levels 2, 2A, 2B,2C,W level 3 what does it all mean?

[berrycherry]

can a primary teacher enlighten me? recently went to a SATs meeting, and everyone seemed to know what the teacher was on about (especially the "need" to push for a level 3 at the end of Y2)would just like to know what is actually expected?

these are the levels of grade that most children would be expected to achieve in the end of ks1(yr 2 sats results)
2 being the lower, 3 being the higher
of course some children might not even get that result and then i think they are classed as 'working towards level 2?'
ps i'm not a teacher so maybe someone else will explain it better

in a sense it means something, but actually it means bugger all. The teacher is the best guide by far as to how a child is doing. these tests are as good as useless.

The 'average' child is supposed to reach a level 2 at the end of Year 2. 2c means the child is just working within level 2 and not quite secure (so a 'low average'), 2b is a secure level 2 and thus an 'average average' and 2a is a high level 2, and therefore slightly above average!!!!!

Level 3 is what children are supposed to achieve at the end of Year 4, and bright can children get this at the end of Year 2 (though they may then seem to make no progress in Year 3 as the tests are different).

Hope that made some sense!

apparently this year the actual SAT's levels are not from the tests, but actually awarded by the teacher, which I think is an improvement.

in the meeting the grade 3 was brought up a lot by parents, but the teacher said it was not an important issue, as it then meant that children would need to attain a higher level (level 5 I think) by the end of KS2.

I was just wondering exactly what level would be average, is it just a straight 2? and is 2b the average, and is that more than a 2? its very confusing!

One thing I was surprised was exactly how much assessment does go on, andf that this record follows them throughpout their education.

I have a suspicion that in infant and junior schools, it makes more sense for the school to award a 'borderline' 2a/3 child a 2a in Y2 as it improves their value-added scores if more children then achieve level 5 in Y6 - which seems to be what Berrycherry's teacher is saying. On the other hand, in infant only schools, it makes sense for the teacher assessments to bump up the 3s in Y2, as that is what the school is judged on.

I am so glad someone else asked this

At a school I work part-time at. Most of the children were achieving high results in year 2 but they were slated then in the ofsted report because the children then did not make as much progress as expected in juniors. Therefore the school is now having to mark down the KS1 marks because of this. It is exactly the Value added issue. It would be better if this went on without the parents or the children knowing as it creates more problems and then parents push the child to be a 3. This is one of the suspected reasons why older kids are getting switched off. Too much pushing at an early stage.

thanks for all the comments, it has been very helpful! I now have a much better understanding not only of the gardes, but also the internal politics surrounding the grading!