Y2 Assessments: Is this normal/good practice?

[tepidcuppa]

Yesterday the Y2 children were all given tests in maths, writing and numeracy - booklets, which I believe were old SATS papers. They sat in silence at their tables to do them. The head and the deputy were in and out of the class while the tests were going on, so the kids had an idea that these were somehow special.

I asked the school about this and was told it was part of of a week of assessments of all the children in the school.

I was told the school had 'always done this' and yet had never heard of it before. I asked around and it transpires that they have never done a formal test like this in Y2 before (just Juniors) and in previous years there was only teacher assessment up until the KS1 SATS in May when there were very low key tests - done in a fun, non-scary way.

Can anyone help me understand what is going on? And most importantly: Is it all normal, good practice?

It's close to normal practice in my experience for yr3+, not sure about yr2, though.

Happens in our school.

I won't comment on what I think of it!

So, 'assessment' in what sense? I don't quite understand what they are assessing by a formal test in Year 2 when the SATS are meant to be largely teacher assessed. What information are they trying to get from these tests? What implications does it have?

We do it I'm KS1 - as you mentioned for Y2, just writing for y1. It forms part of the teacher assessment, though, and acts more as an indicator for how they cope with tests rather than being the one opportunity to have a level decided.

In my (limited) experience the children quite enjoy them - they like the classroom being different, and they like the opportunity to show what they can do. For the children who find it stressful, they are in their classroom with the regular teachers/support staff and it is as gentle an introduction to formal testing as they can have. It's sad, but their lives will have large elements of formal assessment for the next 10 years or so, and if they can have a positive relationship with the concept of a test then that is a good thing.

I would be concerned if the tests alone were being used for levelling.

Doesn't happen in ours...year 3 onwards but it is prob quite common. I'll say what I think if it...it stinks!! Most teachers would HATE to do that with a year 2 class...shocking :(

I thought that was the sort of thing people paid school fees for.......

curlew, I pay school fees so that this doesn't happen to my child!

Hi tepidcuppa:

Three thoughts:

1. They're introducing this (maybe because other schools in the area are doing it) as part of their normal optional end of term assessments (old SATs papers) to prepare Y2 for the real thing later this year.

2. The fact that HT & Deputy HT were involved may suggest that there is some concern about performance - so it's keeping pressure on teacher more than pupils.

3. They may have a high flying group according to the teacher - so they're just observing how the test was administered to be assured children aren't being 'assisted' during optional testing. Although it would in principle seem a good thing to have a 'high flying' group of kids likely to get NC Level 3 at KS1 SATs - this puts a lot of pressure on the school - who have to get all those pupils to at least Level 5 at KS2 SATS, and frankly the lay of the land now seems to be that to show good progress some of these pupils will need to attain secure Level 6 at KS2 SATS.

Frankly it's just a test - the best way to handle it as a parent is 'no big deal' - schools around here seem to be testing at the end of each term because basically there struggling to accurately track children's abilities and around here at least there's a lot of tutoring from Y3/ Y4 - so it's hard to gauge how much children know because in many cases the bulk of learning is outside of class.

HTH

That's helpful. normal practice in a SATS orientated school. Thanks.

I'm not sure this is "normal" practice in Year 2 though?

From Year 3 onwards yes.

Year 2 SATS are teacher assessed, BUT legally they all have to do an old SATS paper at some point in the year. I was told by my county Maths advisor that the test results are completely pointless as all past papers can be downloaded from the internet and you won't know who has already done the paper at home. And as we all know, children can score unexpectedly well or unexpectedly badly on any test, depending on the weather, what they had for breakfast, if they fell out with their friend at playtime etc etc etc. That's why year 2 are assessed using teacher assessment and as a teacher I am expected to ignore the test scores if they are out of line with daily classroom performance.

The Maths advisor and Assessment advisor both recommended doing the papers earlier in the year rather than later, then you can at least use them to identify gaps and plan future teaching. Perhaps that's what your daughter's class were doing.

We do the real thing in Jan/Feb to help identify missing links and inform planning. Takes the pressure off the summer term (so we can enjoy the end of the year) and gets the tests over and done with! Great time to do them.

tepidcuppa all state schools (SATs orinentated or not) must do formal testing (& many independent schools choose to) in Y2. It is up to the school when they do they test but the level reported to parents will be the teacher assessment. For those who say not in my school I'm afraid they are mistaken.

What, year 2 sit paper tests...bums on seats, silent type tests in year 2 in autumn term??? Really? I'm going to ask year 2 teachers tomorrow then and find out what we do...I had no idea!

Year 2 teachers can administer the National Curriculum (SATs) test at any point during the year. Some schools choose to administer them in Autumn term, some in the Spring term and some in the Summer term. Unlike KS2 tests there is no fixed date.

Aaah, sad that children not long out of year 1
Would have to sit them in autumn. I knew there were test papers but didn't think schools did them this early and didn't know they were done as proper tests. I thought good practice was to treat them much more like 'activities'...independently completed but not a whole class, sit down approach as op describes.

I am Y2 and we do three old test papers during the year at the end of each term. The final one done early June - not May as then it is TWO WHOLE MONTHS before the end of the academic year. It informs our planning and we can plan our sessions based upon gaps in their learning. Also shows them the layout and organisation of a SAT paper. I have never come across a Y2 child who has dislikes the tests - maybe I am just lucky. But the formalities and atmosphere in which the tests are administered may be different from school to school. I do think practise is important because the layout of a SAT booklet can really throw a child off course and can worry them if they are introduced to a format they are unfamiliar with.

I haven't a clue why people do practice KS1 tests. What's the point?

No child I've ever known has been 'thrown' by the format. Test scores usually correlate with our assessments.

Completely unnecessary, as ipad says, and atrocious practice. Moves away from the overhaul if Y2 assessment in 2005 which was supposed to eradicate this kind overtesting environment and makes a mockery of its principles ( See 'Buildind a Picture of What a Child Can Do - document which underpins the ethos of Y2 assessment, sorry can't link on phone).

Teachers and schools who are unsure of teacher assessment tend to overtest like this as it makesd them feel more secure If they read the ARA carefully, they would find that children should only be tested once over the year.

Activities like those in the tests should be part and parcel of normal classroom work - after all, the tests are designed to support the y2 curriculum. I would use questions sometimes as part of lessons, but past papers at 6 or 7 ste silly, and some LEAs won't even look at them as part of moderation - they want to see better evidence than that and rightly so. They are a very small part if the assessment process, after all.

Sorry for typos - small phone and cross middle aged woman too early in the morning don't mix very well.

Dd1's class did that in year 2. They thought they were playing at Victorian schools and found it very exciting!
They don't do it so formally now though.

Hi tepidcuppa:

Our school tests in spring - probably because too many would fail to achieve NC L2 otherwise

as ipadquietly has pointed out - which I didn't realise - they can have Y2 formally sit SATs at any point - so this may well have been it. And would in fact also explain pressence of HT/ Deputy HT.

HTH

my daughter did these last year and I don't think she even realised it was a test as it was blended into the normal working day. They do this every year for Y2 class and it seems to pass by without the children even realising they've been tested. My d gets more stressed over some of her weekly spelling tests!

They don't have to do it formally at all, PSB, or with the Head/deputy. Most schools would make it as informal as possible, in fact, as moonsl describes.

Thanks Feenie - I instinctively feel that 'informal' is the way to go.

Unfortunately I think our school has got overly serious and formal (now given in the hall for both Y2 and Y6) as this is generally the 'style' of our HT & as a whole, the school have become increasingly aware that children aren't doing well.