KS1 SATs, a question for teachers

[lovecheese]

Disclaimer - DD knows that tests will happen in May but is not remotely bothered, and I will not mention them or put any pressure on her, but I am wondering if there are any areas where children consistently fall down in assessments, and if so how can a parent (subtley) help at home?

[mrz]

Not reading the question correctly

[stoatsrevenge]

Her teachers will already know what level she is working at when she does the tests (any time between Jan and reporting time at the beginning of July btw) so it's not even worth worrying about.

The teachers will report their teacher assessments, not test levels - the tests are only used as supporting evidence.

[Feenie]

Thanks stoat!

[stoatsrevenge]

Thought I'd save you the trouble!

[Feenie]

[lovecheese]

Always reminding them to read the question correctly, but will (Drum it into them) continue to do so!

[spudmasher]

In maths it's always the vocab that trips them up. Total, sum, altogether, how much more, how much less, subtract, take away, decrease, increase. Can be bewildering when you are 6.

[Liby]

Don't do anything - SATs are to test the school not your child.

[lovecheese]

Thanks spudmasher, that's useful to know re: the vocab.

And Liby I dont intend to sit her down and "cram" or anything mad like that! And call me a wally if you like, because it has been said SO many times about SATs testing the school and not the child, but from a parent's perspective if you get a cohort of children getting 1's or lower level 2's, a large middle with 2b's and 2a's and a group with 3's it is certainly the case in my Dcs school that the children with 3's go into top groups in juniors, get extended in their work and will probably thus enter secondary ahead - who wouldn't want their DC to get 3's if this subsequently opens doors and keeps them open? Surely it is testing the child? (Apologies if that makes no sense whatsoever, but I know what I mean)

[mrz]

Of course it's testing the child in the sense it informs/confirms the teacher's assessment and will show up any areas of weakness on the day in that particular test.
The SAT levels that are reported are the teacher's assessment of the child over a full year.

[stoatsrevenge]

Lovecheese.....The SATs tests do not decide the children's levels. The levels are decided through teacher assessment of their work from Jan-June.

The tests do not test the school or the child. They support the teacher's assessment of the child.

Your child's performance every day of the week is being assessed and monitored, and her levels are being tracked. The tests will support this continuous assessment. The teacher will have to analyse and explain any anomaly between the test score and his/her assessment. The teacher assessment will invariably used as the more accurate level.

I know which children (give or take a couple) who are on track for L3/2/1 already. Their Y3 teacher will assess again in September, and decide their groupings for Y3.

The KS1 reported assessments are important to Ofsted (to rate progress children are making). It is expected that children getting L3 in Y2 will achieve L5 in Y6. (There's another thread on the go about this at the moment.)

[wine0]

I agree with spudmaster, also the way the questions are set out too can be tricky. __ + 8 = 15 or find the difference between 13 and 29. tick all the multiples of 2. The children may have to find 3 out of 5 but often find the first 2 and then automatically think they've found them all and move on to the next question.

[AbigailS]

Last year I had several parents ask me in May when I was going to do the SATs test? I explained to them I did the maths in Feb and the various literacy bits in March and April, so they were all finished.
I'm sure some parents would have prefered to know in advance when they were going to take them, but I was really pleased the children didn't know what was going on and viewed it all as just another part of ordinary school life.
PS I've been in year 2 doing SATs for years (except my two mat leaves)and during the old system of tests being the reported out come I had SO many parents book appointments to see me for a chat in May - I'd assume there was a problem, but they just wanted the test score, that I hadn't even had time to mark yet. Parents got SO worried about them and this does transmit to the child. This newer system is SO much better for all concerned.

[stoatsrevenge]

The teacher can give certain info in the tests. Quite honestly, I would remind them to circle 3/5 - they are only 6 and 7 years old. Being able to read the instruction 'to tick 3' isn't testing their maths skills!
I think, with questions like this, that when we used to report test levels, it used to be the children with the best comprehension getting the higher levels!

Missing numbers and 'find the difference' are part of the Y2 curriculum.

[PoppetUK]

I don't get how sats can be consistent if you are testing at different times. A few months for my dd would make a difference and she can't be the only one. Are Sats just there to support the grade given so the date taken can be taken into consideration if working levels increase and there is evidence. I'd have thought the schools aim is for as high results as possible. I can see now why I should get all uptight about it for dd and just concentrate on what things mean for her and just encourage her best efforts.

[Feenie]

The children are tested just once. The teacher chooses when - it can be from September through to June, most schools choose to use them around May time to confirm their final assessment. Yes, the SATs are there as part of a whole levelling/assessment conversation and to show we know what we are talking about - if I used the SATs in January, say, and I was moderated by the LEA, they would expect me to say what evidence the test and lots and lots of other evidence showed me about a particular child, and they would expect me to be able to say what progress they had made since then and how I knew this, again using lots of different information to support my judgement.

[AbigailS]

You are right Poppetuk, you can't compare a test done in Feb with one done in May, that's why they are only part of the final level that is reported. I usually do the maths test early and use it diagnostically. It can help identify gaps in learning, so I can go on and plug that gap in future teaching. I usually find the level I report in the summer is higher than the level children achieve in the test in February/March. The level that we report is the APP level that I (hopefully) have evidence of in notes from observations, a cross section of written work and answers to certain questiosn on the test papers.
I must confess to feeling frustrated that the two written tasks and spelling test that I have to mark often produce a different grade once I've totalled all the points up, than the APP guidelines using a range of class based independent writing.

[PoppetUK]

My goodness, the paperwork for teaching must be endless. I'm sure it does drive standards as well as teachers sighyly potty etc but it seems a lot of work.thanks for the posts they really help us parents. One day I'd love to work in a school to.

[mrz]

yes they give us half a day out of the classroom (teaching the children) to do our clerical work ... good idea

[PoppetUK]

I can't imagine many teachers going home and putting their feet up that's for sure!

[mrz]

Oh you would be surprised
The point is they saw paying a teacher to do paper work rather than teach as the solution ... erm... cut the paperwork and keep us in the classroom!

[stoatsrevenge]

Marking literacy earlier in week:

For each child:

Stick lesson objective into book
Read piece of work
Inwardly cringe
Mark against lesson objective
Assess on APP grid (HT thinks it a good idea to do one for all children I may be commenting on this VERY soon)
Enter level on attainment tracker
Inwardly cringe
Feverishly calculate number of weeks until KS1 levels need to be reported
Check handwriting targets met/not met
Check personal targets met/not met
Write parent interview notes for Monday.

Repeat process for 28 more books. For 5 children, assess all work since January as these children have jumped groups and colleague 'has forgotten' to do this.

[PoppetUK]

[PoppetUK]

didnt have a bottle