Special Assessment Conditions and EP Assessments

Special Assessment Conditions for NCEA assessments

Beginning in 2024, NZ schools will no longer need to apply for Special Assessment Conditions (SACs) but will decide within their kura and notify NZQA on behalf of their learners. Schools are required to provide appropriate support, design inclusive environments, monitor progress and gather evidence.

EP can support SACs in the following ways:

• Text-to-speech to support reader-writers
• Allowing individual students to have extended Assessment time
• Including hardware and software extensions and features:
  • Screen contrast and text size for low vision, dyslexia
  • Dictation extensions for reader-writer support
  • Captions and transcripts for video resources
  • Alt text for images that can be read aloud

• Providing evidence and data from assessment reports to support student use of SACs

  

Using EP Assessments to accomodate learning needs

You're able to assign Tasks and Assessments to specific students to tailor each activity to their individual requirements.

When assigning work, choose your class(es), then click + Assign to specific students to select one or more students.

Use this in conjunction with the options below for custom exam experiences.

This feature is accessed using the speaking head button when completing work on EP.

To make this available in an Assessment, the Text to speech slider must be turned on when assigning.

Any student assigned this assessment will be able to access this feature. If used it in a quiet exam room it will automatically talk to them, so we recommend students use this in a separate exam space or with headphones.

Set the time limit to a longer timeframe when setting the Assessment. This will apply to all students that this assessment is assigned to.

To extend the time for individual students in an assessment that has also been assigned to others, you can do so through the Monitor section of the assessment once it begins.

First, you will need to click the student in the sidebar. Next, click Extend time limit and type in the additional time in minutes.

Use EP's customisation tools to insert an Audio recorder or Uploader component into a Lesson or Assessment. This way, students can submit their work via an audio recording, video recording, or another format.

While EP doesn't have specific app or extension recommendations, there's the opportunity to explore alternative hardware and extensions to give your learner a customised EP experience.

This may include:

• Changing magnification to make text larger and easier to read
• Changing screen colour or contrast for low vision, colour-blindness or dyslexia
• Dictation and speech-to-text 
• Captions, transcripts and alt text in visual resources