The Department of Education and Science has issued new Circular Letter 0018/2012 to schools setting out the reporting processes for the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy announced by the Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairi Quinn TD, last year.

The circular sets out the background to standardised testing and details the NCCA report card templates and the reporting processing along with the grants available.

The INTO has issued a statement that they have had discussions with the DES re the provisions and have clarified the following points.

*Where schools carried out assessments last October, it is not necessary to re-administer the tests this May/June although the DES would encourage schools to do so.

*From the academic year 2012/2013 all tests under Circular 56/2011 must be carried out in May/June of the academic year.

*Schools should use the NCCA report card templates, details of which were covered in the May issue of InTouch and are also available on the NCCA Website. However, where schools have already purchased commercial report books, they can be used for the current school year provided they include the requirements covered under Circular 56/2011 on standardised testing.

*Schools will be able to use the data from the electronic processing tools developed by the ERC to populate the DES form for returning the results of standardised testing.

*Schools will have to forward data to post primary schools this year. The post primary principal will be responsible for informing the primary school principal of the confirmed enrolment in their school while the responsibility for transferring the data will rest with the primary school principal.

Comments