Don't Test My 4 Year Old

[JamesEYFS]

Dear Parents

I've been lurking on Mumsnet for a little while but I think I may finally have something interesting to say.

I'm a teacher and a parent, in September I will be forced to conduct a baseline test with children new to school. The test is not for me or your child! It is there to generate data that the government and DfE are yet to make clear how they will use.

I, like many other teachers, academics and parents, feel that is wrong. If you do not wish your child to sit this test in September it is important to inform your new school as soon as possible. I've written an example letter/email in my blog post below.

www.jameseyfs.com/blog-1/don-t-test-my-4-year-old

I hope it's useful. I'd love to hear from you if you get a reply from your school!

That's interesting Justsigneduoforthis

I believe Sue Cowley has recently received her FOI request back. Apparently the data will not be stored anonymously but linked to the child's individual pupil number so that they can be tracked accross settings should they move. I actually think this is quite important because it may just give us data on the impact of changing schools etc (I'm thinking military families in particular).

Having participated in the previous failed baseline, I found that those "15-20" minute assessments took the best part of an hour once you got the the child settled, the iPad set up and the resources ready. I do wonder if taking a practitioner out for that length of time will be a positive. Also the baseline, in its current form, has been limited to just Maths and English. As we know, the scope of the EYFS is far wider than this and I believe that extended observational assessment and high quality interactions will give me a far better understanding of the child than a test on an iPad.

Love to hear your thoughts

Which baseline did you administer last time?

NFER. Our LA wanted us to do EE and I really wish I had. The wellbeing measure on that would of made for an interesting experience for me.

@Feenie

It's really interesting the "life after levels" debarkle. I often hear the age bands in Development Matters described as levels, have to bite my tongue :p

NFER was only paper based last time. Not on an iPad.

So how did it take you an hour on the iPad with each child?

Yes you're right I do apologise.

It is iPad this time though isn't it?

Having participated in the previous failed baseline, I found that those "15-20" minute assessments took the best part of an hour once you got the the child settled, the iPad set up and the resources ready.

So you just made all of that up to prove your point? How do you expect anyone to take your seriously?

Do you actually know anything about EYFS?

You set up an iPad for a paper test? That makes no sense. Nor does criticising MN for being anonymous when that's the point...

Delightful, thank you for your opinion.

Just so you're clear. I fully respect that some people support the baseline and that is absolutely fine. I don't. I think it's very important parents are as informed as possible before consenting to this and please parents go out and do your own research.

I hope @lostinnorfolk you'll do others the courtesy of being as respectful in the future.

I hope @lostinnorfolk you'll do others the courtesy of being as respectful in the future.

Attacking other people to take the heat off?

And you lied about the test taking you an hour on an iPad because?

I apologised before, I mistakenly remembered using an iPad several years ago. I swear I did have to use the iPad for something though. Maybe it was collating the data or maybe I was just making my own notes. It feels like a long time ago. Maybe it was just the guidance.

Lovely speaking to people so passionate about Early Years though.

DD starts reception in September. This is absolutely ludicrous, because I do have concerns about centrally stored information, but I'm worried about antagonising the school, I don't want to be "that parent" before she's even started.

Do you have a sense of how schools feel about the test?

It is iPad this time though isn't it?

The reception baseline is a task-based assessment, delivered in English, using physical materials that children can easily handle such as plastic shapes and picture sequencing cards. The wording of each task has been carefully designed to maximise accessibility and to be child-friendly. Practitioners will use an online scoring system to record the pupils’ responses; the child will not interact with the digital system.

Mixed reactions from schools. Next year is a trial. Some of signed up but a lot haven't a 50/50 split I believe.

One head I know on Twitter signed up and has just opted out. @headfornothing1

If you have concerns I would definitely ask for some clarification. Especially as, unless your child is born in the autumn term, will not be of compulsory school age.

Although this article suggests the numbers may be much lower:

www.daynurseries.co.uk/news/article.cfm/id/1609750/Thouseands-of-schools-sign-up-to-pilot-Reception-Baseline-Assessments/Thouseands-of-schools-sign-up-to-pilot-Reception-Baseline-Assessments

www.morethanascore.org.uk/what-we-do/baseline/

neu.org.uk/assessment/baseline-test-nobody-wants

"You can't possibly suggest a baseline test at 4 replaces a summative assessment at 7?"
It's not a suggestion ...
"All state-funded primary schools with a reception cohort (year group) will need to carry out the reception baseline assessment (RBA). The RBA is scheduled for introduction in September 2020.
Over 9,600 schools are participating in the reception baseline assessment (RBA) pilot in autumn 2019.
Schools will no longer have to carry out key stage 1 (KS1) assessments from September 2022, following the scheduled statutory introduction of the RBA."

"We will collect the data from the assessments to create school-level progress measures for primary schools, showing the progress schools make with their pupils from reception to the end of year 6.
We will use the data at the end of year 6 to measure pupils’ progress from reception to the end of key stage 2 (KS2). The RBA will not be used to track individual pupils or as a performance measure for early years providers.
Schools will get credit for the important work they do with their pupils between reception and year 6.
The key stage 1 (KS1) assessments in year 2 will be made non-statutory from the academic year 2022 to 2023."

Especially as, unless your child is born in the autumn term, will not be of compulsory school age.

Again, incorrect.

A child is of statutory school age the term after the term in which they turn 5. In the autumn term no reception pupils within their chronological age class are of statutory school age.

Compulsory school age is set out in section 8 of the Education Act 1996 and The Education (Start of Compulsory School Age) Order 1998. A child reaches compulsory school age on the prescribed day following his fifth birthday (or on his fifth birthday if it falls on a prescribed day). The prescribed days are 31 December, 31 March and 31 August.

Come on Norfolk weigh in then.

What is your opinion on the baseline?

Do you have any concerns?

What role do you have in education?

Apparently Mumsnet was vicious and he won't be back (posted on twitter).

I would say that Mumsnet is well informed and doesn't react well to those who spam and put themselves forwards as experts when their knowledge is clearly lacking and they haven't done basic research.

Mumsnet certainly doesn't suffer fools gladly, especially those who are trying to self promote.

My understanding is that the data will be used to assess progress between starting school and end of year 6. My concern is around how they take account of month of birth. One of my dcs was born in July and started school unable to do lots of the things her peers could do. Another dc was born in Sept and started school ahead of most of her peers. I think they are equally able, their different starting points simply reflect their age when they started reception. I think they will end up at approximately the same place at end of year 6, probably very close to the ceiling of what it is possible to achieve. Yet one child will have shown brilliant progress and one average progress.

The idea is to compare progress across schools but i don't think the progress data of individual schools will will be reliable due to month of birth effect on small samples of children. A school with lots of kids born in the Autumn term will look as if they have made poor progress compared to a school with lots of kids born in the summer term. By the end of reception, the effect of month of birth is much reduced, and even less by the end of year 2. (Worth noting the effect is still there at university undergrad level).

The alternative is to just have much higher targets for children born earlier in the academic year. But where does that lead? Year 6 exams are used to set targets for gcses, so are we happy that a July birthday child is going to be given lower gcse targets than one born in Oct? And for those targets to effectively be set when the child has just turned 4?. That seems nuts. And that is exactly what would happen.

@LostinNorfolk
What role do you think I have?

No idea. You clearly know your stuff though so I imagine you're extremely talented at whatever you do.

@Neolara

I was having a conversation with some colleagues in Southampton the other week. An interesting suggestion was to do the test in the term the children turns 5. It would then be more like a 5 year check.

But

That would not give the data the DfE want.