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!

https://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/nursery-world/news/1164087/baseline-gbp10m-contract-goes-to-nfer-despite-protests-over-reception-assessment

I HE my kids.

It sounds like people have concerns about how the baseline assessment data is collected, used and interpreted.

I think a snapshot of how much variation there is at the start and then at Y6 would be interesting and could help to understand determinants of progress. If we understood this better we could tailor public policy to improve.

HOWEVER it sounds like people are concerned that it would be used to assess schools or individual children and that it would be considered More reliable than it actually is.

It looks like some organisation specialising in testing has been contracted to do this. I think this is not a good idea. The project needs consensus and buy-in among educational staff, academics, public. Perhaps if it was run by a multi-disciplinary team including practicing teachers, early years, academics, statisticians it would gain more support. Also needs to be more funding for it and possibly staff employed just to carry this out (as opposed to teachers in each of schools) - May increase observer reliability.

"possibly staff employed just to carry this out (as opposed to teachers in each of schools) - May increase observer reliability." The evidence is that children respond much more reliably for familiar trusted adults than external observers.

@Norestformrz - guess it’s a balance between the variability between different administrations of the test and the variability in the response of the child. Probably dependent on exactly what the test is (eg question based or observational). Need to anticipate problems eg what if child does not understand question, how should teacher rephrase it?

Children that age need the security of familiar adults (it's why they have key workers) regardless of the nature of the test.