Can students use Text-to-Speech (e.g., Kurzweil) during the assessment?

Text-to-speech technology such as Kurzweil cannot be used for the reading passages and reading questions of Nova Scotia assessments (i.e., in the information texts, visual media texts, literary prose, and poetry/song portions). In the same way that teachers are not permitted to read the reading portions of the assessment to students, any technology that does the same is not permitted. As this section of the assessment is an assessment of reading/viewing -- where "reading" includes the independent decoding, comprehension, and analysis of text -- adaptations that perform the decoding of text for students compromise the validity of the assessment.

However, text-to-speech software may be used in the writing portion of the assessment without compromising the validity of the assessment. Text-to-speech software may be used to read the writing instructions, prompts, and tips  since the writing portion of the assessment is not an assessment of reading, but of writing.

Note: If text-to-speech software is mistakenly used during the reading portions of the assessment, or if a teacher mistakenly reads the reading portions of the assessment to the student, the student's assessment report will indicate "insufficient evidence" for the reading component.