SATS results - question from a dumbo

[boyngirl]

Hi - 7 year old ds just got yr 2 SATS results. Sorry to be thick/uninformed but what is top grade? (I have tried to google it; other parents I asked weren't sure. The school is a very touchy feely state school where they actively will not talk about SATS they are so mad keen on not putting pressure on the kids so I'm loathe to ask!). My son got all 3s. Ta

3s are the top

They are teacher assessments, not SAT results. They are drawn from lots of sources of evidence, not just the tests.

Ok,head referred to them as SATs (in the only talk he gave,he said we weren't to mention the 's'word to the kids)...?

from what i understand from dd's school, all of yr2 will have sat a level 2 paper, some will have also sat a level 3 paper, the grades given in the report are made up from a variety of things, sats result, performance during the year, various other tests and the teacher evaluation. you can ask for the specific sats test results if you really want to see them.

average nationally is a 2b, and the grades go, from bottom to top, 2, 2c, 2b, 2a, 3.

oh ok, thank you for clarifying

We got a sheet to expalin the results as follows:

Y1 = level 1a/2c
y2 = level 2b
y3 = level 2a/3c
y4 = level 3b
y5 = level 3a/4c
Y6 = level 4b

My understanding is that these are the expected levels.
1c,1b,1a,2c,2b,2a,3c,3b,3a,4c,4b,4a,5c,5b,5a
y1__>y6

Sorry I just copied and pasted from a thread I answered on yesterday but I thought found it helpful.

Delete as appropriate thought/found

thanks gorionine!

Not all children will have been tested using a level 2 paper - some with special educational needs will not be able to access a maths or reading paper at that level and will have been assessed by the teacher separately. They will still have participated in the writing tasks unless working at an extremely low level. There is no requirement for children known to be working at level 3 to sit the level 2 papers (this applies to maths and reading) but in practice, many teachers get the children to complete the level 2 papers first as it gives the children a chance to become familiar with the format before they take the level 3 paper.

lilac21 "and will have been assessed by the teacher separately"

All of the children will have been assessed separately - assessment in Y2 is all about building a bigger picture of the child's whole attainment - the tests form a very small part of this.

Blimey it's really complicated! Do you think it's true that schools bump the scores up for their results?
Anyway, to be honest I'm just happy my ds is loving school as he was horribly shy when he started and now has loads of very loud boisturous (sp?) mates and is happy as larry.

boyngirl bumping up the scores in Y2 would only put pressure on the school to match the results in Y6 which are at present externally marked (I'm assuming it is a primary school not an infant only?)

yes primary, see your point mrz

I just wonder how realistic the assessments are...in terms of future projections...my dd got level 3's plus a 3a in reading (I know most schools don't give sub levels at level 3 but dd's do).

So based on this assessment she would be above average for year 4 when she is a young child in yr 2...she reads very well and her comprehension and imagination are very good too...which I am proud of given that when she started reception she couldn;t read or write a word..... but she has always loved books.

I'm expecting that she will level out this year...although she only just seems to have got into full flow and is really enjoying learning .....

I don't think any tests or assessments can 100% accurately predict what is going to happen 3 or 4 years in the future and it's silly to use them this way. A test shows what a child was capable of on that particular day and depends greatly on the content and wording of the questions. Teacher assessment should be more accurate as it reflects what a child is doing on a day to day week to week basis. BUT and it is a big but many things can happen to a child between Y2 and Y6 which will effect their progress - they just need to be ill on the day of a SAT test to skew the predictions completely for example.

Feenie - I know what I'm talking about thanks, I'm a year 2 teacher with a child working at P8. She was assessed separately in that she did not sit any of the test papers.

Not suggesting that you don't know what you're talking about at all, lilac, and sorry if it came across like that; just clarifying the point that Y2 is less about the papers anyway, but more about teacher assessment.

teamedward, we were told at a school meeting just after easter that if we wanted to see their specific marks we could. i haven't made it up!

That's very kind of them - they aren't legally obliged to, and it's such a little part of the bigger picture (unless the school trains them for the tests) that the specific mark isn't that crucial, iyswim.

the school doesn't train them for tests, they didn't do any practice papers, and when they did sit the sats, it was all done in a quite relaxed way. someone asked dd if she had done her sats, dd replied, 'what are sats?'!. although, i suspect, as with most schools, there may have been a few parents coaching their dc's since christmas in preparation!

We got told DS's specific marks and DD said she was going to be told hers this week.