Year 2 maths assessment

[caffeinated]

Dd sat a paper today and I Have had reservations about how she's been assessed this year by her teacher. Her teacher confirmed at the start of the year she came to her class as a solid 2c in numeracy. I was told at recent parents evening her target for the end of year 2, was 2a. I asked if she'd struggled with numeracy this year and was told no. I had expected she'd get a level 3 and so was surprised her target was so low.

Today she sat a paper, She said half the class sat 1 and the other half a different one. She thinks hers was the most difficult but the other paper had multiplication and pounds and pence problems and hers didn't.

She said she was the first to finish hers and the ta said she got only 3 wrong. Does it sound like she sat a paper that was too easy?

I presume you are thinking she was given a Level 2 paper and think she should have had a Level 3 paper? Assuming she had a Level 2 paper, only getting 3 wrong would confirm the school's target of 2a. TBH if she was "only" 2c at the start of the year, it would be quite a big ask to get to Level 3 by the end of the year.

The Level 3 paper covers more areas - if she's not been working on those areas this year (rightly or wrongly) it would probably be too hard for her.

As redsky says- rightly or wrongly- if she has not been 'taught' to level 3 she is unlikely to achieve it.
My ds did a level 3 paper which he said was hard. Not sure if he will be a 2a or 3. We will see.

Oh right I see. I thought expected progress in ks1 was a whole level per year. That's why I expected 3c. She was top group for maths comfortably last year but got put in middle set of 5 straight away in year 2 even though teacher said she was impressed she was one of the only ones to not have a summer slide. Since last parents evening we have worked on maths together at home and she has picked up 2 3 4 5 10 11 times tables with ease and understands division factors that go along with them.

I guess I'll just continue plodding along at home and hope year 3 teacher recognises she can do more than her year 2 teacher expected.

caffeinated I also thought that 1 full level of progress was expected in year 2.

If I were you I would be asking why, after coming in to year 2 on a 2c and being in the top set in year 1, she wasn't being taught level 3 stuff.

I share your frustration.

Interested I was given her targets at march parents evening and was surprised to find out so late that her target was low. I was also given some I can statements that she was working towards and decided to work on at home only to discover she could do them all and beyond so I went back to see the teacher and said she can do all these and she said, yes she can and gave me the next I can statements which were all things she could do but one too so I tthought the teacher had realised that she'd underestimated what dd could do and would adjust accordingly. I think the level 2 paper indicates not.

Grr.

Hopefully she'll get a better teacher next year who will think she's terrific for making so much progress from a 2a.

You may find that those who did well in the level 2 take the level 3 paper at a later date. At our school everyone does the level 2 first.

They aren't supposed to, LeeCoakley - they are only supposed to do one assessment. The teacher is meant to know exactly which tests will support his/her assessment.

one test

But Lee I thought it was supposed to be one paper or the other?

Just out of interest redsky would a score of full marks minus 3 never mean 2a but possibly underestimated child because surely at age 7 there must be some margin for error. It's not like they're used to test booklets.

That's interesting. I'll ask tomorrow why we do that.

Is this groundhog day?

Our school seems to keep 'booklets' to the minimum. A friend of mine says her child has been getting SATs booklets for homework all term. So - some children will be more practised I guess.

As it happens [from what I pick up] I think that many children in my child's class have not been taught level 3 stuff and I truly wonder why as the ones I am thinking about are able.
Our school keeps year 2 SATs low key which I think is great [oblivious and happy children]. However maybe aspirations for some children should be higher than the 'average'.

My DS1 apparently sat a Maths paper today as well. He was predicted a level 3 throughout this year and he is working in an extension group with 3 other boys and they do separate maths work. He did 1 paper today and said that he got them all correct(teacher marked them with him he said?) but he didn't have time to do the next paper which the other 3 boys did and it had multiplication on it but that the other 3 boys got some answers wrong on the first paper (please appreciate this is all from a 7 year old!). I have no doubt he'd have been able to give the level 3 paper a fairly good go...he's certainly no genius but seems to get maths at the moment and has come home really upset that he wasn't able to do it.

It all seems a bit strange to me...do they really do one paper and then the other one straight after? Just feel quite sorry for him that he's getting himself this worried about something at 7. They are children and shouldn't be worrying about this yet. Is the level they get for the year just based on these tests? x

Schools get children to do the paper they feel best fits with their work in class. So if your DD hasn't been doing L3 work all year, she won't be given a L3 paper. Of course it's possible (as you seem to believe) that the teacher has misjudged her and she's not had a chance to show what she is capable of. But even if she took and did outstandingly well on the L3 paper, there will likely not be enough evidence to give her that level overall.

Have you googled for the areas covered by L3? (you mention times tables for example, whereas maths covers a wide variety of topics - not just "numbers")

The guidelines say that the children should only do one test. The teacher should know enough about each child's capabilities to give them the correct level paper. If s/he makes an error, the level at the end of the year is based on his/her assessment of the work in class anyway, so in fact the test the children take doesn't matter a jot.

My class have requested a daily test ... apparently it is FUN! they are all barking mad!

I too thought that a 2c at the end of y1 would be on course for a 3c at the end of y2,is this not the case then?

Redsky yes I have looked at what is required I was just being lazy because I'm on my phone. She can do negative numbers, symmetry, right angles, tell time analogue and digital, all of which are level 3 as I recall.

Oh and dd said at dinner that her teacher told the ta to get her to correct the 3 she got wrong and that after she could read a book.

I wish my a levels had been like that.

Mrs shears I guess not. Because that was never even dd's target. Which surprised me.

And parents wonder why teachers are reluctant to tell them their children's targets.

On these threads, it's mentioned time and time again that the KS1 SATs tests are only used to support teachers assessments. At this point, caffeinated, you have no idea whether dd will get a level 2a or 3 at the end of the year. She may be one of the teacher's success stories who actually exceeds her target.

Well I was told my DS was a 2c at end of yr1 and he should be a 3c for this year. Which is one level in a year, this is what I thought was expected too tbh.

He was a 1a in numeracy at end of yr1 and borderline 2a/3c now. Not sure if he did the level 3 numeracy paper (he did it on Tuesday).

Sorry, he was a 2c in writing and literacy in yr1

In KS1 average is 1 full level (2 levels progress over the KS - Y1 & Y2)