SNSA: why must everything be SO complicated?

[Arkadia]

My eldest a few days ago sat the P7 version of the SNSA (she told me), so I asked the school to be shown what came out of it. However, just like last time, they are making things difficult.

To give you some context, when she sat the P4 variety I made a similar request. I had to write to the HT who told me that she couldn't share that information just yet (don't ask me why) and to contact her again after the summer holidays. I duly did that and was given an appointment for some weeks after that to, at long last, be shown the outcome.

This time I asked my DD's teacher on Teams (as there is no contact, physical or otherwise, between parents and school) who subsequently deleted that message and sent me a very "informative" email with a link to the government blurb on SNSA. So I replied that I knew all that, but I was interested in seeing the outcome of the test. She now said to contact the school (who have I been talking to, I wonder...). Considering that the new acting HT was CC-ed in the email she sent, plus some other individual I do not know, I am not sure who else I am supposed to talk to.

Why is everything so complicated? Why - using a word that has been in the news in the past few days - must they obfuscate everything? One can't but wonder, what do they feel they have to hide?
To those who will ask me why I want to see the outcome of this test I reply, "why not?"

It's just one of many ways of assessing where a young person is in their learning and so a "score" would be pretty meaningless on its own. It can be useful for identifying gaps in understanding or knowledge but it doesn't tell you whether someone is at the end of a CfE level or otherwise - that's a much bigger picture which can only be formed from a wide range of evidence. Have you asked the school for the outcomes of any other assessments or an overall picture? I would imagine they'd share the latter with you in a report or parents appointment at a defined point in the year.

Well, considering that there are no parents' evenings to be had this side of Christmas at least (not that they are ever been that informative or really useful...), in any case I think it is reasonably informative as, even if you don't know what questions one answers, one can still see what topics you were asked. Also you see where one is in relation to the class and the school. OK, you might get something right/wrong that you normally would/not, but by and large it gives you a ballpark.
In any case, given that the assessment exists and statistics are built using it, why just not share it instead of doing everything in the cloak if darkness?
My DD was told by the teacher that got all the maths questions right, but actually I am more interested in SPAG as she is not too good at that. Quite frankly, I expect her to come (near the) top of her year throughout (but that is not a big deal by any means because the bar is very low indeed), but still want to see an objective piece of work that is not mediated by the CoE speak.

Why do you need (or want) to know where your child is doing in relation to the rest of their year, or school?

Just ask for an update on how your child is doing, and discuss any concerns.

@DumplingsAndStew, why not?
I don't have any concerns (and if I had I wouldn't expect the school to address them). Instead I want to see a standardised piece of work everyone is expected to sit. Why shouldn't I? And, even more importai, why should I beg to see it?

I have taken the pupils through the SNSA in S3 so only have knowledge at that level. The computer program responds to the individual pupil's answers. If they are getting them correct it will give harder questions and vice versa if they are getting them wrong. So a question paper like you you would see for Nat 5 for example doesn't exist as each pupil is working through questions that respond to them.

Probably not much help but might offer an explanation as to why a standardised piece of work is not readily available .

Yes, I know all that @Lidlfix, but still... you do get an outline of what was answered incorrectly and how you fared overall (the famous thermometer).
As it exists, just let me see it (in the meantime I am still waiting on the school's latest response). The fact that my post on Teams where I asked about it was quickly deleted, to me speaks volumes.

I sympathise - the whole culture at the moment seems to be to trust parents with as little tangible information as possible - I had the exact same runaround.

Schools should not be doing tests if they don't share the results, the whole 'as part of a menu of other evidence' usually adds up to 'oh they're fine' on parents evening and no actual mention of SNSA.

If you want any peace of mind @Arkadia I'd consider a tutor, i never managed to get much from the school but when I mentioned freedom of information I did finally get scores but was told at length how meaningless they were!

You can see that on this thread - why do you, a parent, want information on your dc? You must be a control freak! Don't you trust teachers more than any other professional group to always be right?

I found it impossible outside of own dc's first p1 teacher to get any meaningful feedback about my dc.

@anon444877, totally!