Midyis question

[longshot]

For those who have children who did Midyis tests in year 7 and were given the results…

Have their subject grades in year 7/8/9 ‘backed up’ the original Midyis data or not?

I am trying to work out if my DD is doing better than predicted on those tests OR if the school just award high grades quite easily in the earlier years.

for example she scored very high in maths on midyis and always generally gets 90%+ A which is what I’d expect BUT in all her subjects she is getting all A/A. I’m wondering if she’s really just doing well or if I need to expect that to drop down perhaps at some point? Her Midyis scores in year 7 were all fine but none as high as the maths. Her overall score was 93 percentile (so top 7%) which I assume is quite high but that was definitely bolstered by the maths (which was 98) and was lower in vocabulary and skills (78) for example. Does it matter? Probably not but I’m just working out if I should be anticipating grades dropping at some (harder!) point.

What was the overall Midyis score and score in different parts? Sounds like an overall score of something like between 120 and 125 to me??

A student in this ballpark would be targeting upper GCSE grades 7-9 and should be able to get some top grades in their strongest areas. Progress across the curriculum and through time isn’t linear. Most students will have phases where everything clicks and they get top grades in tests etc and other phases when they don’t. They can still get top grades in the end.

A spiky profile, with significant differences across the different skills tested can be an indication of possible SEN and is worth asking g the school about. Notice, I just say possible.

In the end Midyis scores measure performance in the test against many thousands of students of a similar age and across time. Any outcome predictions are based on averages and likely outcomes on a mass of data. There will always be individuals who don’t perform as average and under or over perform and the data can’t tell you which students will be in this category.

Students with high Midyis will be spotted as able and this can be taken into consideration when choosing GCSE options, setting etc. Some kids breeze through secondary and are top of their class throughout and some with seemingly little effort. Others have a more rocky journey. They might fluctuate in their progress and things like organisation, motivation and SEN can impact their progress across the years and at the end with the exams.

High Midyis are encouraging though…they suggest a DC has natural ability and the potential to do well. There’s no point pressurising them on this basis or having very fixed ideas about what they ‘should’ achieve. In fact, most schools do t tell parents this data but use it for internal purposes to track the cohort as a whole and compare it to previous cohorts and their outcomes, as well as seeing how individuals are doing…but it is just one part of the picture as teachers will know students and see things the data doesn’t show.

Thank you, this is very helpful. Her overall score was 123. It’s more that I don’t want her to be disappointed if her grades start dropping but maybe I don’t need to worry about it. I do think she probably is capable of 7-9 in most areas so hopefully if she continues working as hard now she can achieve that.

The lowest score was in ‘skills’ which was 110 and I don’t really know what that means but my basic understanding leads me to it being to do with checking work thoroughly and taking care with spelling and grammar? DC is not a very good speller and has not the greatest handwriting but other than that everything so far seems to be grade A or higher so maybe (so far) nothing major has cropped up and she hasn’t dropped many marks on those things. Ideally I would like to support her in that area but do you have any pointers on what to do / where to look? School should also help but as all grades are high no advice has been given as yet. I’m sure that may change this year.

I suppose I’m wondering if ‘skills’ can be the difference between a grade 7 and 8 or even 9 for an able child and how I can help her to address those things that will help her when the time comes. It is interesting what you say about ‘spiky’. I am not sure if she fits the bill for that but I have always wondered if she possibly is mildly dyslexic. My brother is very smart but can’t spell and has atrocious handwriting (and is dyslexic). But because she performs highly across all subjects generally I’ve never thought to investigate it further. She reads a lot so that’s not something I need to
encourage especially although perhaps there are specific books that would be beneficial.

110 isn’t a particularly low score.

If you google Midyis you will find links to the provider and it will tell you what the 4 parts measure and show the bell curve of scores.

Skills isn’t checking work.

123 overall is a v good score. 110 is a good score. It might not be a fully even profile but few people have this and many have much greater extremes. It is a snapshot and really for the school. You don’t need to do anything in response to it, nor worry about your DC or them being held back. Don’t worry too much about each individual test - some will go better than others and there will be many many along the way. Not always coming top is a good learning experience in lots of ways. Schooling is a marathon and not a sprint. You can rest assured that your DC starts from a strong position.

Thank you @WombatChocolate

Have their subject grades in year 7/8/9 ‘backed up’ the original Midyis data or not?
I am trying to work out if my DD is doing better than predicted on those tests OR if the school just award high grades quite easily in the earlier years.

Mostly backed up, but not for all subjects (DD in year 9)

Her MidYIS score was high and performance across subjects had been good except for English where she is consistently below where the school believes she should be.

Similarly situation as your - maths score was very high (9th stanine) while vocabularly and 'skills' lower (8th and 7th stanine), but maths lifted up the average, and (IMO) makes the MidYIS score look better.

We didn't tell DD her score (thought she might feel pressurised) and sort of forgot about it until this year when it came up in a meeting with her English teacher when she explained why DD's attainment in English was below her 'expected level'. In other subjects she is at 'expected level' though.

Like with all such averages, there must be variations in individual performances on either side of the central estimate of whatever MidYIS is 'predicting'.