Will I be able to get children perfomance in SATS YR1&6 by month of birth for the previous 5 years

[brownieMum]

If so where can get the information. From the school or LEA and how do I request the information?

[singersgirl]

Ah, well, that bodes well for my sons, then! Actually the IFS Born Matters data is more recent than the other study I linked to though it doesn't look at stuff like sporting achievement etc www.ifs.org.uk/docs/born_matters_summary.pdf

[AlienBotanist]

Sorry- it was internal research, using assessment data that we already had, so we couldn't include factors such as mother's education level, which I believe has been shown to have the biggest influence.

[singersgirl]

Do you have a link to your research, AlienBotanist?

[piscesmoon]

I would think that home background is the biggest influence.

[AlienBotanist]

Thanks singers... but a lot of that research is actually very old- 1994
Research I conducted in late 1990s/early 2000 (15,000 cases) actually showed that by 11 season of birth didn't make that much of an impact, and at KS3 the biggest influences were gender and SEN status.

[singersgirl]

The link I posted summarises a lot of the research into the disadvantages faced by summer-borns in the UK.

www.cambridgeassessment.org.uk/ca/digitalAssets/169664_Cambridge_Lit_Review_Birthdate_d3.pdf

[piscesmoon]

Unfortunately not-I heard it on a course and can't remember where it came from. It showed a significant disadvantage in GCSEs for summer born, boys in particular. There were other interesting facts such as the England football team having all the players born between Sept and Dec! This is because they start school at 5 yrs and are bigger and stronger and so do better and get more confidence and feel good and success breeds success. (That is very general my Aug born DS has always been one of the best at football and Aug born DH got a scholarship to a selective private school at 11yrs (or in his case 10 yrs)

[AlienBotanist]

Sorry pisces- there is new research? Do you have a link at all please?

[piscesmoon]

It used to be thought that summer borns catch up by year 5 but now it seems they are disadvantaged all the way through, particularly boys.( All summer borns are not disadvantaged-the accelerated system suits a lot of them.)
If there were answers people would be using them! The main disadvantage is the staggered starting time, so in many places they all start in September, they are still disadvantagedbecause they are only just 4 yrs and not ready.
The only answer is to have a more flexible year group where they could go up and down a year.

[AlienBotanist]

The summer-born disadvantage is largely ironed out by secondary school.

[lljkk]

"What if the teaching styles are not effective for summer born children?"

Um, and how should summer born children be taught, then? What is the most effective way to teach them, that might not also be the most effective way to teach everybody? I have a summer-born DS, so I have a vested interest in the answer (assuming there is one).

I thought that "on average" summer-borns were disadvantaged all the way up to University. So what? What am I going to do, go back in time and tell my younger self to get pregnant a different time a year?

[mrz]

raise on line gives a breakdown of all results

[singersgirl]

I spent a happy 30 mins trawling the QCA site to see if there was any reference to standardisation in the marking schemes etc! I didn't really see how they could be as they're a measure of attainment (what you can do at the time of the assessment) rather than 'ability' (how much more or less you can do than most children your age).

[Feenie]

You can get an age standardised score from the raw score, but the teacher assessment sublevels reported at end of KS1 are not age weighted.

[mrz]

I've only got the English SATs marking book at home but definitely has Age Standardised Scores

[seeker]

lou - that thread seems to be say thet SATS aren't age weighted - CATS are. Is that where the confusion is happening?

[charmander]

The level for SAts 1,2a 3b etc is not standardised by age.
It is possible to take the results of individual tests e.g. reading and get an age standardised score as described already.

[piscesmoon]

The only real use is for putting into sets for subjects. For example the secondary school takes the yr6 SATs results-all they want to know is the DCs attainment-it would be no help to have the level raised because of an age handicap because they couldn't cope with the work and would have to go down a level. All through my school days the report had the age of the DC and the average age of the class, but it wasn't for anything other than interest.

[singersgirl]

I'm sure they don't do any age-weighting at our school either. I'm a governor on the curriculum committee, too, so I hear about assessment all the time. Since the KS1 SATs grades are teacher ratings now, there's no score as such to check into a grid.

Anyhow, slight hijack there..

[lou031205]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/education/775087-Do-SATs-level-include-any-adjustment-for-age

[piscesmoon]

The first exams that matter to a DC (unless trying to get into a selective school) are the GCSEs and age doesn't get taken into account. I don't think it matters at the SATs stage ,as seeker says, either they have a certain level or they haven't.

[seeker]

and it would make no sense to age weight SATS - they are a simple test of attainment. Can you do this, this and this? Yes = Level 2B. No=Level 2C.

[seeker]

But the KS1 tests aren't externally marked any more, are they? Are you sure about the age standardization? I'm sure they don't do that at our school!

[mrz]

Singergirl in the KS1 tests the results use age standardised scores.
The tests are marked then a grid is used to find the mark. one axis has "raw score" (number of correct answers) the other has "age in years and months" where the two cross gives the SAT test result.

[InThisSequinBraYesYouOlaJordan]

You can standardise score SATS papers and therefore take into account the age of the child - you can do it with more or less any test - but I have never been asked to do it for any year group. The last school I taught at did not do optional SATS at the end of Y3,4,or 5, but did an NFER test, which parents were given a standardised score for, and reading and spelling ages, as well as a writing level.

I can't think that a school would have that much data available and quite frankly if they did then they are spending too much time on paperwork and not enough time on the children