Is this good progress or not really?

[anonymous13333]

Got dds (year 6) report a couple of days ago, it says she made steady progress, is this good progress or not really?

"New Levels" of assessment at dds school are:
Working below the expected level of attainment;
Working towards the expected level of attainment;
Working within the expected level of attainment for his/her age;
Working beyond the expected level of attainment.

DD got "Working beyond the expected level of attainment" in writing, reading, numeracy and science, she is top of the class and is also registered as gifted, so she is not struggling but surely "steady progress" is not very good?

Progress measures aren't standardised as far as I know, so you should check with the school. Steady progress sounds like it means expected amount of progress from her starting point, which would be fine.

Arguably you'd expect a gifted child to make more than expected progress too, but it's hard to do that if she's starting well ahead of the level of what's being taught and assessed.

I think steady progress means progress has been maintained. She has not plateaued and she has not gone backwards. Often schools use the word "good" progress and this should be measured against expectations. The problem with the new descriptions are that expectations are difficult to
Judge. Where I am a governor, we have had a lot of difficulty making judgements on attainment and progress this year as the system beds in. You may have a better idea when the Sats results appear.

Thank you both, she was always well ahead, I feel that with the new curriculum, school didn't push as much for her as previous years, even though she still had extra work and lessons (available for all gifted children). I suppose steady progress is ok

They are attainment measures not progress. I assume that she was higher attaining at Year 2 and the school is judging her to be higher attaining now.

How her attainment compares to the children will be known very shortly when the Year 6 results come out and we will have some initial indications of national comparators.

I meant to add. If this is a state school, I am surprised you have a report without Sats results. Most schools do the two together. Also, working beyond is the best you can get so I would not be concerned. It could be her progress has not needed to be spectacular to get there but the school seems a bit mean with its wording .