Any way I can get hold of a set of the B-Squared assessments?

[StarlightMcKenzie]

I am happy to pay for it, but not for a whole school as I am just a parent with one child.

Many tia

Why not ask your son's school for a copy? Better still, ask them for the copies on which they've marked down what they've seen him do - it might take them a few days to be able to give them to you, but it's the most reliable way of finding out what they think his next steps are.

B-Squared are (as far as I know) only used in special schools - the vast majority of mainstream teachers won't even have heard of them.

TA. I want the set from P4 to NC Level 2 equivalent for each subject though. Sure the school won't give me them, as have been asking forever for just the ones he's on.

Bump?

"ure the school won't give me them, as have been asking forever for just the ones he's on."

Legally the school cannot refuse to give you assessment data as you have a legal right under the data protection act. Having said that it can be very hard getting a school to comply with the law in practice.

Thanks for responding.

I think the school will give me the ones he's on if I did a formal request, but would prefer them to simply work in partnership and no require me to up the ante.

I didn't think B Squared went past P8 level

Bsquared shows data for NC1 too. Do you just want a generic printout of the different requirements for the different subjects and their targets?

Yes youarewinning, that is the kind of information I am after.

I'm trying to figure a lot of things out but feel like I am stabbing in the dark.

Presumably the NC level criteria are more widely and freely available?

P scale and NC level criteria are freely available which I assume B Squared assessments follow.

From their website they appear to go up to NC5. In fact their sample assessment sheets show level 3s.

I guess so Mrz, but they're pretty woolly to me and open to loads of interpretation. I'm guessing teachers used to working with them understand them contextually!?

I thought the Primary version only went to P8 (although the only version I've seen is not the latest) but obviously based on the same woolly criteria Starlight

Yes. But the BSquared seem to break it down into more concrete tasks/targets.

I'm not asking for the sheets to be free, but £75 per subject is possibly reasonable for a school but less so for an individual and I'm not entirely sure the company woukd give it to me anyway.

I think it's because usually primary schools use other assessment resources - especially for pupils working on NC levels.

Bsquared is a helpful tool in schools for pupils with SEN because it shows the 'small steps'. So a pupil who's a 1C for 1-2 years can be shown to have been 1C.2 1C.4 1C.6....... etc. The points show how much of the sublevel they have covered. Can't remember exactly how it corresponds but if they've completed (mastered) 25% of 1C criteria they are a 1C.2. Then if they complete 6/7 other 'criteria' of 1C over a year they may then have completed 67% of the criteria and be 1C.6.

Starlight,

You mention on another thread that you want this for your HE son - but he is currently in school? And on another that you want to move him very rapidly from P levels to Level 2, and are considering HE / flexi schooling to do this?

It's probably worth thinking through what you want, and why you want it - and also the context around assessment in school. Level descriptors - P levels and NC levels - are widely available. In the old APP documentation, you will also find exemplar portfolios of work by children working at different levels that have been provided to aid in levelling.

The point, though, is about context. I wonder whether your hope in this is to be able to 'tick a lot of the boxes' while working at home with your son, and then use this to show the school that he is working at a higher level than they have assessed him at? Bear in mind that, for many of the assessments to apply, the child has to be working independently, in a situation where there is choice and freedom, a significant time after the point of direct teaching, and evidence has to come in a variety of different contexts. Saying that you child can achieve those thing when working 1 to 1 in the home environment with no other children around and a parent hovering is not necessarily evidence that the child is genuinely at that level IYSWIM, and the school may be of the same opinion.

Definitely worth talking to the school, asking to see his CURRENT assessments, and then talking with them about any items that you KNOW he does very well, totally independently and a long time after you have workied with him on that area. That will pinpoint any areas where he is not showing his true ability in school [a similar discussion about my DS early in his school career indicated the extent of his school-inbdiced selective mutism] and, if there is a pattern of such areas, perhaps suggest a specific weakness or a way forward.

Teacher, I want to rescue him. I'm not sure how to do that, so am trying to gather the information.

I am aware of the need to demonstrate skills in a variety of environments, and the necessity to develop generalisations skills and show independent application.

But I also think that you can demonstrate skills by showing levels achieved with a 1:1 parent hovering. Handwriting for example. He can either do fluent cursive writing or he can't. He is being allowed to get away with mixed case print at school and reverts back to it there because he struggles with differentiation of some letters and capitals help that (my assessment, no-one has ever told me that is why he does it), but at home we practise and he has made huge progress and it is applied across tasks simply because I insist on it, yet the occasional pieces of work sent home still have his weird handwriting on it.

It is like he is working to their expectations on purpose to avoid the work or because he thinks that is what they want.

I can identify with that because in Year 2 I did the same as I didn't want to upset the teacher. I slowed down and put errors in my work on purpose so I wouldn't stand out.

So I presume that you have had a sit-down discussion with his teacher and with him, with full sets of handwriting work in front of you, and talked openly about the differences and how you can all move forward?

The teacher cannot 'stand over him and insist on his cursive handwriting' as you can, but unless you have that open conversation between the three of you, then nor will the teacher know that he can do it with total independence if he tries.

You are right it is quite common for children to use upper case B & D because they can't remember the way to write the lower case version for example and the longer it continues the harder it is to change.

[The fluent cursive handwriting thing, btw, would have to be shown in all work where it is appropriate (so not rough notes, but all proper work) and without reminding if I were to tick that off as 'achieved'. So the fact that he can do it with you 'insisiting' - and perhaps when he has more time to complete the writing - would not mean that he had achieved that objective...]

(However, spelling + handwriting do not in themselves determine the level of a child as a writer - that is mostly based on content)

It's the same with his pencil grip. In all things, drawing, writing, maze completion, painting I just say 'use the proper grip' and he changes it immediately and his pressure improves.

I don't disagree. And his writing is rubbish. But I want him to be able to form the correct letters without distress before doing much about that.

'So I presume that you have had a sit-down discussion with his teacher and with him, with full sets of handwriting work in front of you, and talked openly about the differences and how you can all move forward?'

No. It is only really getting his scores before half term that has triggered my thinking through these issues.

However, almost every single time I have met the teacher formally I have asked for them to concentrate on his pencil grip and letter formation, or give me resources to do it at home. After 18 months I eventually received a pdf of handwriting paper and the list of the first 100 HF words.

If it takes that long to get even the vaguest of responses I can't see sitting down in the way you suggest will do anything other than make the teacher defensive.

B squared used to go up to NC level 5 IIRC. I haven't used it for many years though.

You could contact the company directly and see if you can purchase the software/assessment package.

Thank you tethersend. I have done that with no response so far.

I imagine they would be reluctant to supply to parents though as they might not want their data sheets flying about the country or parents teaching to the test iyswim.