2a,2b,2a SAT results

[Bongobaby]

I'm confused, my 7 year old had his SAT results
back yesterday. But I don't understand if he
has done ok or not. And what 2a,2b and 2a
means? He has a Reading age of 9.5 I take
it that's an age thing is it? And spelling age 8.8.
Can anyone break it down a bit more in laymans
terms!!! Confused!!!

Didn't the results have information accompanying them?

They should explain that 2b is the expected level for children at the end of Y2.

2a is above this, and 2c below.

The reading and spelling ages which you have been given don't have to be reported legally, so are extra info from your school. They are beyond your ds's actual age, so he clearly reads and spells well!

If he has a reading and spelling age that high then I would've expected his literacty score to be higher

I would ask the teacher why their assessment is 2a - it may be a comprehension thing (remembering that the highest grade they give at this level is a 3)

I would say he is doing very well though so wouldn't worry about anything

2b is national average expected level at end KS1
4b is national average expected level at end of KS2

each year they are expected to go up 2 sub-levels

hence from 2b at the end of the next year they should get a 3c (2b - 2a - 3c)

then the end of y4 a 3a (3c - 3b - 3a)

does that make sense

oh sorry I did it wrong I think the numbers count as a sub-level without the sub-division so

Y2 = 2b
Y3 = 3
Y4 = 3b
y5 = 4
y6 = 4b

"I would ask the teacher why their assessment is 2a - it may be a comprehension thing (remembering that the highest grade they give at this level is a 3)"

Not true, activate - there is no ceiling on teacher assessment, and exceptionally bright children may well be assessed at level 4, although it is unusual.

Children are expected to progress an an average rate of 1 and a half sublevels. Two sublevels would be classed as good progress. (Think about it - if a 2b child made progress of what you say is an 'expected' rate of 2 sub-levels per year, they would be a 5c in Year 6 - far above an average rate of progress.)

So, avearge child (as if they exist):
Y2 - 2b
Y3 - between 2a/3c
Y4 - 3b
Y5 - 3a/4c
Y6 - 4b

Reading and spelling age Xyears.Xmonths - straightforward enough.

The sublevels go C > B > A... B is slap bang in the middle of a level, level 2 being the "expectation" at year 2.

Teacher assessment = the teacher's view of how your child does as a general rule, versus how they did on the actual assessment tasks which are a one-off assessment of how they did on a particular day (helps to bear in mind if you've got a kid who is weaker in tests, or, like I was at school, annoyingly good in tests).

The other expectation is two sub-levels a year progress. So if they leave a year as a 2c, they'll be expected to end the following year a 2a.

HOWEVER - I'll put that in caps just for emphasis - moving from Year 2 to Year 3 there's quite often a "drop" in results with kids not making this two sub levels - because of how it is to get a level 3 in KS1 compared to KS2, and the move to the more formal style optional tests at the end of Y3... so don't worry too much next year basically - it's pretty well known that year 3 dips a bit as the goalposts get moved! Also kids have years they lag back a bit then suddenly get a woosh on - but the Govt seems to forget that nice fact at times!

The other bit that might be useful is that the Y6 SAT results never return sublevels - just 3/4/5 from markers. Some schools split them up themselves into c/b/a bands before giving the results to the kids - but they just go back as a pure whole level.

Feenie - not what we've been told at governors meetings - although this is from a couple of years back so might have changed. used to be that

at KS2 sats they can't go beyond a level 5
at KS1 sats they can't go beyond a level 3

assessment they can of course - but not the back up SAts paper

Can confirm (I mark KS2 tests) they can't get higher than a level 5 on those ones.

Feenie did say that " there is no ceiling on teacher assessment" rather than "there is no ceiling on SATS level". ( although two of my year 5 boys sat the KS3 SATs level 6 test as the KS2 ones are too easy for them!)

No, Pixie, there mst definitely are level 3 assessment papers for Year 2.

Whichever posters have been told it is impossible to achieve above level 3 in Y2, you've been misinformed.

There is no test paper to assess over level 3 in Year 2, but the level now reported is a teacher assessment, and is reached using many, many sources of evidence, a small part of which are the tests.

There is no ceiling on children's learning in Y2 or Y6, and nor should there be. Children need to be taught according to their attainment, and if they are a top level 3 and ready to begin on level 4 concepts in Y2, so be it. We occasionally have one or two children who are ready for this, and have been teacher assessed as a level 4 at the end of key stage 1. Similarly, we have a few children who are teacher assessed as level 6 in Year 6, even though the tests only assess levels 3 to 5.

it's definitely possible for a y2 child to get level 4 - both my boys did (ds1 got 4 for literacy, ds2 got 4 for maths) - no-one mentioned anything about it being exceptionally rare - just got the levels in the end of year reports

You said that the Y2 test papers cannot assess level 3, but they most certainly can!

Ahhhh.

Could I add some sanity to the Level 3 debate? A really useful way of thinking about what Level 3 means is that if your child is given a Level 3 at the end of Year 2, they should be able to go straight into a Year 5 classroom at the start of the next year and work quite comfortably at the level of those 9 and 10 year olds. I haven't come across many Y2 who can do that.

Thing is I've seen the level 3 English papers, they are not difficult? A slightly above average year one student could have a good crack at one, my DS included (no genius). I would expect a 9 or 10 year old to be able to do one of these papers comfortably? Or am I missing something?

Yes, you are missing something. I suggest you also look at the mark scheme aswell as the paper - the level of developed answers for inference and deduction is very challenging for most 7 year olds.

And yes, an average Y5 class could do them comfortably - because that's the level they are working at! The Y5 teacher's job is to stretch and challenge them those average children to a top level 3/4c - and beyond, in some cases.

Haven't checked out in detail, but it didn't look terribly tough. Will take a closer look. Haven't looked at any Maths, now that would scare me...

No, it isn't tough, they can do it because that's their level.

But the teacher won't therefore be teaching them at that level using those questions, Cortina, he/she will teach them to the next level.