Assessment without Levels Ambergate Primary School.

Assessment without Levels

Ambergate Primary School

The Background

Until July 2015, Ambergate Primary School, used a combination of ‘formative’ and mainly ‘summative’ assessment to decide how much a child understood of a particular area of learning. (FORMATIVE means ongoing observations which enable an opinion to be gradually formed. SUMMATIVE means a summary of what a child can do in that moment of time; usually a test).

When an assessment of understanding had been made using a combination of these methods, the teacher would then agree which description best identified their current attainment. The description method used was ‘levels’. Each level description would have a set of objectives which the child would need to complete. For example, to achieve a 2b in writing, a child would need to be able to sequence ideas, make writing interesting with some connectives, be more accurate with capital letters and full stops and so forth.

This ‘level’ information was input into a School Pupil Tracking system, which enabled us to ‘track’ (follow) progress over time. It also enabled us to set targets for learning.*

In September 2014, these level descriptions were removed by the government as a valid method to describe attainment EXCEPT FOR YEAR 2 AND 6; 2015 SATs tests.

So why the change? http://insights.thekeysupport.com/2014/11/06/assessment-without-levels-tim-oates-ex

pert-presentation/

PREVIOUS EXPECTATIONS: AVERAGE POINT SCORES (APS) & LEVELS

APS 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41NC level

Level 1

Level2

Level 3

Level4

Level5

Level6

Academic Expectations For All

Key Stage 1 (Years 1 and 2): Expectation between 5 and 6 APS each yearKey Stage 2 (Years 3,4,5,6) : Expectation 4 APS each year

14 APS – Expected16 APS – Good

Appropriate Curriculum Steps Annual report to parents at the end of the year

Year 1 Beginning Below year group expectations

Emerging Working within year group expectations

Expected Meeting year group expectations

Exceeding Exceeding year group expectations





















Children begin, w

ork within &

then become secure

Steps across year groups

We assess our children because…

We need to understand what a child

knows (REVIEW

or ASSESS)

We need to set targets which

move learning on for

that child (PLAN)

We need to use these targets

as part of our teaching

(DO)

We need to share this

information with you,

the children, with others AND

we need to track progress

So what will change at Ambergate now that level descriptors have been removed? What will remain the same? We will continue to set challenging

targets and plan according to the children’s needs.

We will continue to deliver a curriculum which incorporates (do) these targets.

We will continue to assess and review using both formative and summative assessment.

We will continue to report to parents / carers, the children and ‘others’ on a regular basis.

We will continue to track progress using and respond appropriately.

We will continue to develop a long term ‘picture’ of how your child is developing across time.

What will change? We will simply change how we

describe the learning attainment. We will begin to engage the children

more in the target setting process. More emphasis will be upon

formative assessment and teachers using this to inform their planning

End of Key Stage assessment

KS1Maths: Children will sit two papers that will be used to inform teacher assessmentPaper 1: arithmetic,Papers 2: reasoning

SPAG: grammar, punctuation and spelling testPaper 1 – SpellingPaper 2 – Punctuation and spelling

Reading test: Two question papers to help form teacher judgment

Writing: Teacher assessed and moderated locally

KS2Maths: Children will sit three papers in mathsPaper 1: arithmetic, 30 minutesPapers 2 and 3: mathematical fluency, solving problems and reasoning, 40 minutes per paper

SPAG: grammar, punctuation and spelling test

Reading test: provisionally be a single paper with questions based on one 800-word text and two passages of 300 words. Your child will have one hour, including reading time, to complete the test

Writing: Teacher assessed and moderated locally

The DfE have intimated that reports to parents will have to feature the rank order of the child against others in the school and against local and national norms.

Assessment without Levels Ambergate Primary School.

Documents

Transcript of Assessment without Levels Ambergate Primary School.