Do SATs level include any adjustment for age?

[Smithagain]

Just had DD1's end of KS1 report, which includes SATs-style grades for the four main subjects.

Can any teachers clarify whether the assessment system takes any account of age within the year group. For e.g. are there any allowances for the children who are youngest in the year? Or are they expected to have levelled out by now?

No

nope, sorry

there isn't any levelling out for KS1 tests

Why should it include any 'allowance'? It's NOT a competition with the other kids. It just allows you to know where your child is at now.

No allowance for age in the levels because a level two is a level two at whatever age but the school will probably have done standardised scores that show how your child is performing in relation to other kids their age. They take 100 as an average and anything within about seven points of this is 'the norm' for that age (known as c band). These are worked out by taking the raw score that the child got for the test and plotting it against their age in years and months. HTH

SATS are attainment tests, not ability tests. It doesn't make any sense to adjust marks for age, as they are showing what a child has achieved rather than what they are capable of in the future. SATS were originally designed to assess the school, not the individual child, so there would always be an expectation of a normal distribution of achievement, some of which could be due to lack of maturity.

You have to let your child's best be good enough.

Very true, Northernlurker. But there is also the indication of where they "should" be by this stage (for some definition of "should" that one may or may not agree with).

Anyway, thanks. Was just interested. I have two summer born children, as you might have guessed!

Indication of where they 'should' be is to be found really in their baseline assessment. If your child is at an infant only type school, they will have a value added score that shows how much progress they've made since starting school. If they are at a primary (4-11) school, there will be a target that the school expect them to reach based on their baseline assessment. This shows how much progress your child has made but to see where they are in realtion to other children their age, you need to use the standardised score.

You can't say where an individual child should be on a single set of tests. My DD who has an end-July birthday got level 3s on all her papers. She got what she got because that was what she was capable of - she shouldn't have got level 1 just because she had a late birthday.

I think its fair to want to know how your child has performed in relation to others nationally with an age adjustment taken into account. Rememebr, this will not give you an indication of how well they have done compared to others at their school, only compared to the whole of the nation!

This is why standardised scores are the only way to find out Scieneteacher.

The other thing to remeber is that there is no longer any legal requirement to report the actual test scores to parents. What you should have on her report is a level based on a teacher assessment for the whole year with the test used as a tiny part of this. You cannot have a standardised score bsed on the whole year, only on one test. This is not a mega reliable indicator as obviously, children perform better or worse on certain days for a variety of reasons.

CAT tests are age adjusted. SATs tests aren't.

SATs are attainment tests - they assess what a child currently knows

CAT s are ability tests and assess what a child is capable of in order to make future predictions - so they are age adjusted.

Am confused now. How are the standardised scores used? Do parents get to see those, or are they only for teachers' consumption?

SATs results from tests AREN'T being reported!!! Children in KS1 will receive levels in maths, reading, writing, speaking and listening and science for their work over the year, based on teacher assessment. Yes, they will have done the tests (in maths, reading and writing) to inform the teacher's assessments, but these will NOT be reported.
There are so many people who need to talk to their children's schools about this - 4 or 5 posts this week show that parents are being misinformed (or un-informed!).

Teacher assessment will be based on children achieving objectives at a particular level. Therefore, they can't be adjusted for age as the objectives are a precise indicator of the child's achievement.

Standardised scores are not used as much as they used to be. They are available for techers to use and if any of my parents asked, I would let them know, stressing it was only one mark on one day. Lots of teachers do not use them but I was 'brought up' as a year two teacher using them. They are extremely interesting for teachers to see which bands etc children are in. In theory, if children make a steady rate of progress (yeah, right!) they should have a similar standardised score right throgh school. Must stress again though, they only tell you a standardised score for that test on that day.

those SAT style grades aren't just for SATs - they are National Curriculum level descriptors used for the core subjects (which you normally see on end of year reports, or on IEPs)

Thanks. I feel like I know what I'm looking at now. As trickerg rightly deduces, there was not enough info attached to the report to help me understand what the grades imply. Which might be a deliberate policy so that parents don't get bogged down in comparisons, I suppose.

Thanks, trickerg - it sometimes feels like I'm the only one shouting about the difference between KS1 tests and teacher assessments on here.

I can't believe we have been teacher assessing for 5 years and that schools still can't inform parents properly!

Mind you, there are teachers here who still don't get it (and a Y2 one once!)

Smith, I've been given age adjusted scores for dd (as she is August) but normally these are disclosed in parent's evenings when you speak to the teacher on a one to one basis.

Think teachers sometimes use these with summer born children to reassure parents

Has anyone read mine and Feenie's posts?

SCHOOLS SHOULD NOT REPORT TEST RESULTS.
THEY SHOULD BE REPORTING TEACHER ASSESSMENTS.
TEACHERS' ASSESSMENTS CANNOT BE STANDARDISED, AS THEY ARE BASED ON ACHIEVING OBJECTIVES, NOT ON SCORES.

And the reason why teachers are disclosing these standardised scores at parents' evenings is TOTALLY beyond me.

don't think there's any need to shout

and can't see why a teacher shouldn't disclose something like that when it's of use in explaining a child's potential to a parent tbh

What about the parents who receive upsetting scores for their child? It's and unnecessary and often misleading guide to the child's ability. The teacher will be able to tell the parent whether a child is working above, at or below the national average. No-one needs the numbers to prove it.

Don't agree, Trickerg (sorry) - I think that parents should be given the full range of information, with explanation where necessary of course. Anything else is a little too much like 'playing God' for my liking somehow.

But the standardised scores have no relevance whatsoever in our current reporting practice. We are reporting only on teacher assessment (as mentioned!) so there is no reason to report in standardised scores if they bear no relation to information given to the parents. If parents are not given SATs test results, they shouldn'#t be given the standardised scores.

I think this obsession with not giving parent's information that teachers have is extraordinary. I can see where parents don't want it, then fine. I have never needed it for one of my children and have never asked or been told it.

But if you have a child where you are concerned about something and a teacher has done a further test that shows the child actually has potential but just may not be working at it (or whatever), then it can be of use to a parent to be shown that they have figured this out iyswim.

Especially with summer born children where you may have an issue with a child seeming very behind but actually not so if you look at a range of summer born children iyswim.

I think the age gap, in KS1, is still v large between the youngest and oldest whereas I can see now, with my elder one, that once you reach the end of KS2, the difference is far smaller.