Procedures for Applying for Assessment Accommodations/ Concessions for Immigrants or Learners with Barriers to Learning

Introduction

In order to ensure inclusivity through curriculum and assessment processes, learners who experience barriers to learning need to have equal opportunities to demonstrate whether they have mastered the content, concepts and skill required at their grade level. The responsibility for ensuring that the above happens rests with the district and school management, through the district-based support and school / institution based support teams. Immigrants are granted accommodations based on the immigrant type and the grade that the learners is in and also needs to be registered in order to receive such accommodations. In addition, grade 12 learners need to register for special arrangements required for final exams. No adapted papers or other devices will be provided for special needs learners (e.g. blind/ deaf) for the NSC Exams unless the request has been logged and approved on CEMIS. In the light of the above, CEMIS has been enhanced to allow for and manage the procedure of providing assessment accommodations for learners who may require them.

Procedures for Requesting Assessment Accommodations (including Immigrant Concessions) and Adapted Papers: Grades 1 to 9

The school should complete an application on CEMIS for learners with a barrier to learning and/or immigrant learners.

The application will generate the applications form, which must be printed and signed by the Principal.

The signed application and required evidence must be supplied to the Learning Support (SLES) component at the District, in the case of learners with barriers to learning.

The evidence must be submitted to the Assessment Co-ordinator at the District in the case of immigrants for assessment purposes.

A District Committee will have the final approval and if the concession is granted, the school will be informed via email and a letter will be posted on CEMIS.

Procedures for Requesting Assessment Accommodations (including language exemptions for immigrant learners) and Adapted Papers: Grades 10 to 12

The school should complete an application on CEMIS for learners with a barrier to learning and/or immigrant learners.

The application will generate the applications form, which must be printed and signed by the Principal.

The signed application and required evidence must be supplied to the Learning Support (SLES) component at the District, in the case of learners with barriers to learning.

The evidence must be submitted to the Assessment Co-ordinator at the District in the case of immigrants for assessment purposes.

A District Committee will make a recommendation with regard to the application

A Provincial Committee will give the final approval and if the accommodation is granted, the school will be informed via email and a letter will be posted on CEMIS.

In the case of grade 12 learners, there may be 2 letters posted, depending on the accommodation granted. One will be for the school and should be kept on the learners’ desks when Exams are written. In the case of an accommodation that affects the marking, the second letter will not have the learner’s name and must be attached to the final NSC exam paper.

Applying on CEMIS

Navigate to the option to apply for Assessment Accommodations (Concessions).

This can be found under

Exams/ Assessments

Assessment Accommodations

Apply for Accommodations

Select the grade and then the learner for whom the application is being done.

You will then see a list of all learners in the grade (sensitive info has been whited out)

If the learner already has an accommodation request, the button will be green and say that it already exists. Clicking on this will take you to that entry. If you edit it, it will be seen as a new request and all previous authorisation will fall away and the process will begin again. This is how additional requirements are to be captured.

Click on a ‘NEW’ button to capture a new request. They have now been split into EITHER accommodations as a result of immigrant/ foreigner/ diplomat status OR barriers to learning. These will now be handled separately.

BARRIERS TO LEARNING

The application for learners with barriers to learning is similar to the previous year and is illustrated below:

The areas coloured grey are populated from CEMIS. If this needs to be edited, it should be done from the right place in CEMIS.

If the disabilities or learner type are incorrect, please include a note with your application so that it can be corrected by your District representative.

The areas coloured green must be completed by the school. If the accommodation is for a temporary period (e.g. an injury), enter a ‘valid to date’ otherwise leave this field blank and it will be valid to the end of the phase.

For applicable grades, accommodations will be split into exemption (not linked to subjects) or others accommodations/ adaptations. For example, GRR and GR1 learners will only have the exemption of compulsory school attendance, and grades 1-9 will not have any exemptions to choose from.

Where the same accommodations apply in all subjects, select the YES and the accommodations applicable will display as follows:

Select the required options, add a motivation and indicate the Principal’s recommendation and submit the application.

If the accommodation is subject specific, select ‘NO’

Select the accommodation(s) per subject, add a motivation and indicate the Principal’s recommendation and then submit the application.

If the subjects displayed for grades 10-12 are incorrect, please fix the subjects on CEMIS before proceeding. If you have applied for a subject change and this has not yet been approved or effected, please contact your Assessment Co-ordinator at the District.

Press SUBMIT to update the application.

When the application is submitted, you will be shown that it is successful. Please read the note and print the form.

Ensure that you then click on the PRINT option and an application form will be created with the information captured. This form must be printed, signed and sent with the relevant documentation to the District Office (as per the Assessment minute).

It is critical that the form be printed signed and sent with relevant documentation. Without this, the application will be rejected.

The documentation that is required is shown at the end of this document (Appendix C).

NOTE: Until the District or Provincial Committee has approved the application, it may not be applied or actioned. Please wait for formal approval. Should you have any difficulties, please contact your CEMIS Support people, as indicated on CEMIS, or the Senior Psychologist in your District.

IMMIGRANTS (FOR ASSESSMENT PURPOSES)

Please note that the information in the screenshot may not be relevant for an immigrant. It is for illustrative purposes only.

Grey sections are populated from CEMIS.

The type of immigrant/ applicant is very important since different rules and information is required. The options are shown to the left

Fields presented must be captured.

If there is no CEMIS history as shown, which is very likely, choose the option to ‘Add missing Years’, and then capture the required information.

Add a motivation and indicate the Principal’s recommendation (Yes or No)

Once you submit the application, you will be informed that the application is successful.

Ensure that you then click on the PRINT option and an application form will be created with the information captured. This form must be printed, signed and sent with the relevant documentation to the District Office (as per the Assessment minute).

It is critical that the form be printed signed and sent with relevant documentation. Without this, the application will be rejected.

Should you have any difficulties, please contact your CEMIS Support people, as indicated on CEMIS, or the Assessment Co-ordinator in your District.

ANNEXURE C

Concession applications require a holistic profile of the learner. To ensure prompt processing of the application please refer to the table below and submit all the required documentation.

Barrier to learning

Support Needs

Assessment Forms (SIAS)

Psycho- educational assessment

or other professional /

therapeutic assessment

Medical report

Supporting historical evidence

Educator’s comments

School report School

samples

Visual impairment /Colour blindness

Deaf/Hard of hearing/ Deaf blind

Physical barriers

Learning difficulty

Behaviour, Anxiety, ADD/ADHD/ Autism/ Psycho- social disorders

Limited functional speech

Other medical conditions