Is Michael Rosen right? Is the sample SATS online the actual test

[KnotNora]

He's just posted that the KS1 test sample on the gov website is the actual test they are using?!

[PoreofWiner]

thanks Mummytime. i assume as no one, including DS, has made the slightest mention of SATs he's entirely unaware of them. it's really tough when you don't do pick ups / drop offs and feel really distant from the school and often don't have time to give your children the support you feel you should be giving. i had an awful panic for a minute thinking yet gain i'd fucked up and put poor DS in a disadvantaged position compared to his peers yet again.

so he's not going to be written off as the class thicko forever more if he bombs the test? i know nothing about SATs, i'd honestly never hear of them until today

[Feenie]

It was the large print modified version of the real test that was accidentally uploaded, have just found out.

[mummytime]

If he bombs the test, he should be offered extra help in the next bit of schooling. And I would suggest you ask/nag about that.

Personally I complained to school when a Mum who was giving some students some extra help, even mentioned SATs to my youngest when they were in year 2. The SATs are not supposed to be the sole way of judging the ability of children of this age, but a way for the school to justify the grades they have given (eg. if the test grades Reading as 2, then you would expect the teacher assessment to be similar for most pupils.) It should also be the school which is worried if there is a reason that students underperform (eg. there is an outbreak of...chicken pox/slapped cheek/scarlet fever...).

SATs are supposed to be a way to judge the schools, not individual pupils. Sometimes after year 6, Secondary schools do use them to assign sets, but others prefer their own testing in September (of various forms).

I have known lots of children who struggled in Infant school but went on to do perfectly well at GCSE level and above.

[Ellison8996]

Can I ask what happens if your child seriously over perform on SAT tests?
( we have a new teacher, she doesn't know them very well but thinks my DS is emerging yet he scores over 85% on sat maths tests*)

• he likes tests before you all cry don't test him 😄

[Coconut0il]

When they get to secondary you're told they are not making enough progress. DS1 was a solid level 4 in Maths in year 6. Because he had been assessed as level 3 in year 2, he had to be a level 5. His teacher had him sat next to her for every single maths lesson in the weeks before the tests. He got a level 5.
Ellison Over performing did him no favours in year 7. It looked like he had made little progress because the level his targets were based on was too high.

[ImMeMe]

Also keen to get hold of this and have googled and twittered to no avail. If anyone has a copy could. You pm me. Pretty please

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

FFS. Having the list will be no help at all.

The teacher assessment over rides the test result, Ellison. That's the result that will be reported to the LA. Without evidence of him working at that level during day to day classwork, then he cannot be given the 'working at the expected level standard' regardless of how he scores on the test. And he will need to meet all the assessment criteria to be considered 'working at'. It's no longer good enough to hit most of them so 85% is meaningless if one of the things he can't do is a key expectation under the assessment criteria.

[user789653241]

I just wondered... if the results of KS1 sats doesn't get reported, that only TA matters, why all the school/teachers/parents getting stressed up about it?
It seemed like a big deal to me last year(when my ds took ks1 sats), when they held meeting and everything. But in the end, they didn't tell us scores, results not published, and here, teachers are saying only TA is reported. Why do they make such a big deal then? Really confused. If it's just used to support TA, isn't it same as one of normal everyday task?

[Ellison8996]

Thank you for the responses.
Do schools not report the SAT results to the LEA then?
Is she not obliged to give me his results?

I thought that the SAT results are to check teachers assessments and school results.

[jennielou75]

We get moderated and they always place great emphasis on the results of the tests and if your judgements agree with the results. The spelling standards are difficult and some schools will have evidence to prove these standards because their children have practiced these tests. Not many schools will try to argue their results down. These children will then struggle in year 3.

[Feenie]

I agree. And spelling is a limiting judgement. Without decent spelling in books and in the spelling test, ARE cannot be awarded.

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

If they've done that before jennie then I don't think your moderators have read the ARA. The test is used to back up teacher judgments but precedence is given to other work. So if a child as a high score on the test but there is no evidence of that level in their books then the level shouldn't be awarded. The opposite happens if a child has a bad day and does badly on the test.

Although the level on the test and TA should be similar because the teacher chose which test it to give on the basis of their knowledge of the child.

The wording of the ARA this year makes me think that more emphasis might be placed on the test result, but that might not be the case. It still doesn't change the fact that even with a 100% score on the spelling test, children will still have to demonstrate the spelling criteria to be given the expected level in writing.

[Feenie]

We were told that, because of the limiting judgement, if the spelling score wasn't good enough but Working At ARE was awarded then Questions Would Be Asked and the spelling in books would have to be of a very high calibre indeed for them to sanction it.

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

That would fit with my reading of the wording in the new arrangements. It would be simple enough to fix by just excluding the spelling test result though.

If these tests were being used to set the scaled score, I think I'd be more worried that they'd screwed up the sampling. Nothing in the assessment farce so far convinces me they would have got this right either.

[Feenie]

But they are being used to set the scene score...not sure I follow you there, Rafa.

[Feenie]

scaled score, sorry

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

My fault, that should have been 'are' not 'were'.

If it's going to hold up nationally, you need to ensure that the schools you have chosen are a representative sample of what would happen across the country. If they are too high or too low performing as a group then it's going to throw up some odd looking results when it is rolled out. At this point I'm not sure I trust them to have got this right.

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

Apparently there's a mistake in the reading mark scheme.

I really hope someone's keeping a tally of these errors.

[Feenie]

For fuck's sake!

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

I've no idea what exactly it is but it's being talked about on twitter.

Have they sent the marks schemes to all schools yet or just to the ones doing them early?

[Feenie]

Just them - us mere mortals get them uploaded after May, I think.

[mrz]

This is the advice from the NAHT
"The actual effect on schools in terms of accountability is minimal as the results of this test are not collected, reported, used or evaluated externally. The aim of the test is to inform teacher judgement. It does not feed into any progress or attainment measure. It is not used in any way.

But... the leak of the paper also renders the test absolutely useless. In particular, the government will not be able to set a meaningful benchmark score as it cannot reliably know which of the pre-trial schools did or didn’t use the practice paper. You and your staff have better things to do with your time than administer useless tests and I have today written to the schools minister requesting that he withdraws the test from use (without replacement). I will let you know the response."

If parents have questions, I think you can assure them that your teachers are more than able to form accurate judgements of their children's progress without the need for flawed tests.

[soimpressed]

Has the SPAG test been cancelled for this year?