KS1 SATs this week...

[WhattodoSue]

In our school at least. I'm curious to know if my DD notices, or comments on anything different to normal happening. There has been no explicit build up to them really. Just normal school work (although I did get the comment that English was boring because it is just grammar - although that was probably before SPaG was cancelled).

I must confess, I'm also curious to know what teachers think of them level wise. And I can't quite get my head round how the formal administration could work if they are much to hard for some children. Do those children get to do something else when they have had enough? I cannot imagine how the whole thing could work.

Clare makes a perfectly sensible point, if she wants her son's test results she can request them and school have a legal duty to give them to her. Don't think she at any point said that it should be generally reported did she?

Nor did anyone say she couldn't have them if she asked.

You said I have interpreted the governments guidelines incorrectly, I have not.
Feenie asked why I thought that the school were required to give me that information and I quoted the governments guidelines.

There is no need to ask under data protection rules, a simple request for the specific results is all that is required. TA are a seperate issue and not relevant to the question.

Cat, you are correct I was very clear that schools do not need to report that information.

Not sure why your all so arsey about patents wanting the information about their child.

I think most posters had already said that parents could request their own child's test mark, however this will be a raw score and will not give you any indication of how your child compares with other children nationally ir even within the school.

Ok folks I think the problem was Clare that what you put up referred to level 1 and we don't have levels anymore so that might have been an out of date link. I will tell a parent scores if they ask but will not show papers as that is not included in the directives. My parents have just wanted to know if everything has been ok and not wanted any more info than that. I know they may and I will share the scores but that won't really give more information.

Personally in not interested in where my child sits within the class, I am interested in how they fair nationally to their peers though.

If the schools are not required to report test results to their LA and will not report test results to parents unless they ask, how will the SATs results be useful to see how they fair nationally to their peers?

I can see the teachers's point that the SATs result are not really the most important part to focus on but the overall Teacher Assessment (TA).
What about the TA as a way to compare how the student is doing nationally? Is that possible?

I don't know if we are going to be given the SATs result at DS's school. I'll have to wait to see the report and if not, I will ask out of curiosity.

The SATs were very low key at his school. He didn't always realise that they were doing the real test or if it was just another school activity. DS has not shown any interest in the results, I think he is under the assumption he did well and that's all he cares. He said they were easy for him as he had to do the same papers as everyone else and he is used to getting differentiated work during the normal classes for English and Maths. I don't expect he will be asking other children their results, because they would either do well as him so it doesn't matter, or less well than him in which case he wouldn't want to make them feel bad.

So having established you all agree with each other, wth are you arguing about?
Mrz, if scaled scores and test papers are held by the school, parents would also be able to access them on request if they really wanted to. Foi request if nothing else.
Our school have said anything they know they'll be happy to share. As far as ds is concerned it's no more or less interesting than a spelling test score, I'm not expecting to be quizzed on percentiles!

I have already said that parents will be given the mark if they ask but that won't provide the information Clare seems to want catkind.

For 2016 KS1 tests, conversion tables will be published on GOV.UK by the end of May 2016. In future years the marking guidance for the KS1 tests will include conversion tables.

Teachers will need to use these to translate pupils’ raw scores into scaled scores to see whether each pupil has met the national standard. You should use the scaled scores to inform your teacher assessment judgements.

From the information provided it doesn't appear there will be any percentile ranks or standardised scores to share.

Surely there will be some data at some point? If a large number of children have really struggled, or if lots of children really couldn't manage some areas of the test, I'd want to know.

I want to know if what has been asked of my child is actually possible for average children.

In order for there to be data the results of the tests would need to be reported and they aren't.

My DD has finished hers. She enjoyed them, or at least she has had a wonderful week because they have done loads of fun playing stuff and loads of drawing so she has been really having a great time. She hasn't thought the tests were hard, but she is doing well at school. I hope that all children have enjoyed the week as much as she has.

So, given that they have no use as a national benchmark, do any teachers think they are of any use in forming the TA that KS1 is evaluated on? Or are they really just a waste of time? Just curious (again).

Teachers will be given a table which converts the raw score into a scale score. A scale score of exactly 100 means the child is meeting expected standards however if they do not also fulfil all the exemplification criteria they won't be assessed as "expected".

They won't tell me one single thing I didn't already know.

An example of the exemplification is that the child must read at a speed of 90 words per minute ...if they don't they aren't meeting expected standard even if they pass the reading test.

They won't tell me one single thing I didn't already know

That is what I would expect for good teachers.

My DD's y2 teacher was not good. She was surprised by DD's KS1 SAT results (under the old system). Because she hadn't realised that DD hadn't really understood her maths all year and had been getting by, by letting others on the table 'help' her get the right answers.

10% of teachers are in the bottom 10% of teachers. I do think that some level of testing which at least then makes them question their view against work done clearly independently may well be helpful.

A bit like the phonics screening test and the teachers who say 'some of our most able readers fail the test'. The screening test is needed for those teachers, not the ones who teach phonics well.

(Though the increased formality and new requirements seem to leave something to be desired).

Tests at best are a snap shot of what a child can do on a specific day. Now it may be the child is unwell, upset or just doesn't cope well with tests to skew the results. I've got a child who could do nothing all year and still ace a test. His results certainly didn't reflect his work.

I will have plenty to say about the tests when May is over and I'm then allowed to.

I understood that the scaled score was like an iq test with an average mark being 100. If it's just a "meets the standards" thing, what was the point of the calibration group of kids taking it early? Am going to want results now just to find out wtf they are playing at...

And having now reread the gvmt thing about scaled scores it still makes no sense. We can't decide how many marks are necessary to meet standards until we see how many marks children actually get?

Yep. We don't know what the standard is because they haven't decided how many kids they're going to let meet it yet. But surely an age related standard is just that - children either are at age related expectations or they aren't? Not so, because they don't know what it is yet.

That's why some schools took the tests early catkind ...their results will be used to set national expectations. Hopefully the schools selected truly represent schools across the country.

IQ tests generally use standardised scores rather than scale scores

DS had no clue he was doing them several years ago. DD was far more aware and knew she'd been doing 'booklets' but nothing more. They were sitting them in their regular classrooms but mixing the classes and taking small groups away. Neither of my children ever asked for the results and I only told them what was in their school report that year. DS has just sat his Year 6 sats and I doubt he'll ask for the results of those unless he knows how his classmates did and then it will be curiosity.