and Teaching

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Background

• The Early Numeracy Research Project (ENRP) was
  commissioned by the Department of Education,
  Employment and Training 1999 2001
• One of the aims of the project was to challenge
  teachers to explore their beliefs and
  understandings about how children develop their
  understanding of mathematics
• The Interview was developed during the project to
  satisfy the need for a comprehensive assessment
  tool for early numeracy
• The Interview was established on the research
  framework of significant Mathematical points of
  growth

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What is the Interview?

• One-on-one interview
• Mainly hands-on tasks
  incorporating concrete materials
• Focus is on mental computation
• Responses focus on strategies that the students
  use not only the correct answer
• 61 questions and sub-questions
• Questions ranging from Level 1 4 (VELS)
• Should take 30 - 40 minutes
• Data continues to build from year to year in one
  assessment record

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Areas assessed by the Interview

• Counting
• Place value
• Strategies for addition subtraction
• Strategies for multiplication division
• Time
• Length
• Mass
• Properties of shape
• Visualisation

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Example questions from the Interview

• This
• question is
• part of the
• Detour
• designed
• for students
• in their first
• year of
• school.

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Example questions from the Interview

• This question
• (from the
• addition
• subtraction
• section) focuses
• on strategies
• used eg. using
• doubles, near
• doubles and fact
• families.

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Example questions from the Interview

• This question
• is a
• reasonably
• challenging
• question
• from
• the place
• value
• section.

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Example questions from the Interview

• This question
• is one of the
• last questions
• in the
• Interview
• from the
• visualisation
• section.

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Why use the Interview?

• Assessment FOR learning
• Time spent conducting the Interview is invaluable
  in understanding individual students needs
• To find out how students think and feel while
  doing Mathematical tasks
• Insight into student thought process in action
• Generate detailed profiles showing student
  achievement in relation to points of growth
• Tracking student growth over time
• Informs planning for focused teaching at the
  point of need

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• Enables students to showcase their
• skills and understandings due to
• individualised pathways through the
• Interview.

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Who is the Interview appropriate for?

• Powerful for all students in Levels 1 3 (Prep
  Year 4)
• The high ceiling provides scope for questions
  up to Level 4 in some areas potential for use
  with at risk students in Year 5 and beyond.

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The learner at the centre
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Important points School User Guide

• Schools must assign a school administrator
• Check internet browser functionality
• Import function to import existing interview
  records
• Remember to select the right session
• Record comments in comment box at the bottom of
  the page only not in a numeric field

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• Step through Interview online
• Refer to User Guide

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Aligning the Interview with the Victorian
Essential Learning Standards

• ENRP points of growth informed the writing of the
  Mathematics Standards progression points
• The Interview points of growth will support
  teachers to understand and implement the VELS
• Powerful links with the Mathematics Developmental
  Continuum indicators of progress teaching
  strategies
• Examples of aligning the Interview with the
  Standards and progression points

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Using the Interview results to plan your program

• Step 1 It is important that interviewing is
  conducted by the classroom teacher for the
  students in their class.
• Step 2 Ensure you feel confident with the
  Interview data.
• Is there data that doesnt fit with your
  understanding/ perception of the students prior
  knowledge? If so, recheck the Interview results.
• Step 3 Use the profiles to reveal highest point
  of growth achieved in each area.
• Step 4 Use student profile or group profile
  to group students together with similar learning
  needs.

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Group profile Number - Place value
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Using the Interview results to plan your program

• Step 5 Determine the focus of the next
  mathematics session, for example, Visualising
  patterns in the Hundreds chart.
• Step 6 Select a group of students with similar
  needs and plan the specific focus of the teaching
  group related to the whole class focus.
• Step 7 Consider the context (games, using
  calculators etc ) and the specific learning
  experiences. The Mathematics Developmental
  Continuum can support this selection with some
  powerful examples of tasks and guidance on
  effective teaching strategies.

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Links with the Mathematics Developmental
Continuum P - 10

• In this place value example, the indicator of
  progress Using a hundreds chart for mental
  calculation offers advice on teaching strategies
  for developing visualising, as well as a variety
  of tasks for students with differing needs.
• These have been linked to tasks achieved on the
  Mathematics Interview that indicate appropriate
  prerequisite understanding.

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Building on what students already know and are
able to do
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Interview influencing classroom planning

• Types of tasks become part of classroom
  programming and learning experiences for students
• Strategies promoted in the Interview, for example
  near doubles will become powerful in the
  teaching environment
• Focus on mental computation rather than formal
  written equations as the only option
• Importance of articulating thinking this should
  be valued and shared often
• Use of materials to support students to develop
  visual images of their thinking from concrete
  to abstract over time

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Interview influencing professional learning for
teachers

• The Interview results can provide an opportunity
  to discuss efficient ways to move students
  forward best practice.
• For example Length how can we more effectively
  support students to move from using uniform
  units appropriately to quantify length to using
  formal units for estimating and measuring length,
  with accuracy?
• What knowledge do teachers need to plan effective
  learning experiences around this concept?

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Considerations for implementation