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?

Invariably means always, mummmyrex!

now I know why I am not a teacher

I meant most of the time

Still, I don't understand why parents are not given full information about their own children if/when they ask.

Parents can have the information, but if they don't know what the data means or how to apply it, what is the point?

As a secondary school teacher I didn't tend to look at their SATS marks in great detail (I left UK in 2006 so haven't taught since then); the only thing I was really interested in really was their reading age, as that dictated how well they did in my subjects, and which classes I would need to be lobbying to get extra help with.

Just to prove what a waste of time SATS are, the school my ds attends in Brussels insisted on doing KS2 SATS and making a fuss about their grades. DS did SATS, got 5s, and then moves up to the secondary section of the school, which doesn't use the levels for assessment purposes, it works on an alpha numeric which equates to how the teacher is feeling when they mark as far as I can see; and they have only recently introduced SIMS to track the students progress. What then was the point of putting the Year 6s through all the SATS bollocks?

I far prefer teacher assessment as it is ongoing and more accurate. SATS don't allow for the way in which a child with low SATS scores in KS 2 and 3 can suddenly blossom and walk out with 10A/A* at GCSE. The child should be compared against itself rather than others.

mummyrex I think most teachers would give you the fullest information that was in any way relevant - however, standardised scores are seen as pretty much useless when compared against the full picture, since they only refer to a half-hour snapshot of a child's academic experience.

In my experience schools vary A LOT in how much information they will give you. The primary school my children attend now is excellent and tell you everything. They also write incredibly good reports which you can recognise as being about your child and that deal with specific issues relating to your child. A HUGE difference from their previous school where info was scanty and reports were the 'insert child's name here' computer generated variety.

My DS's secondary school now gives simplified 'Traffic Light' reports but will give full data on request along with the long generic explanation of what it all means.

It astounds me that many parents on here cannot see beyond a SAT score. What about the whole child? This is the approach that any teacher worth their sakt will take. Yes, you can demand all the numbers under the sun for your child - but precisely what will this tell you? Besides the fact that you'll need to have an understanding of what these mean in terms of National Expectations, there is also the context of the school to consider as well as the way in which the test is adminstered and the score accumulated. For example - if your child is a brilliant speller, but poor at purpose and organisation within their writing, their score can be superficially boosted.
What you should be more concerned with is the aspects of life beyond Maths, English and Science. Do they enjoy school? How have they developed in confidence? Attitude? Sociability? What is the value added to their education - ie: where were they when they started and where are they now? It is bad enough that the government want us to give labels to your children, without parents insisiting on doing the same too. You live with them - what kind of adult do you think they will be? Will a level 4 or 5 change that?
And for those who have mentioned teacher assessment - those following education news will be aware of the introduction of APP across schools and how this will hopefully spell the end to SATs.

I agree with Mummy2. In year 1 all those things are far more important than a level.

The 'SATs style grades' are teacher assessments, based on your daughter's work throughout the year. As such, no allowances are made for the child's age. Assessments are made against specific objectives which may, or may not have been achieved.

I find some of the posts in this thread deeply worrying. I would expect and insist that my child's school report both raw test results (maybe as %), NC levels if available, and likewise, if available, standardised scores. The SS at least give you an objective measure of how your child is doing for their age compared to their peers, and the NC levels tell you where they are absolutely in relation to UK goals for various age groups.

I would also expect to see my child's teacher's own professional assessment taking into account all of my child's work, as this would provide some valuable insight into issues not measured by a test. But it also has to be appreciated that teachers are people and such an assessment is inevitably subjective and can be coloured by their relationship to the child. Teacher's can get it horribly wrong, frankly, though they can also tell you very useful stuff not picked up by a test.

At an end of year parents evening, if the data is available, you should expect to get both the teacher assessment, and both NC levels and standardised scores if the exams that have been taken are capable of generating them. If a teacher cannot give you such scores because the exams taken are not capable of generating them there is a good case for asking why the school is not using suitable exams. For a teacher to REFUSE to provide standardised scores is, in my view, an unacceptable professional inadequacy and should be taken up with the head teacher, and governors as necessary.

The presumptions and arrogance displayed by some of the teachers posting on this thread are staggering. I know how to interpret scores and NC levels thank you very much, and I am not interested in having my time wasted at parents' evenings on "whole child" drivel. I have had to listen to teachers get my child's maths ability wrong to the point of ludicrousness while wanting to waste time expressing their idiotic concerns about his not joining in maypole dancing. I suggest that the teachers posting their nonsense here realise that this is primarily a thread for parents, not for teachers to post union propaganda with no basis in good teaching practice.

Roguedad, this thread is 3 years old!

The presumptions and arrogance displayed by some of the teachers posting on this thread are staggering

Who exactly are you referring to, roguedad, and have you nothing better to do than start an argument re a 3 year old thread?

Go back to your Daily Mail, roguedad.