Should schools be more transparent about assessments?

[juniper904]

A lot of questions on here seem to be about assessments, and what all the levels mean.

I can't help but wonder why we, as schools (I'm not a building, incidentally), don't share our assessment methods with parents.

I have parents' evening next week, and I know the parents will want to know how their DC have progressed throughout the year.

I could show them all of the highlighted grids I have, which show explicitly the areas of strength and weakness.

Even if I didn't want to disclose that much, I could hand them a copy of the grids with the level descriptors on... yet I won't.

It's not my school's policy. I don't really understand why. APP grids are easily accessible online if you know what you're looking for.

Would parents actually want to see the grids, or would this just over complicate it all?

Totally depends on your parents. I suspect about 75% of mine would not be interested and many would be quite intimidated by a wall of text and figures. I'd probably not see those ones again.

If you want to show progress, how about (eg for literacy) show the books, from September to now? Then point out progress, whether it's sentence construction, paragraphs, punctuation, whatever.

I can imagine it making parents even more competitive TBH. I can also imagine a flurry of mumsnetters gooling to find APP grids to see how high they can place their child

I agree, our parents aren't interested in grids but they can see the progress in their child's book from the first day of term ... I've just come home from my first parent's consultation this term [sleepy]

gooling is obviously the new version of 'googling'

I've been off ill for the last 3 weeks so all of my books have been marked by a supply.

I hope she's done an ok job of it, or I'm going to receive so many comments which I won't/ can't respond to.

@muffinflop- maybe gooling is to act in the style of a ghoul?

I always see the grids, as they're stuck into the kids books.

I see lots of level X highlighted, and lots of level X+1 highlighted and get excited.

And then get told he's working at level X.

So seeing the grids doesn't actually help me at all. It always confuse me.

Nor do I want to know precisely which sub thingy he's struggling in - I just want you to teach him that.

But I do want to know NC levels.

Our school invited parents to an evening on assessment. Those who attended said they found it useful and informative. I think it helped parents understand that it is not perhaps as simple as they thought.

I am interested in NC levels but I am more interested in knowing the strengths and weaknesses the teacher has identified in my children.

NC levels give a grade for the whole of maths, or english or whatever, but it doesnt tell me the specifics of where my children need help so that if I want to help at home I can focus on their weaknesses.

I dont want to be told "XX is doing fine" and then at the end of the year when I get the school report to be told of all the things they struggle with. I want weaknesses identified and worked on through the year.

I have also identified where I feel my children are struggling and I would hope that when I discuss these with the teacher that they take it on board and work with my children to develop and improve these areas.

We see the grids at our school, as they are stuck into the DCs' books. I find them slightly confusing but interesting nonetheless. It also reinforces the view that the teachers are working within some sort of framework instead of randomly assigning grades.

I like to know the nc levels too, but am far more interested in what the teacher has to say about dd as an individual than in any numbers that they may wish to associate with her!

And we are at an independent so I have no idea about any of the NC levels and am a bit jealous of the metric-ness than they seem to give people!

DS in yr3 has (what I think are) the level 3 'competencies' for literacy inside the cover of his reading record. The teacher initials them when attained.

Don't get to see anything similar for numeracy or science/history etc.

I would want to know:-

1. NC levels currently
2. NC levels targetted for the end of the year for reading, writing, maths and science;
3. EXACTLY what my child has to do to reach the next level.

I would also, maybe, want to see APP grids because I probably understand a bit more about the whole shebang than a lot of parents (Doesn't stop me asking questions on MN though ).

I believe that schools should tell you at the very minimum where your child is regarding NC levels; why all the cloak and dagger?

I wouldn't want to see the grids - too much information that doesn't make sense IMO unless you are a teacher & know the system.

However I would love to be told approximate NC levels that dd is working at for at least maths & language, or at the least an indication as to whether she is working below / at / above the expected level for her year group.

I agree with Iamnotinterested.

The 3 points you made are exactly what I want to know but find that our school are fine with telling you current levels but dont seem very forthcoming with details about what is needed to get to the next level. I have a ds year 1 who I am told is still not yet working within level 1 of nc despite massive progress this year. All I want to know is what does he need to do to demonstrate level 1c in reading writing and numeracy and what will be needed to get to level 1b thereafter but all I am told is dont worry he is making progress he will get there in the end. I want to help but have no idea what areas I need to target so its quite possible that I have been concentrating on the wrong stuff at home. I have worked on things that are obvious he is weak in eg I have done a lot of phonics with him at home currently going through the digraphs because when he reads he does not always pick these out and decode correctly, as a result his reading has improved massively. Have also done load in numeracy but not sure that I have done the right stuff because he is still not at a 1c.

Sarah

At parents evenings I have always been told what the age expected norms are, whether ds is exceeding or falling short of the targets and what he needs to work on. That is more than enough information for me.

...I would also be very curious to know what they had planned next for a child who had hit all their end of year targets by February...

I think everyone agrees that parents want to understand how their child is doing. How that is achieved without overburdening teachers and taking too much time is an issue.

Why can't some form of standardised report card be prepared:

Child side: Drawing prepared by child - themed or self-portrait
My favourite subject
My least favourite subject
My favourite lesson
My favourite assembly/ event

Teacher side: Settling into Y# very well/ well/ not very well
Paying attention in class - Always/ Usually/ Sometimes/ Rarely
Doing homework - always/ usually/ sometimes/ rarely
Raising hand to answer questions - always/ usually/sometimes/
rarely

                Literacy
                      Reading NC Level   (start of year/ end of year Target)
                      Reading ahead of target/ on target/ behind target
                      What to work on at home:  xxxxxx

                      Writing/ Spelling/ Grammar  NC Level (start of year/ end of 
                                                                        year target)
                      Writing etc.. ahead of target/ on target/ behind target
                      What to work on at home:  xxxxxxx

                Maths
                     NC Level (start of year/ end of year target)
                     Maths ahead of target/ on target/ behind target
                     What to work on at home:  xxxxxx

               Other subjects:
                     Subjects DC also enjoys:   xxxxx and xxxxx
                     Best piece of work:    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
                     
                     any other comments:  xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Parents could be e-mailed this in advance or presented it whilst waiting - and then could discuss their child with the teacher.

Meeting with great student: X is lovely to have in class, helpful and kind. X is doing above expected progress in all subjects and is a pleasure to teach.

Meeting with good student: X is lovely to have in class and well liked. X is working at expected levels in all areas and sometimes really shines, especially in more practical hands-on activities. We would like to see improvements in reading and maths. If you could ensure that X is reading at least 20 minutes 3 or 4 times a week, that would really help. Also, X is still shaky on x7 and x8 times tables - so if that can get a bit of practice at home over the next few weeks.

Meeting with struggling student, but someone who is trying: X is lovely to have in class and has really settled well. We all know that things aren't coming easy to X, but there are some real signs of improvement in maths and it is clear that X is working really hard. I'm a little concerned about reading/ writing work - so would be grateful if you can really encourage as much reading/ writing at home as possible. It doesn't have to be a book, magazines or comics or fine, but we need to get X reading and I think that will improve writing.

Meeting with uninterested, struggling student with supportive parents: Not sure what to suggest to a teacher here - but if the parents are concerned I'm sure you can get them onto your side.

No suggestions about uninterested/ struggling student - again I'm sure that winning the parents over is the key, but know that not all parents are supportive of their children and may have other issues.

I find my parents evenings too general. They start by asking me how I think my DS is doing, I am never told what level he is currently working at till the end of the year report. "He is doing very well, do you have any questions?" I would love to see anything: grids, crosses, give me anything!!

I think schools should have to disclose anything the parents ask for, whether it be levels, assessed work, tests papers, teacher assessment, kids books- why should schools have anything which is private from parents?

Past sell by date - lovely idea but not practical. I have 31 in my class, to prepare that sort of info for a parents evening would take around an hour for each. You've got to be realistic about workloads. As a primary teacher, I work around 50 hours a week just to get through my normal work load.

If anyone wants to know exactly what your child needs to do to progress, and the school is not forthcoming, try this link. Or google "I can statements for writing/reading" etc and some fairly easy to read documents will come up.

claresf:

I don't think this is terribly difficult to produce 2 to 3 times a year.

The kid's side of the report - is all their own work (so aside from photocopying and handing out paper/ pencils - you're off the hook). It can be done in class, freeing you to be doing paperwork. (Frankly our school more or less does this already - so from my perspective no change there - and I'm aware that staff use this time for preparing their NC Level performance info sheets for parents).

You should already know performance levels from your own paperwork. Ideally it should be recorded on some form of database system. So assuming you've got a spreadsheet/ or handwritten forms to hand - you're simly circling/ or filling in blanks.

Let's review your work on the Teacher's side of page:

You have 7 items to circle.
You have to report 3 NC Level info per reading, maths & writing:
Current level (start of year level/ end of year target)

You have to fill the blank in 3 times for what you would like them to work on at home (this could be done verbally in the meeting - write it in whilst talking with parents). Simple one word answers will suffice: comprehension under more work in reading. Then in discussion with parents, explain that DC doesn't always follow the plot.

Brief mention of other areas of curriculum child enjoys: So write one word - Science, ICT, RE, etc...

Brief mention of a particular piece of work that stands out to you: History project artwork - fantastic piece of work, great planning.

Now perhaps you are thinking you need to write this by hand: but no, this could be typed. So frankly - 31 of these x 5 minutes = 155 minutes = 2.6 hrs. So let's call it 4-5 hrs of relaxed work - reflecting on each child as you go. Since it's done on the computer - it's recordable for OFSTED & it can merely be updated next term & indeed copied per pupil.

Our school isn't ideal - but to be fair to them we more or less get this as parents (we're given ticked APP style grids with NC Level & sub-level and discuss what the DC is working to). Knowing the school as I do - I can assure you if this was truly hugely time consuming, it wouldn't be happening here.

But why when I do this orally with parents in my meeting with them? Do you have any idea of the paperwork we are already expected to do? I was chatting to one of our TAs today who used to volunteer one day a week. She said that she really hadn't realised the work load we have until she started as a member of staff. This, coming from an ex-corporate lawyer, she's hopefully going to become a teacher but the work load is putting her off with smallish children to care for.

During parents evening, I tell the parents the current assessment levels, how far off their predicted levels they are, how they are generally in the class, any concerns such as behaviour, what they need to work on and strengths. We look through books if necessary and I address any concerns or comments parents have. Parents are more than welcome (and some do) to make notes whilst meeting with me.

I forgot to say, parents get a closely typed four page report in the summer term from us as well so they have written documentation of their child's performance as well as parent consultations. Each report to put together takes around 1.5-2 hours. They are detailed, personal and suck the life out of me!

The school report system is very nearly identical to that here, past sell. We get the reports bit a week or so before, and are expected to have read it, digested it, and have something to say about it at parents evening. Now that mine are A wee bitty older, the actual parent's evening (which the child is also expected to attend from yr 5,) is more about goal setting for the next few months. Goals are then reviewed at the next meeting etc etc.

The actual end of year report is format beyond belief though. V boring. But it does tell you which year group you need to register your child in for the next year.

Oddly, I have the same issues with the teaching. death by worksheet.