Schol won't tell me scores/grades my child has acheived

[JellyBelly10]

My DS1 started in Year 1 in September. At the end of Reception we were given an end of Reception report which was interesting but all qualitative, ie it made no mention at all of the EYFS scores for each of the Learning Goals. So I have no idea how my child did really in Reception other than the chatty, positive comments in this report. So last week we had his Year 1 parent evening and I asked the teacher whether she could give me some quantitative information as well as her comments, I specifically asked whether she could tell me what his end of Foundation Stage score was as I am really interested in tracking his progress year by year, and am also really keen to support his learning at home appropriately. I also asked if she was able to tell me how she had graded him in the recent Year 1 assessments (ie the NC levels of 1c, 1b etc etc) but she said no, she could not tell me either of these things as it wasn't school policy. So I e-mailed the Head Teacher and explained that whilst I knew it wasn't school policy to give out these figures routinely, but as I am a parent asking for them, and fully understood them and am just really interested to have this information about my own child that I assumed the school would tell me. But she won't tell me! She says she has concerns giving this information out to parents. Does anyone know whether I have a right to know this information? It seems ludicrous to me that the school do these assessments and hold this data on my child but won't tell me even though I have specifically asked for it!

No Simbacatlives 78 is national average

Oartistic really?

it's all gobbledigook really

apologies for patronising comment

You might be interested to read

A colleague from the NAA (National Assessment Agency) recently gave a presentation to NAHT Primary Committee. In it, he outlined some principles and the results so far of his research into the scale points on the Foundation Stage Profile. This is a synopsis of the main points he made.

? Point scores are levels of achievement and not the points in the profile, i.e. a score of 6 does not mean profile 6, it means point 3, plus 3 aspects achieved of sections 4-8. Children with the same points score will therefore probably have a different level of achievement.

It is therefore not enough to say that the acquisition of 6 scale points is indicative as an acceptable basis for the next stage; it depends upon the particular scale points achieved.

exactly activate! total meaningless gobbledegook!

No 78 is not the national average. 86.9 is the 2010 average points score. With 85 the child would be below not above.

OP I do totally understand why you want this information. At my children's school it was against school policy until this year to inform parents of students levels except in years 2 and 6. I found teachers comments to be generally vague at parents evenings and in ds1 reception end of year report I was surprised to learn his handwriting was under par. I had asked at parents evening if he needed any support with anything at home to be worked on in a fun way and was told he was fine. He was my first child at school so I had no idea what was considered typical for handwriting at this stage and so I asked to see his early years profile scores and her meaning of under par was that he only scored 7's in regards to writing whereas he got 8's and 9's on everything else. If I hadn't have asked I'd have thought he was really struggling because the teachers comments alone the addition of his scores helped me to understand her comment in context.

Ds1 now in year 1 and with the schools change of policy regarding levels I found out at parents evening he is currently a 1a for writing so definitely far from underpar.

I honestly don't think it's too much to ask to know these things so we can have a clearer idea of how our children are doing at school.

Apologies I didn't realise the 2010 figures were on line

78 points and at least 6 across each area of cll and psed is an LA psa (or now former psa target). It is intended for use at national and LA level only and not at school or child. Many LAs use this figure with schools but at child level it is pretty meaningless. It is an expected level like 2b at KS1 but what many children actually score varies from this.

Ofsted use 6 across all 13 scales as their indicator of a gld at cohort level. This is also unreliable as 100 per cent of the children could have 6 but if they only have 6 they would be below national. The average or mean score by scale point would a more reliable indicator at cohort level but at child level not as valid- a child wouldn't get 7.2 etc.

All in all it's a bit complicated!

Thanks GiddyPickle for saying all that, it's exactly what I had decided from reading all the comments here and you summed it up beautifully! I was starting to wonder if mrz's calls for me to justify exactly how much I knew about the details of every point scale of every Early Learning Goal were really a terribly fair way of deciding whether I should be allowed to ask for my own child's score!! But having said that I actually found mrz's comments and questions extremely useful and interesting because they made me genuinely question how much I understood about all this and how I will answer the HT's inevitable questions about why I am asking for this information. Thanks everyone.

I do think it would be intellectually interesting to see my child as a statistic within the big scheme of statistics, in the way the Local Authority sees him. However, I don't think it would tell me anything useful about my child that I didn't already know. So long as JellyBelly10 understands that, I don't see why she shouldn't have the scores, as they do relate to her child.

Have we as a society become overly obsessed with weights and measures? Nothing seems to have any value any more unless it can be measured. We don't even trust teachers' comments unless they can be backed up by precise figures and we can alot our children a precise place in the statistics.

pixieonaleaf - its not that the school doesn't have faith in the teachers, its that they may not be 100% confident that the assessments are being carried out and marked in the same way. We have just been through a massive process of moderating teacher assessments and ensuring there is consistency so the results reported are consistent and accurate. Otherwise you'll have a teacher in Yr2 score a child at 2a and then in Yr3 where a different teacher would score them 2b (that would be a difficult one to explain to a parent).

The more important information that needs to be provided is that if a child is not achieving the correct number of sub levels of progress there should be a plan to address it or an explanation why.

I agree with the Op, I think most intelligent parents wouldn't compare results, but look at their child's progress against the national averages to work out how they can help them.

So GiddyPickle if all the school holds is the same summary that has been shared with the parent and they still insist on scores what then?
The system my LA used was that reception teachers completed a more detailed LA assessment document which was sent to the LA and converted by them into numbers which were reported to the government ... the detailed LA assessment had no profile scores ...

Schools are obliged to report the end of Reception scores to the Local Authority. It is from those figures that the national figures are obtained.
The guidance given to schools on how this is done is contained in the 'Assessment & Reporting Arrangements' document. (Google will find it for you)
This document also provides that "all EYFS providers must provide parents with a written summary of a child's progress against the early learning goals... and where parents request it, a copy of the EYFS profile summary scores reported to the local authority
If you have asked - they should be provided. Any opinion as to what you can or cannot read into it is purely academic; what you read into it is for you to decide and draw whatever conclusions you may. The school however should not be denying you access to the figures.

I think that the OP has been harshly judged.

My children are at a school where it's treated like a state secret. I wouldn't want to know so I can judge the teacher or argue the finer detail. I am simply curious about the grade and to know what my child's strengths and weaknesses are. I'd use the score to learn how he might play at school. Or what interests him. I know that teacher assessments are based on what adults observe and will probably be different to behaviour at home. It interests me in the same way how much the house across the road is going for.
I know that my children are doing fine but it's nice to know how they compare to people in their age group from the rest of the country.

I also know from real life and posts on here that schools do not always tell you when your child is struggling or needs extra help. Doing a little work in the holidays (especially the summer) or weekends can make a big difference. I want to work with the school and you'd think that they would appreciate me supporting my kids at home- isn't that what Home-School Learning Agreements are about?

I found it very useful to see DS1's profile.

not because it told me anything about DS1 but because (in combination with his report) it reassured me that DS1's teacher had a very good grasp of his abilities and this in turn reassured me that he was being taught by a teacher who clearly knew what she was doing .

In contrast I found his year 1 report particularly unhelpful as it could have referred to any child within his class and so made me doubt whether his teacher had any idea what he can/can't do.

Totally agree with every post by GiddyPickle.

If scores are bad,then do not use them. If the school is using them, please share. I have never requested my child's scores, because I do not want the bad reactions (I am a real coward when it comes to school).

However, I resent the fact that the school is measuring my child against some standards and then deciding I/we are better off not knowing about them.

I agree we should be given a more useful indication. A1 posts GiddyPickle.

I had no idea when dc started school that it would all be so vague and simplified. It did feel a bit like I was being patronised tbh.

If they feel the need to score my dc it would be helpful to know what the score is. I can take it I think - being all grown up and everything.

Must be different up here in Scotland, as I have never heard of "scores". When I go to a parents' night I get told "she is working towards level A/B/ whatever". I also get a sheet telling me that basically children can be expected to be at any level at vortually any age, so I am none the wiser

I sometimes think it would be nice to know if she is in the top/ middle/ bottom third of her class, just so I can judge how well she is doing in relation to her peers. But it doesn't bother me a lot, because I see her homework and check it and she seems to be doing ok. I guess I am probably as aware of her abilities as her teacher is, just not sure how her abilities lie in relation to the rest of the class. Having said that, I'm sure if there was a problem area I would have been made aware of it. So, after that long ramble, I suppose I think it doesn't matter too much- not at this stage anyway (P3)