do teachers mark kids down at this time of year to look better later in the year?

[magicmallow]

Just that really. DS (7) is doing fantastically at reading and maths as evidenced at home, but has come home with average marks for most things on the end of term report. Last year he was exceeding expectations at all subjects at end of year report.

I don't want to be "that" parent, but I'm wondering if it's strategic so they can look like the child has improved over the course of the school year and give them good grades at the end of the year?

I'm a bit wound up if I'm honest, as for example I think his book level at school is way lower than he's capable, for example he reads whole chapter books every evening but is given way too easy books to bring home that are way under his level. This seems pointless.

Either it's me wrongly thinking he is beyond these levels (certainly for reading I feel sure he's doing really well), or his teacher isn't recognising what he is capable of, or it's so she can mark him higher later in the year (if that's a thing??).

I used to be a teacher and without knowing your child, would say that they were EE for that curriculum (so y2 for example) however against the year 3 targets they are working towards them as they haven’t covered everything yet... so is exactly where he should be.

Reading books... does he definitely understand what he is reading? His comprehension is sound? Often childrencan read it aloud perfectly without clear comprehension....why not ask what you can do to progress his reading?

So no, I don’t think it’s that they mark children down...

No we don't.

It's a whole new set of objectives for each year so the teacher doesn't know what your child can fill do and also they haven't completed the curriculum in one term. What was the overall projections for your child ie what has the teacher predicted them to get in English? Expected? Exceeding? Each school has their own system now since levels were got rid of.

No we don't, however as pp has said most children will be working towards objectives rather than exceeding them as it's early in the year. The only time I have had to do anything like marking down (although still not really) was when I taught in eyfs and the advisor was really strict about having see a child do something several times before ticking it off..

Agree with @ellesbelles.

@magicmallow Your DS is being assessed against yr3 work, so he won't be able to be exceeding yet as they won't have completed the curriculum, whereas end of year report they will have done. However if you are at all worried, please see his teacher in the new year to discuss.

As for reading, again I'd look at asking your DS questions on what he is reading. Can he justify opinions by using the text for example? Can he infer how the characters may be feeling?

This link might help you going forward:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-english-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in-england-english-programmes-of-study#lower-key-stage-2--years-3-and-4

I don’t, but I know many who do, albeit secondary.

I'd say yes. We've noticed it every year with our DS both at primary and secondary schools. Not just attainment either - the "effort" or "attitude" results are usually average at first, then move up each term. We've always thought it was to give the impression of progress being made by the teacher. Never been sure why DS's "effort" should be marked as exceptional in the July report, but average at the following Christmas report, nearly every year with nearly every different teacher.

Yes. They need to show improvement throughout the year.

Also they are often inflated at the summer grading which really pisses off the new teacher in September who rants about it in the staffroom.

I'm sure some don't but all the schools I've worked in are like this.

In fact my last one. the deputy would send an email reminding people during first grading, to be mindful of improvement targets.

Say that there are 30 year 3 objectives to be covered over the year. The school decides that a child is below if they have achieved between 1 and 10 of these, developing if they have achieved between 11 and 20, secure if they have between 21 and 27 and exceeding if they achieve over 28.
In the first term the teacher has taught 10 of the objectives. A child has achieved 9 of them but is still assessed as below. In the second term, another 10 are taught. The child achieves 10 of these so has 19 altogether and so will be developing. The last ten are taught in the summer term. If the child achieves 8, they will be secure, if they achieve 9 they will be exceeding. But there is no way they can be exceeding in the first two terms as they haven't been taught enough of the objectives to reach the" magic 28"

Ignore ,, on my knees here. My class are hard work this year.

thank you everyone. Lots of differing responses here, but definitely lots of food for thought!

I am probably being overinvested, it's just good to know what may or may not be influencing things and to think about what we can do to improve.

Much appreciated!

I doubt that's what's happening. Some teachers seem to require higher standards to reach 'exceeding' and it's only been a term so DS may need more time to show what he's capable of.

If they get exceeding at the end of a year narrowly they tend to move down for the next report ime of dd1. It's the way the new curriculum works at my dcs' school anyway. Over KS2 she got more established in all and it doesn't happen now. Dd2 I'm really relieved to see expected

But don't worry about having a quiet, sensible word with the teacher - you'd have to do a lot worse than that to be labelled 'that parent'. Generally they like parents to be engaged and interested.

OP when they are assessed on reading, it isn't about how hard a book they can read at home. It's much more in depth.

I'd say yes. We've noticed it every year with our DS both at primary and secondary schools. Not just attainment either - the "effort" or "attitude" results are usually average at first, then move up each term. We've always thought it was to give the impression of progress being made by the teacher. Never been sure why DS's "effort" should be marked as exceptional in the July report, but average at the following Christmas report, nearly every year with nearly every different teacher.

This happens every year so you assume it’s that all teachers are gaming rather than there being a logical explanation.

Like the curriculum requirements, expectations of effort are different year on year. A child just entering year 3, fresh from KS1, is very different from a child leaving year 3. So the year 4 teachers expect them to show it and not regress.

Another interpretation, if this happens every year, is that your child takes time to settle in with his new teacher and show what he can really do.

The children might well have sat the PIRA and PUMA/ equivalent tests and not done very well. I had several who threw up unexpected results (higher and lower) and even if I thought a child was on track to be GD I wouldn’t put that if their test results were poor. Likewise I wouldn’t just use the tests if their performance in class was not at the same standard.

If your child is tracking to be Expected when they were GD last year, the teacher has nothing to gain by tracking them as lower than expected progress (which is what it would be classed as) as they will be asked what they are putting in place to improve their progress. I expect many/ most of mine who haven’t made expected progress to actually make it over the year but wouldn’t give it to them at this stage unless I were completely confident they will make it by July. Usually, massive strides are made in the spring term. Autumn term is very unreliable.

In a good school, it shouldn’t be just the class teachers view of what the DC is attaining. The assessments should be moderated by SLT or other teachers. This should ensure fairness and accuracy.

There are DC who get exceeding in the Autumn term. It’s not impossible! The curriculum doesn’t lead to one huge exam at the end in July. It’s a cumulative learning process so some elements can be exceeding on the way.

Good schools should also explain to parents how their “brand” of assessment works so parents understand it and can be confident in it. There’s a lot of research available regarding how it’s working overall but every school can have a different assessment policy and method. So you could ask for clarification on how it works in your school. That’s a perfectly sensible thing to do. Some comments here won’t relate to your school so you need to find out how your school works.

The really interesting thing to know is: how accurate are they? Do assessments reflect Sats results? Also I do know some teachers are reluctant to be generous with their assessments! They err on the cautious side. You could ask about this too! Hope this helps.

I never did this when I taught.

Although DS1 worked out very quickly that if he did too well earlier in the year, he'd be given what he considered ridiculous targets. So he would hold back a bit then 'improve' and exceed his targets as the year went on . Took me a while to twig he was doing this . No doubt he'll fit into a workplace somewhere wonderfully in ten years' time...

They haven't completed all the work yet. They can't exceed on work not yet done. The work levels and depth build up over the year. We have only completed a third of the year.

They will have completed maths topics and some DC will be working at greater depth in that. Especially the very bright sparks. DC are also working at greater depth in reading if they are reading and understanding more complex books. The assessments can only be made on work some, but it’s not necessarily cumulative. In maths, for example, if you are teaching factors, you are not assessing on fractions. Therefore DC are judged on what topic they are doing this term, not what they haven’t done. That’s impossible. It will also depend what assessment policy is in use, so parents should be given info on assessment.

On work done ....

But schools will complete summative assessments in different ways. We don't assess as overall exceeding if someone has mastered one topic out of 20 that need to be covered over the year, we assess against year group objectives. Otherwise you would end up with 20 different levels for 20 different topics over the year. Exceeding for fractions, expected for measure, secure for addition, below for division etc.

If teachers mark down pupils now I would be querying progress against the end of the previous year at pupil progress meetings. So I doubt they would be massaging data.

Same here. I've just had pupil progress meetings and have had discussions with teachers about those children who have not shown good progress from last year. In some instances there are good reasons why this hasn't happened, new topics, home situations etc but poor progress is certainly monitored!