Text-to-speech for co-requisite assessments

Students can use text-to-speech assistive technology in the 32405 Literacy Writing and 32406 Numeracy digital assessments in 2024.

Text-to-speech supports students who have:

low vision
learning differences
reading difficulties.

It converts text into audio so students can listen to text in the assessment being read aloud.

Text-to-speech can replace the need for a human reader for students who are entitled to one. Students can also use a reader or writer for extra support if they wish.

Students using text-to-speech technology in the assessments can be accommodated in the same room as other students, but they must use headphones.

Students can practise using text-to-speech technology by completing past digital assessments. Look for 2023’s Literacy Writing and Numeracy assessments on the past digital assessments page.

Find past digital assessments (external link)

Polly

Polly is a text-to-speech tool. It's built into the digital assessment platform that students use to complete assessments.

Polly is available to all students, provided they use headphones.

Check the firewall at your school or kura

For Polly to function as designed, check that the firewall at your school or kura allows requests to Amazon. Your IT support can help with this.

This is the URL that you need to whitelist:

https://polly.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com

Assistive technology (text-to-speech) tools

Students who normally use other text-to-speech tools in the classroom, such as Google Read & Write, can use these tools in 2024's Literacy Writing and Numeracy assessments, providing the tools have been approved by NZQA.

Students will also need to use headphones during the assessment.

Information about using BYO text-to-speech in the writing and numeracy assessments is available from Assessment Master guidance, in the MyNZQA school and tertiary portals.

Text-to-speech resources

Teachers, use the resources below, and log into the MyNZQA portal, to get full instructions and background information about Polly and other assistive technology.

You can forward the student instructions and video links directly to your students.