Assessment Levels need help......

[nickminiink]

Requested school for my sons current attainment levels and mock SAT scores, the levels were sent home in a letter with my son. I am confused as I was expecting levels such as 2a,3b etc in that format instead got the following, can someone explain what they mean. Current teacher assessment levels Reading : 4.1 Writing : 3.2 Numeracy : 4.0 Science : 4.1

SATS Practice scores Reading : 4.1 Writing : 3.1 Numeracy : 3.9 Science : Absent

Literacy overall 3.6

Never seen levels in this format now confused as these will part of evidence at tribunal and I don't know what they mean in comparison to his attainment levels.

Thanks Nick

What year is he in?

Yr 6, just sat his SATS

They will be level 4 (and a bit) and level 3 (and a bit).

Teachers tend to decimilise them so they have a nice numerical spreadsheet which can be ranked, sorted, averaged. You can't do that if you use the 4a, 4b type format.

So how do I know if he's made progress, as all I have received in the past is a,b or c. Are these equivalent ie is say 1-4 equivalent to an a

I would say 4.1-3 will be 4c. 4.4-6 4b and 4.7-9 will be a 4a.

Or there or thereabouts.

It's confusing isn't it. On the face of it the decimal points would seem to be more useful, but not if parents don't have a clue what they mean.

And I agree with your point about how can you measure progress. I had a similar discussion with DS2's teacher about his reading age, which was assessed as 8.4 (or similar) 6 months ago and now stands at 7.8. When I asked how his reading age could have gone backwards, she didn't really know, but said it was probably because they used a different type of test which gave different results! Useless information then.

Yes confusing it is, why change the format now which is what I do not understand and with no explanation

Well, it perhaps explains why some schools are reluctant to give out such information beyond what they are statutorily bound to do. There are a whole host of different assessments done (e.g for reading, some will assess decoding, others comprehension) and to the un-trained eye (as well as to the trained!) it can be very confusing. It's also up for debate as to how reliable some of them are anyway.

The official levels are 2, 3, 4.....7,8.

I don't think The official levels the letter and certainly no decimal. Those were added by teachers to make them more useful for tracking within a level.

Is the tribunal against the school? Because it seems a little churlish of them not to give you any explanation unless there's some sort of issue.

Wordsmith if your son has aged, but his reading ability hasn't gone up, then his reading age will drop.

4.1 is a 4c, 4.6 is a 4b and 4.9 is a 4c. Like someone else said, it's so it fits with the computer system.

Clam, its against refusal of statement so against the LEA, it was our request not the schools so technically against them as well.

Oh I see. Obviously I don't know the background, but in my experience, it's usually the LEA who block statement requests, to the intense frustration of the schools, who have spent many hours putting together a case. Often it can be thrown out on a technicality.
But don't feel you have to explain.

Juniper904 can you explain how that works?

Wordsmith Think Juniper904 meant to type 4.9 is a 4a.

Thanks but I meant the bit about reading age

I don't think actual age has any impact on reading age.

I think its a bit like an eye test. They read a line of words/text until they get too much wrong. The age is based on the last correct line. A 3 year old could stop on line 10 and a 11 stop on line 10 and they would both have the same reading age because they have both scored the same. Actual age isn't relevant.

I understand that but reading age reducing implies that reading has got worse, not just failed to improve. And the teacher seemed to imply that different tests gave different ages so my question was, what's the point of the test?

i did a couple of test for fun with dd (they test one skill of reading only) she came out with different reading ages on different tests on the same day did one of the tests about a year ago and she was about a year better. both the tests I used depended on reading a list of words which she likes doing anyway. reading ages are just part of the picture.

A reading age test is measured against their actual age, so if little Jonny can read 50 of the words and is 8.2, but little Susan can read 50 of the words aged 7.4, then little Susan scores higher on the reading test.

If little Susan, aged 7.9 can now read 51 words, then her reading age will decrease. She has only gained one word in 5 months.

And yes, I did mean 4a. My brain has turned to mush from report writing.

Hmmm.. think I understand! Thanks for the explanation.