Are parents any good at assessing levels...?

[justlumpingalong]

Is it as easy to assess levels (1c, 2a, and all of that) as it looks, or should I just be leaving it to the professionals?

DD's teacher is decidedly unforthcoming about how DD is doing relative to national standards - all I can wring out of her is 'she's doing fine' followed by a looooong list of everything she is a disaster at. I am nosy keen to see that DD is progressing well, so decided to have a go at a spot of DIY levelling.

So, with reading it looks quite easy. She's on ORT bands 9-10, and Google reliably informs me that this puts her at a 2b/2a sort of level. For Maths, there are various checklists online too, and referencing them against what I've seen in her school books / homework, etc, I reckon she's about 2b there too - she can do almost everything on the 2b list fairly well, but when I go to 2a there start to be gaps.

So, is that job done, or is really, much, much more complicated than that...?

irvine101

CocktailQueen - yes, I just need to ask them how they measure progress at next parents' evening. I'd be surprised if they don't have a system. They seem pretty together (most of the time...).

Or whether, because they aren't required to measure progress after Reception, they often just didn't bother at all.

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Unlikely I would think. The schools are still inspected - some by ISI, some by OFSTED - and teaching, learning and overall results are looked at. If pupils were not making adequate progress this would be identified and commented negatively up in in the report, and would need to be acted upon.

Independent schools need to market themselves to parents - if they weren't assessing their children, they wouldn't know what kind of progress they were making, and how that compared to national standards. They need to market themselves to say how their pupils do compared to others; why parents should choose their school rather than others.

Many independent schools chose not to do SATs or use NC levels. But they will have had their own forms of assessment - in the same way that state schools are now doing so. No levels doesn't mean no assessment full stop.

Quick Irvine101, come back, we've got Hulababy... HULABABY!

(composes self). Yes, that makes a lot of sense Hula. Will check their last ISI report forthwith.

Teachers are constantly assessing to ensure children are learning the problem is that progress isn't linear so measuring it isn't as simple as the level /sublevel system suggested.

At an Ofsted briefing last week they said they will be looking at books (not data) to judge progress

Hmmm, some clues in the ISI report (although it's nearly 4 years old now, so probably out of date). It says that in national tests taken at age 11, results are high in relation to children's abilities, suggesting that they both a) measure ability, and b) measure attainment in some normative way (at least at 11).

That said, it also criticises the school for not measuring progress very well. Hopefully they will have taken that seriously, and will have got a watertight system in place, pronto.

The clue is that the testing takes place at the end of key stages not into her years

OP I have the same problem (private school). When DC was younger there were lots of positive comments made casually which led me to believe DC was very bright. Then I asked for more detailed info and the school were very evasive. Eventually (as I was pushy) they got clearance from the Head to discuss it with me. Turned out DC is not very bright! I think they want to avoid having pushy parents therefore try to avoid discussions with parents so DC can go at a natural pace. It's bloody annoying!

My dds are at an indie school and I think they assess quite a lot but don't always tell you the result

For example after reception their reading is assessed termly and reports state their reading and spelling age. I know that they used to use levels but not tell parents and now give reports for each subject based on above average, at average and below average.

From year three they get CAT tests to plot progress (I think) but mainly to assess their suitability to apply for other local schools. They also do an online comprehension test but don't give results to parents - I only know because I asked. I am amazed by how many parents don't question what they're spending a lot of money on other than to moan that we were given cheap wine at an event.

Personally I don't find it transparent enough, and it's only because I've read lots of threads here that I know the right kinds of questions to ask and am more knowledgable about education and assessments than many of my friends who wouldn't know what a level is or state school phonics or SATs test.

Having said it isn't transparent enough as my children have moved up the school I have started to see mums get super competitive and pushy and I can see why school wouldn't want to have mums challenging every assessment.