need a primary teacher's expertise - calculating the overall level in KS2 English SATs

[sphil]

I am confused. DS1 got 28/50 (level 4) for his internally marked writing SATs and 41/50 (level 5) for his reading. I have just read on the Dfe website that this year a formula is being used to calcluate the overall English level. Level 3s in writing get 30, 4s get 40 and 5s get 50. This is then added to the reading mark and the level calculated. According to this, DS should have been given level 5 for English overall, but the overall level on his report is a 4.

Have I gone wrong somewhere? It seems an odd way of arriving at the overall level to me, as it takes no account of the sublevels in writing. And surely it will mean a huge increase in Level 5s?

just bumping - need to make sure my facts are straight before I enquire at school...

No - 28 plus 40 = 68, and that's not a level 5.

It wasn't likely to be, either, tbh - level 4 in reading + level in writing = level 4 English.

Is it possible you added it and got 78?

I'm sorry, it's me who has misread, was looking at his writing mark. Hang on, let me look properly.

Right, confusingly there are teo English levels this year.

One is a teacher assessment - Speaking and Listening added to Reading added to writing with equal weighting of all three to give a teacher assessment. Are there two English levels reported? Is it possible you've only got one - that one?

Then there's the DFE one you describe - Reading test added to writing teacher assessment - not just the test. The teacher assessment must be over a range of pieces, not just the test. What was the writing teacher assessment? If it was a three, that might stack up. If not, you're right that it should be a 5 and you need to ask.

Hope this helps a bit - it's been very confusing to teachers too.

My DD has a 4A for reading and a 4B for writing, but no numbers and no overall level. I haven't heard anything about speaking and listening levels.

Which of these goes on to the secondary school? The teacher assessment or the results of the reading and writing test?

All of them - teacher assessments and test results.

It's a legal requirement to report a teacher assessment for speaking and listening, reading, writing, English, Maths and Science.

Thanks Feenie. I will email school and ask for more info on DD's levels. I don't even know if these reading and writing ones are the teacher assessments or the results of the reading and writing tests.

It was his writing teacher assessment that he got 28/50 for - the internally marked one.

I expected him to get a 4 overall - his writing is a low 4, so even with a highish 5 it was unlikely to pull him up to an overall 5. He got a 4 for speaking and listening ( odd in itself, as he got the highest attainment level for that on his report). So its right that his teacher assessment should be a 4, if the three are added together. Its just this DFE thing thats confusing me.

sorry to intrude but I wondered if I could ask whether a level 6 writing score and level 5 reading test score would give an overall English test result of 6. That's what a child I know has been given but I think it's a mistake. It gets more confusing the more levels added.

The teacher assessment has to take account of a number of pieces, not just the test.

The formula to calculate overall English levels at the top is correct however... Schools have been advised not to report this to parents. However... Lots of schools don't know this! Basically the powers that be came up with this formula but it hasn't really been tested. Lord Bew's report (where this year's and next year's changes to SATs have come from) has stated that only separate reading and writing levels should be reported to parents and passed onto secondary schools. However- the government still want to be able to use an overall English level for league tables. The problem is that this info is in different places hidden all over their website- schools didn't really know what was happening as LEAs didn't tell them, because LEAs didn't really know - a lot of the info only came live on Tuesday when thresholds were released.

The official overall English results will only really come out in Sept when the formula has been tested (it is stated on their website that the formula may not be correct). And looking at the overall levels that our kids came out with it isn't! Overall levels seem very inflated- much much higher levels achieved than in previous years and so I'm guessing that this is the picture across the country.

So my message is to ignore any overall English level. Schools should not have reported an official 'SATs' overall level using the formula (although lots didn't know that!). If they have been given an overall Teacher Assessed level then that's fine.

Oh and that's why it doesn't matter if they got a 'low' 4 or 'high' - everyone got 40 marks for a level 4 piece of writing, no matter what the teacher assessed mark. This is why neary all who have got a 5 I. Reading and 4 in writing have come out as overall 5

Sorry- 5 in reading

Thanks - thats very helpful. But my son is going to a secondary where the Yr 7 intake is made up of lots of different schools - if some have reported this 'inflated' English level and others haven't, won't that disadvantage those who haven't?

Primary schools don't report SATs results to secondary- secondary schools get that data from a central database. Secondary schools collect teacher assessments around May/June (way before SATs results come out). Lots of secondary schools use their own data too- many make the kids sit tests on visit days in June or. Just wait until September.

Oh thanks Whoopdydoop - thats very reassuring. DS is dyspraxic, hence the difficulties with writing and the 'spiky' profile of attainment. His school sit CATs in Sept and he shouldn't have any dyspraxic-type difficulties with those, as they're short answer type questions ( and I think done on a computer too?)

Fwiw, I think he would be better off in a second set for English - but not necessarily for the ther subjects I mentioned.