Policy not to give parents assessment levels

[fircones]

I'm just wondering where I stand with this. At parents evening I enquired about my daughters assessment levels and was told it was the schools policy not to give parents their childs assessment level. A particular area of my daughters work was singled out, her school report last year told me she was working at nationally expected levels in this specified area and above in other connected areas.

I am confused. I want to know her assessment level because I will then know if she is where she should be and progressing.
Can her school refuse to give me her assessment level? Her infant school had discussed them openly at parents evening I didn't have to ask. Why different at the follow on school?

I would have thought that under the Data Protection Act, you should be able to see anything written records pertaining to yourchild. It is possible that the school have gone for the "nationally expected levels" jargon because they have had a lot of parents being competitive/making a fuss in the past maybe. But IMO, this isn't a particularly good way of dealing with it.

They have to give you her assessment levels if you ask. It might be school policy, but it is illegal to refuse you access.

I am very suspicious of school that won't share? Why?

I think there is possibly a dispute about Key stage 1 SATs levels from different schools. It is possible that the school feels the previous schools who feed the school may not have their Sats levels quite right and parents then question a dip. I know sats levels can dip between key stages but I want to know about my daughter I'm not interested in the wider context.

Our school avoids talking about 'levels' except at the end of year 2 and the beginning and end of year 6. I never thought of it as an issue before discovering on here that other people know about their children's levels all the time; I've always been quite happy to talk to the teachers about targets and attainment in straightforward English, and leave the numbers until the end of the key stages.

'Outstanding' school, incidentally; whatever the rights and wrongs of this I don't think they're trying to hide anything.

fircones I think you have just hit the nail on the head there with your last post. My DCs go to a through primary so no quibbles about levels, but I can see where discrepancies could occur if an infant school "inflates" their KS1 levels and then the junior school queries them and asseses a child at a lower level.

I want to know her assessment level because I will then know if she is where she should be and progressing. - but you do know where she is. You know she is at the nationally expected level.

You also know (from MN) what that is.

2b - end of Y2
3b - end of Y4
4b - end of Y6

If she is always at the 'nationally expected level' - then she is making the expected progress.

People get all worked up about these levels, but unless your DD is having severe difficulties, they're really not very interesting......

You should be able to tell if she is making progress just from what you see of her at home.....

You might not find them interesting Indigo,other parents may.
The school has to give them to you if you ask,if they get funny data protection act request does the trick.We had a similar problem (thread last june)

If they're telling you they are 'average' - they are telling you exactly what level the kid is at! And they are telling you she is exactly where she should be.

(Well as accurately as the levels are...)

Sure, you can go and be a PITA and request your child's records and get the levels - but it will almost certainly sour your relationship with school.

Obsessing over levels for a kid with no problems is not in yours or your child's best interest.

No. Her report at the end of year 3 said all fine and I had no concerns. At parents evening I am being told fine, but... I view school as a partnership. I don't want to know term by term what her assessment levels are, teachers are busy people. I do think it is reasonable that if I specificallly ask for her level at parents evening it should be given. Why not be open. I'm not losing sleep but I do wonder why this area has been flagged by her teacher and the head, who told me it was poilcy not to give parents assessment levels. Children are supposed to know their levels - why not parents? I don't want to wait until year 6, if I can help by giving additional support with something I'll do it, I have as responsibility to support my child too, it is not just down to the school. It's a great school, everyone works hard, but this does not demonstrate good partnership.

fircones I can see where you are coming from. I was told at parent's evening that my DD was "on target" and when I later queried what this meant I was (politely) fobbed off by her very nice, I should add, teacher. Seeing as DD was already a level 2 at the end of yr1 this left me wondering on target for what? DD's personal targets, which I would assume judging by her yr1 levels would be 3's? I would like to know so that I can compare all my DC's progress (he he )

The bottom line is, you?re entitled to ask and if you ask, the school is obliged to tell you. End of story. They can waffle about school policy all they like, but that is the law.

They don?t need to know why you want to know, they just have to accept that you do.

Thanks mattellie. I had thought of writing to formally ask for her levels but wasn't sure of my ground in doing so. I think it very odd for a school to have a policy not to tell parents assessment levels. I don't want bad feeling with the school. However I also have a responsibility to ensure my daughter is achieving as she should. I detected a smelly rat when I was told level 3 in one school is not the same as a level 3 at another.

What would be more beneficial is to be told in what areas our maths and literacy and all the other subjects they do that they are struggling with.

A generalised level for maths tells you that your child might be below, average, above for the whole of the subject, but doesnt tell you that your child is finding a particular part of maths or literacy hard. For example a child might be creative in his/her writing, and come up with fantastic stories, but might be struggling with sentence structure or spellings. A general "is doing fine" doesnt give enough info.

Parents do want to help their kids at home, despite the MN who feel they shouldnt, and it would be more beneficial if parents could focus on areas of weakness.

I know teachers are busy and dont want to talk to 30 parents with updates on a daily basis, so if they gave out more information they might not be hassled as much.

Fircones

I think discrepencies of levels can happen when the results are based on one piece of writing, or one maths paper rather than an accumulation of the class work.

One teacher/school might mark papers more positively than others and not stick truly to the exact guidelines. This inflates the results for the school.

If one test paper got marked by six different people, chances are the overall results would be different because what one person thinks is good, another will think is not. Hence the reason why some schools may not want to distribute figures until they have completed classroom assessments as well.

Even maths tests can vary. A child might pass a test because they have covered a particular topic, but 6 months later not remember any of it.
It might be your school wants to give accurate and solid results.

Yes I understand. I know the school is using Assessing Pupil Progress which I understand is recommended to all schools? Please correct me if I'm wrong.
I felt I was given a load of flannel as to why the school would not provide my daughters level. My guess is that all is generally fine but there is one area that is not keeping up with the rest. I want to know what that is because she is my child!
I have a child at another school his assessment levels have been given right through school, so when we got to year six we knew he had made good progress and what his expected sats levels would be. I don't want a surprise in year 6.
Formats for school reports are different between schools. Assessment levels should be reliable and if they are not I question why we have them.

I do totally agree with you that levels should be given out every year, especially when parents are interested.

It is information that helps us understand our own kids. We dont know from what they do at home whether their story writing, contents, language skills are good bad indifferent and feedback is useful. We know our kids might be good at maths because they can add big numbers, but are they good at fractions, place value, data handling, ratios, etc.

I do find that different teachers are more receptive than others. Some teachers will give out info, others wont and its the same school.

How approachable is the headteacher?

You could ask him/her about the policy and ask for an explanation, and then ask for the results anyway. I would! (now await the criticism from the MNetters). I want to know and do ask.

Fircones, absolutely agree, why should you be seen as trouble just because you want to know their assessment levels? - if they are the average, for example, then say they are a 2b etc... What is the problem? it is not the Parents being PITA, it is the school!. It is a straightforward question, and perfectly reasonable, why so defensive?

Thank you. All very helpful. I will write with a formal request. At the time I asked the teacher I was directed to the HT who is very approachable but I felt I was given a lot of flannel. I have looked at assessment guidance on the national standards web site because I came away feeling I didn't understand, but I do understand. I'm not going to get caught up in discussion about disputed sats levels from KS1 at other schools. I am just asking about my daughter.

Our school dont give scores on the end of year stuff and just let us know if there is any sub area we need to focus on with them
I have no idea what his numbers are and dont even know what 2b means, but he is bright & happy and doing well, so I assume I dont need to worry

I suspect we will be given some levels in Y2 if they do some standardised testing that year?