Discrepancy on KS1 NC results, unsure what to do :(

[kippersmum]

DD2 got her report today. Background, she is in a Y2/3 mixed class, teacher off sick for 90% of time, supply teachers. She is Nov born. The worst week was 9 teachers in 1 week. Main teacher (who is Dep Hd) back just before SATS.

DD2 gets 3a's & 3b's for everything, (not boasting, i wish i was) apart from science which is done by a different teacher. She gets 2c.

Call me a cynic, I think there is something going on. My DD is amazing at public speaking & deserved that 3a. The rest of it, No! DD1 got 2bs, 2 as, maybe a 3c. I was expecting the same.

What do I do? I would love to broadcast that my DD2 is way above average, except she isn't. I think her teacher has inflated to grades to cover her own arse. How can my DD2 drop nearly 2 whole levels when assessed by a different teacher.

I'm not actually bothered by what level she gets, I just want her to be in the correct stream going forward for her ability.

Help.

I've been wondering if maybe expectations have dropped in the last few years.

Ds got 2A's for literacy and maths which is great but I cant read anything he writes, its all over the place with very little punctuation, he consistently gets 1 or 2 spellings out of 10 right on his weekly tests and in his workbooks most pages have supervised work written on them, he's just moved up from purple books to gold

As for maths, we couldnt even get through the 1A workbook at home without constant help from me!

I've even compared books with DD who got 2Cs when she was his age and her work was far better.

Its very strange but i'm guessing the teachers know what they are doing and what they are looking for.

I hope that your dc get more consistency in teaching next year!

I'm a secondary teacher and we find that the primary levels are often hugely inflated.

In terms of end if year levels, some of my students got a level 9 on their end if year test, however, I only gave them a level 8b on their end of year report as we have not covered all of the level 8&9 topics! Because the students are older I am able to explain that to them.

How would year 6 levels be inflated? Apart from writing, they are tested and marked externally so it's not a teacher judgment.

I think that's quite a dangerous thing to write actually.

Sort of like saying that controlled assessments are a load of crap where most of the work is moulded but the teacher and remarked and remarked until the desired grade achieved.

By teacher not but.

You sound very, very bothered by the levels tbh, and wanting to "broadcast that she's above average, but she isn't!" is a bit bizarre.

She got a level for public speaking?

A good school is supposed to constantly adjust for setting, they are supposed to assess termly or even every half term & kids move around (up and down ability tables). My kids have moved up & down tables a lot. So I don't think you should worry. As for yr6 targets, given the NC levels were phased out, does anyone know how yr6 targets will ever get set for the current yr2s? Maybe in a percentile band way.

My yr2 also got much better results than I expected, but... so what?

Your dd sounds as if she had done amazingly well in very disruptive circumstances.

and yes id worry there wasn't the opportunity to excel in science too. that maybe the class wasn't differentiated or consistent etc

yea levels aren't everything however what you posted sounds a nightmare and can't be doing teh kids good

I don't think I phrased it very well. My concern is the variation between the levels. Thanks for the replies. I feel a bit less worried about it after a nights sleep.

Sorry. Are you saying that the levels should have all been the same? Or that you think the science level should have been different for reasons other than it wasn't the same as the others?

Why is it hard to believe she's one sublevel lower than 3A in science and one sublevel higher than 3A in something else?

"I'm a secondary teacher and we find that the primary levels are often hugely inflated." - as a primary teacher, assessment coordinator and LA SATs moderator I am deeply offended by that sweeping statement!
The levels secondary schools receive from primaries are moderated to death! Schools are hugely accountable for their results so staff are highly trained in getting it right, especially in y2 and y6. As so much between those years (and within them) is teacher assessment a huge amount staff meeting time is spent checking levels between staff and developing a shared understanding of what a level looks like in the day-by-day work of a child.

I think the discrepancy lies in the fact primaries use a lot of teacher assessment (as we should) and secondaries are more geared to tests?

We pass on the results of externally marked test papers and teacher assessments made over terms of really knowing our children as we teach them almost all week. So I could make an equally offensive counter claim: some new schools don't like these results so retest their new children to get a "baseline". Many secondaries discount the primary results and only value the tests the poor children sat on the first couple of days in a new and stressful environment with staff they don't know. This is so they can show a lower baseline and make themselves look better... sweeping critical statement about secondary teachers???? And yes - I know of one secondary doing that!

Hear, hear!

What jewel said

It was really interesting reading Jewels post, thank you. For all of you with the snidey comments, my concern is my child getting 3a in maths & 2c in science. I don't actually care what the levels are, it is the huge difference that concerns me. Thanks to all who have understood that.

Kippers - you are absolutely right to question this. Basically at KS 1 it would be very unusual for a child who is achieving level 3a/b in reading and writing and maths to score so much lower science. They are not learning advanced physics! Science at this age is lots of observing and explaining what they've seen - skills that should come easily to a level three writer with the logical skills of a level 3 mathematician. I would also have to question how a class with that amount of disruption could produce such spectacular results in a child you feel is more 'average'. Are all the children's results similar because if so - one would have to be a little cynical! Are you in London btw?

Yonic, 3a is upper end of 3, and 2c is lower end of 2 - it's not one sublevel below, but nearly 2 whole levels.

dd1's Sats were grossly inflated at the end of Y2 after 3 years of disrupted teaching and an especially poor Y2 teacher. She's finishing Y5 now and is barely at the level that she was recorded at at the end of Y2, despite huge improvements. I'm, not sure if the value added thing will still exist when this cohort finishes primary next summer but if it does then KS2 is going to look shit.

In all my years teaching KS2, it was a total given that KS1 SATs results were hugely inflated. Always made things awkward in year 3, especially explaining it all year to parents.

I'm a year 2 teacher. Only the very brightest children would be getting 3as. Would you say this describes your daughter? I would say it would be more of a problem for the school than your dd if the levels are wrong. This is the last year of levels and in year 3 your dd will be assessed differently. Do you know who her year 3 teacher will be? You could discuss this with them early next year and they will likely be able to tell how accurate they are.

DD had Level 3 across the board for every subject apart from science. I don't really want to post every sub level. She is one of the oldest in her year & has been taught with Y3 in a composite class so I think she could achieve a good result. However, Science is taught by a different teacher. She got 2c.

It is the difference between the results that bothers me. If DD needs help in an area I want to do that over the summer with her.

The cynic in me thinks DD's teacher has inflated the marks to cover her back & the science teacher may be right. I just don't know.

As an aside, DH & I both have science degrees & the DD's have grown up watching documentaries about Voyager etc. We are a sciencey household...

Have a meeting at school later this week, even they can see the discrepancy..