A new screening check to track Year 1 students’ early progress in numeracy will be trialled across 150 public schools, to help bring up NAPLAN results in primary age students.
The short, teacher-led check will take around 10-15 minutes to complete with each student and will focus on foundational number sense skills that are key to later success in maths and numeracy, providing an opportunity for early intervention to ensure all students are on the right track.
The check will help teachers identify areas where students may require targeted assistance, such as counting, ordering numbers, and simple addition and subtraction strategies.
The Year 1 Number Screening Check will include 20-50 items to check students’ number understanding across three areas. Numbers, number relations and number operations will be assessed, including knowledge of whole numbers, knowledge of relations between numbers, and how numbers can be taken apart and put back together, for example adding 2 and 4 makes 6.
“Literacy and numeracy skills are the foundations of an education that sets children up for life. The [government] wants to ensure students are on track early on, so all children have the opportunity to succeed,” deputy premier and education minister Prue Car said.
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“That is why we are trialling the introduction of a Number Screening Check in Year 1 which, along with the existing Phonics Screening Check, will serve as an important tool for teachers, enabling them to assess the foundational skill development of our young learners.
"We know that early intervention is crucial for students needing additional support – the earlier we identify children who need attention, the more chance they have to succeed.
The trial, launching in Term 2, follows an early pilot across 19 schools in November 2024, the purpose of which was to develop the content, structure and mechanics of the check. The department will further refine the details of the check using feedback from the trial.
Resources to help schools implement and respond to assessment results will also be developed during the pilot.
The Year 1 Number Screening Check will support the existing Year 1 Phonics Screening Check, providing teachers with an early view of individual students’ progress and an opportunity to intervene in their development of these foundational skills of literacy and numeracy.
