Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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86. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will indicate how her Department assesses standards of literacy and numeracy at school entry and through primary education. [14232/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Assessment is an enabler of effective teaching and learning. Section 22 of the Education Act requires schools “to regularly evaluate students and periodically report the results of the evaluation to the students and their parents”. To support this legislative requirement, primary schools implement standardised testing on an annual basis during the period May/June for all pupils in 2nd, 4th and 6th classes and report the results to my Department. English-medium schools are required to implement standardised testing in English reading and Mathematics with Irish-medium schools required to implement standardised testing in Irish reading, English reading and Mathematics.

Early screening for literacy and numeracy difficulties is important at the end of the infant two-year cycle. Schools use screening and diagnostics test suitable for use with pupils at the end of Senior Infants and the beginning of First Class. These help to identify those pupils who are experiencing some difficulty in ‎learning to read or with numeracy skills. These tests complement a teacher’s observations and assessments of a child’s performance and increase understanding of particular difficulties. They provide information on young children’s difficulties so that instruction can be improved, through differentiated instruction, and /or additional support teaching.

Assessment in the Primary School: Guidelines for Schools(NCCA, 2007) support teachers’ knowledge and understanding of assessment and show how a variety of assessment methods can be used to support assessment of children’s progress and achievement, and to extend and enrich their learning. The Guidelines ask schools to develop a whole-school assessment policy based on a balanced combination of Assessment for Learning and Assessment of Learning.

External inspections of primary schools also support the monitoring of standards of literacy and numeracy in primary schools. Inspection reports provide judgement on the quality of literacy and numeracy in a school, affirm the practices that are working well and make recommendations for improvement that can inform and complement school self- evaluation.