Grade One Inventory to be Done in October

The Grade One Inventory, which provides a profile of a child’s learning style and abilities on entering first grade, will now be conducted in October.
Minister of Education and Youth, Maxine Henry Wilson, in her contribution to the 2007/08 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives yesterday (June 12), explained that the decision to move the assessment from September to October is because “when children enter grade one, they are coming from a small school and are often what you call discombobulated; they are not settled down as yet, so what you get as the profile is not necessarily really that child’s performance”.
“What we want to do is to do that profile of the child in October, and to use it as a way of making sure that the teachers are able to plan for the children as they enter grade one,” she pointed out.
Specific key indicators to be assessed will include social and emotional development of the child as well as the teacher/school readiness. Children with disabilities will be included in the process with the necessary adaptations made to facilitate them.
According to the Education Minister, the inventory is important “as it is recognised that different children learn in different ways and that each child’s pace of development differs.” The profile, she said, “should assist the class teacher to plan her lessons and structure her classroom delivery to optimise the learning of each child.”
The revamping of the Grade One Inventory is one of the recommendations of the Education Task Force.