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?

Juniper, I would love to see grids etc. but tbh most schools don't allow children to be accurately measured across the board, they have to fit into a narrow band of levels they are currently expected to attain, so any deviation from that norm isn't fully catered for in either direction.

Do you think adopting this framework would increase differentiation, in that teachers would be explaining to parents exactly where their children were? Or would it still be the old 'not yet meeting/meeting/exceeding' baloney?

Yes claresf I hear you about admin & I hear you about longwinded end of year reports.

Our school opted out of these traditional long reports - to 3 x a year (Oct/ March & end of year) brief statements of attainment in Writing & Maths against NC Levels + sub-levels - and a more general (but not specific) statement regarding reading. Plus the face to face 10 minute meeting with parents.

Not sure why reading doesn't include NC Levels - but parents are very competitive about reading groups for whatever reason at our school -so possibly glossed over this to diffuse this kind of competitve thing. To be fair to school usually attains 90% - 96% NC Level 4+ at end KS2 SATs - so most parents trust in the school regarding teaching of reading skills.

The teachers hated this system at first - but since the LEA also requires recording of APP scores throughout year they are finding that these breif tick forms (a modified, reduce APP style form by NC sub-levels) actually seems to be less intensive but more pleasing to parents.

What I will advise you claresf is that OFSTED is specifically now looking for the children to understand what level they are at and what they need to do to improve. Circulating this information to parents does assist in this, as many parents will discuss these updates with their children.

@madwomanintheattic

not yet meeting/ meeting/ exceeding is not baloney. It's exactly the same thing as sub-levels in NC levels. If, for example, a year 2 child is supposed to be a 2b, then 2c is nym and 2a is exceeding. It's just another way of saying the same thing.

@PastSellByDate

That does sound like a LOT of extra work. We're allocated 1 hour for parents' evening preparation. We are not allowed to do paper work during the school day; we should have a focus group of children we are working with. Getting children to fill in those cards would be a fodder activity and would be frowned upon.

When APP was introduced, it was designed to be done for around 6 children in the class, and everyone else was benchmarked against the nearest child. In my school, we do it for every child. I have killed many a highlighter.

In fact, I'm off sick as I have just had surgery, and yet I asked one of the other teachers to bring me my assessment folder so I can get on with some of my work. In between taking a looot of codeine! The amount of paperwork we do is ridiculous, but I can't help but think that if I'm doing it all, I might as well show it to the parents!

What I will advise you claresf is that OFSTED is specifically now looking for the children to understand what level they are at and what they need to do to improve.

Given ofsted are coming knocking soon (probably next term, we were due a couple of years ago but because of excellent results they put us off), our children from year 2 can parrot off their targets and have them on laminated bookmarks to be used at every opportunity. Upper ks2 know their levels and whether they are on track.

We also have to level RE twice termly and we're overhauling ICT levelling too as well as levelling all non core subjects termly. I think I'm going to dream of marauding 4c creatures attacking me. Gah!

How sad

Poor children. They sound like robots. :(

Oh, yy, I get that. But it doesn't give you Any idea of how far in each direction.... So baloney was probably unnecessary, but it doesn't give you enough granularity to know whether you need to panic or not. And the number of times parents claim to have absolutely no knowledge of how far behind their child is until they are needing fairly mahoosive intervention. There's yet another thread in sn with a parent struggling to get any real idea of how a child is doing because the teaching staff won't discuss it.

Just wondered if the grids would give a more accurate picture?

Them's the breaks. We're hoping for outstanding, if ofsted want them to trot out targets, then thats what we are ensuring they can do.

Fortunately it doesn't affect the children's overall education, they get to do lots of fun things and receive a quality education. It's more the onus for us as adults to level the children.

I've just had 29 parents' meetings for my KS2 class and I always produce a mail-merged summary of each child's current performance in reading (and phonics if they are still on the phonics scheme), writing and maths. It shows what level they were at when we last met, the level they are at now and a visual 'ladder' showing 1c to 5a with the current and end of year expectations highlighted.

This means I can show those parents who are interested exactly where their child is, where they 'should' be and where, according to national expectations they 'should' be by the end of the school year. Most parents find it quick and easy to understand and it frees up time to talk about what the children need to focus on to move closer to where they 'should' be (or to their target if a national expectation isn't appropriate for whatever reason) and to talk about how their child is at school, any concerns, queries, etc. etc.

The downside of being so open is when a parent complains that it's my fault that their child hasn't reached a particular level in a particular subject. If one of the parents hadn't been aware of her child's specific levels then she could have continued to bury her head in the sand with regard to her child's performance at school. Instead, she has decided that I am wrong and she is right; she knows that I am lying because I am not a good teacher and do not know how to assess* reading or writing. She also knows that my interpretation of where full stops and capital letters should be used is wrong. As is my use of APP to assess writing. Apparently I should be using tests. For everything. She wasn't interested in seeing the child-speak APP grid in the back of her child's book... because I am rubbish and I don't know what I am doing.

Oh, and this parent....? She's not a teacher, never has been.

I am responsible for assessment at the school, it's something I am* good at! Needless to say, I didn't share that with her.

I guess that every parent worries about how their child is doing, and if teachers are assessing them it would be nice to know what the gaps still are. For example in our reports they are given above average/just above average/average ... I suppose for me I would rather that these came with actual levels, and what needs to be achieved to move on a level. For me also as high achieving class, am not sure whether this is compared with own class or against NC levels. I don't want it very often unless child struggling, but if they are going to assess against NC levels and are going to write reports, why not make them on the same scale. We will find out dd1 NC at end of year as she is yr2.

SE13Mummy

I'd love your system as a parent. I am sorry that some parents blame the teacher - I think it is more a matter of some ways of teaching don't always work for some children. The point is that together you've caught the slow progress and together you can work to resolve whatever the learning problem is. I'm sorry that your parent has taken to just saying your lousy - but I suspect she's not the first and won't be the last.

As a parent, I'd like to see all there is to see. I hate this feeling I sometimes get - that the school is hiding things from me and doesn't want me to know everything. No parent should be made to feel like that!

I love this idea Pastsellbydate, thumbs up from me :)

vess, I agree.
My child's education is important to me and I want to know.

At our school you can, if you want, ask what NC level your child is working at at any time. ks2 children are told themselves what level they are working at and what their targets are.

It is incredibly unsusla for parents to want to know their child's levels. But those that do want to know want to know a lot!