Essential Assessment (EA) offers a range of assessment types across Maths and English (K-10) designed to provide:
Data to inform instruction
Data that identifies the tiers of instruction (MTSS)
Evidence to support reporting
These assessments are all fully aligned to the NSW Syllabus. This guide gives an overview of each assessment type and when to use them
All assessment types can be found through the class dashboard by selecting ‘Manage Class Assessments.’ To load an assessment to the class page, click on the name of the assessment.
Learning Apps
EA also includes a suite of learning apps for practice and consolidation: My Spelling for English, and Sunset Maths and Jetpack Algebra for Maths. These sit alongside assessments and provide students with opportunities for independent practice.
Learning apps can be found on the class dashboard.
For more information, see: Using Learning Apps with your students.
NSW Common Grade Assessment (Strand-based)
NSW Common Grade Assessments cover each strand of Mathematics (Number and Algebra, Measurement and Space, Statistics and Probability) and English across K-10.
These are distal assessments, conducted at three key points across the year to provide a high-level snapshot of student learning. The spacing between assessments helps reveal what students have retained through retrieval over time and what requires further explicit instruction.
Pre-assessment – Start of the year
Mid-assessment – Prior to mid-year reporting
Post-assessment – Prior to end-of-year reporting
They are not designed to assess every detail of student learning, but to identify where further investigation or intervention may be required.
Purposeful Timing and Use
These assessments do not need to be completed within a short time frame. Schools are encouraged to establish a consistent, school-wide approach to the timing and administration of these assessments, aligned to their teaching sequence.
Pre-assessments are best completed 1–2 weeks before commencing teaching of each strand. Not all strands may have a pre-assessment in Term 1.
Mid- and post-assessments can be administered progressively, strand by strand, as content is taught and reporting points approach.
Focus Area Assessments
Focus Area assessments allow teachers to assess students against a specific focus area in the syllabus, rather than a whole strand. Pre and post assessments are available, making it straightforward to measure growth before and after a period of teaching.
These are best used when teaching a specific unit of work and more targeted data is needed than a NSW Common Grade Assessment provides.
For more information on when to schedule assessments, click here.
Flexi assessments
Flexi Assessments are teacher-created, customisable assessments that allow specific content groups or indicators to be selected from one or more strands. Unlike focus area assessments, a Flexi assessment is built to match the exact content that is required by the teacher.
To create a flexi assessment, toggle to the word ‘flexi’ and then select the plus icon in the top right corner.
Common uses include:
Assessing across an interleaved scope and sequence that spans multiple strands
Tracking progress for intervention or extension groups against specific content descriptors
Creating shorter, focused assessments for Kinder students to build assessment confidence
For more information, see: Flexi Assessments in Action
My Numeracy / My Literacy
My Numeracy (Maths) and My Literacy (English) are formative check-for-understanding activities that sit alongside summative assessments. Following a pre-assessment, the platform automatically identifies each student's learning goals based on what was misunderstood and assigns activities accordingly. Teachers can also manually assign activities at any time.
To access the My Numeracy / My Literacy tasks, select the plus icon beside the assessment name.
Alternatively, you can access My Numeracy and My Literacy activities within your class dashboard under the tabs.
Activities are automatically marked and provide immediate feedback, helping teachers identify gaps and adjust instruction quickly. They are designed to be used in the classroom during the teaching phase, following explicit instruction. It is recommended to enable one activity at a time to avoid cognitive overload for students.
It is recommended to access your My Numeracy Dashboard and UNSET all to remove the platforms’ auto allocation and decide when to give tasks to either whole class, targeted groups, or individual students. They should only be provided at a point in time after teaching has occurred, so they provide timely data as evidence of student learning and growth.
My Numeracy and My Literacy are most effective when used in the classroom rather than set as homework, as the data is most useful when teachers can respond to it in real time.
Helpful tip- Setting my numeracy and my literacy tasks through the NSW Common Grade Assessment allows educators to keep track of entire stand tasks in one place.
For more information, see: Enabling My Numeracy Activities | Enabling My Literacy Activities
Best-Fit Allocation and Dynamic Mode
When setting up a pre-assessment, it is recommended to enable Dynamic Mode. This automatically adjusts the difficulty of questions up or down based on student responses, ensuring each student is assessed at the most appropriate level. Dynamic Mode is recommended for pre-assessments only.
Rather than assigning students an assessment range based on their enrolled year level, teachers manually select a "best-fit" stage based on each student's Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD).
Dynamic Mode is available for Strand-based (NSW Common Grade Assessment) and Focus Area assessments only. It is not available for Flexi Assessments DoE Units of Work, or My Numeracy and My Literacy activities.
For more information, see Introduction to Dynamic Assessments.