How much written text is needed to assess ks levels 1 and 2?

[KOKOagainandagain]

I have been unable to find a consistent answer.

DS2 was assessed at level 1b for writing for over a year. His CT said that this was because most of the time output was either nothing or around 2 short sentences and he needed to write more. On exceptional occasions he would write up to five sentences (ie working in the library, or with constant prompts).

He has now been assessed at level 2c but his written output has not increased.

How is this possible?

I forgot to say that his current CT said that the assessment for writing also took into account his verbal understanding and abilities.

This just confused me even more.

I find this useful...

Thanks Galena

Unfortunately this illustrates the problem that I am having.

He is seen by OT at the clinic and at school. I have great difficulty reading his writing, he has specific problems with orientation of letters, use of ascenders/descenders, finger-spacing (either none or can be in the middle of words with no gap between the next word). In addition, the output is minimal. This would suggest he is still at 1b.

However, the way the school measures progress (using APP charts) means that he now only has the page of targets for level 2. Looking at his latest grid, all targets are prefaced with 'in some forms of writing...' but he has now met 2b targets for 'use of mainly simple sentences with and used to connect clauses', 'sometimes signalling openings and/or closures', 'use of some apt word choices', 'use of some appropriate features of the given form' and 'some adventurous word choices'. There are two targets that have not been met 'sentence demarcation with capital letters and full stops are usually accurate' and 'clear letter formation with ascenders and descenders distinguished, generally upper and lower case letters are not mixed in words'. There are no other targets.

The link above only referred to level 2 being a 'series of sentences' but I have found a TES resource to assessing writing that says that for writing to be a level 2 'it should be largely coherent in form and relatively easy to read (it must have spaces between words), and contain at least some correct punctuation and some use of connectives. For writing to be 2b or above it needs to be (depending on the genre) of considerably greater length than 2c/level 1 writing (possibly 100+ words) and have evidence of an emerging writing voice).' This would suggest, even if 2c can be justified now, that he would not be able to be assessed at 2b until output dramatically increased.

Is there an equivalent expectation of length (number of words or sentences) for level 1 writing? How are DC that have divergent progress (strengths and weaknesses) within a topic area supposed to be assessed?

I think the problem is that one child could write at Level 3 in a piece which is only half a page long, where another child might write 2 pages of work which is at Level 1.

There isn't a 'minimum' amount of work for each level, but as Level 2 wants variety in sentence structure, it would imply that you need more than a couple of sentences. Level 3 wants use of paragraphs, so you need more than 1 paragraph, etc.

I have just gone through the level descriptors Galena linked to and highlighted the targets he has and has not met. The only target that he has met (if we bracket length) at level 2b is 'composition and effect'. 'Text structure and organisation', 'spelling' and 'handwriting' are stuck at 1b and 'sentence structure and punctuation' is 1a. He doesn't meet the overall criteria for level 2 apart from the use of imaginative words. (This is hardly surprising given that SALT and EP assessed him to be on the 99th percentile.)

Many thanks for these.

Do you think I have got a hope in hell of the school providing such a breakdown to the LA when giving their information for SA?

Do school support the need for SA?

If so, you could provide the breakdown and ask that they please put in their report that his written work is sparse, poorly punctuated, etc. Alternatively, if they are open to suggestion, ask them if they could put in something outlining exactly where he lies as you have done with the breakdown.

However, if school do not support the need for SA, you may be banging your head against a brick wall, as they probably won't be helpful and will say he's making progress!

Allegedly.

In KS1 the school asked for lots of assessments (SALT, OT, EP) and asked me to get a paed referral.

All changed with KS1 SATs when DS2 went from 1b for both writing and speaking and listening at the end of April 2012 to 2c for SATs.

Meanwhile the paed had arranged for classroom observation by a specialist nurse whose written report says that he can't work in the whole class or in groups and only ever works with constant 1:1 prompt and says that he needs more support. He meets the diagnostic criteria for ADHD and is also being investigated for HFA. She said he has a 30 second attention span (she timed him, all morning) and recommended medication.

The problem for the school (and me, by extension) is 'making' the school record an accurate reflection of what is reported by other, more expert, professionals. Either the external assessments (by 3 different SALTs, OT and specialist nurse) were an inaccurate reflection or the school assessments are an inaccurate snapshot and are not representative of the bigger picture. They can't both be right.

2013 not 2012

...and, of course, if they now say he's not at a 2c, there will be questions asked about why they assessed him as such for the SATS.

Hmmmm, difficult.

Yes. His current teacher justifies writing assessment (that she made) as her 'professional judgement' but said she would not assess S&L at 2c (previous teacher assessment).

This level was filed with the LA but (badly and obviously) cut from the end of year report. Maybe I should send the ADHD obs?

So I say they have done their best and they stab me in the back? I half-believed it would be different this time (DD1 is placed in OOC SS).

I'm afraid I wouldn't award above a 1C for 2 sentences that are difficult to read.

The cynic in me says that in most cases they would get away with fudging and minimising. It is only the classroom observations of others that has brought this to light.

I am now left with a problem - ADHD/ASD, 30 second attention span, unable to attend and work etc but assessed at 2c - really?

My SEN senses are tingling...