Literacy and Numeracy

The Assessment Tool and what it does

The Literacy and Numeracy for Adults Assessment Tool (Assessment Tool) is an online adaptive tool that provides robust and reliable information on the reading, writing and numeracy skills of adults.

The Assessment Tool informs the development of learning interventions that strengthen literacy and numeracy skills. It also allows learners to track their progress over time and lets educators and organisations report on the progress made by groups or cohorts of learners.

The Assessment Tool provides:

• reading, writing, vocabulary, listening, speaking and numeracy assessments linked to the learning progressions
• thousands of assessment questions, using New Zealand adult contexts
• adaptive online assessments (where the computer alters the difficulty of questions in response to the learner’s answer) and non-adaptive printed assessments
• reporting of results for learners, educators, organisations and the TEC
• a reliable infrastructure built and tested to information technology industry standards.

Assessment Tool usage is a Funding condition for TEOs receiving foundation-level education funding from us.

To find out more about the Assessment Tool, and what your organisation needs to do to use it, see Assessment Tool Support on the Te Arapiki Ako website.

Assessment Tool support

All eligible learners should be assessed

Providers must assess all eligible learners at foundation level except in qualifications taught predominately in Te Reo Māori. These will be identified by qualification NZSCED 91502.

All eligible learners should get an:

• initial assessment in both reading and numeracy at the beginning of a period of learning. We expect this to be within the first three weeks, and
• a progress assessment in both reading and numeracy after there has been sufficient time and opportunity for learners to make gains. This should be after the ‘half way’ mark of a course. We suggest one month to two weeks out from the end of the course. This gives enough time to provide feedback to the learner and inform future plans.

As part of good practice, TEOs should also consider assessing:

• learners in levels 1 to 3 courses that lead to the award of a qualification at level 3, and
• any learner, regardless of course or qualification level, where the educator or tutor considers that the learner is likely to have reading and numeracy needs.

The Assessment Tool can also assess vocabulary and writing. However, reading and numeracy are the most important to skills to assess and improve first. This is why they are part of our Assessment Tool requirements.

The timing of initial and progress assessments should relate to the full duration of learner’s enrolment. For example, if a learner is enrolled in a multi-year programme then annual assessments are required. This takes a holistic, learner-centred approach and avoids over-assessment.

Information for Staff using the tool

For more information about the tool and how you can use it to support on-going learning, go to the following Moodle page:

Using the Literacy and Numeracy Assessment Tool at Unitec

Useful Resources

Process

Literacy and Numeracy Process Guide

Teaching Staff Instructions for Creating an Assessment

Templates/Forms

Instructions for Students using the TEC Assessment Tool

Preparing learners for taking adaptive assessment

Relevant Policies and Procedures

AC 2.0 Assessment Moderation and Grades Policy.pdf

AC 2.1 Assessment and Grading Procedures and Regulations

NZQA/TEC Guidance

TEC Guidelines for Embedding Literacy and Numeracy

Australia and NZ Information Literacy Framework

NALA Guidelines for Integrating Literacy