Teacher assesment grade lower than actual test results

[Ludoole]

Ive had my year 7 sons school report today and im slightly confused.

In all of his end of term tests through the year, he has received from a 5A (term 1), to a 6B (last term) in science.
However, his teacher has assessed him as a 5B???

Can anyone explain to me how his teacher thinks hes a 5B when in tests he has never scored below a 5A AND has increased his test scores term after term.

He's good at learning by rote/regurgitating for exams but his classwork, homework, peer appraisals, self-appraisals, practicals/lab work and Q+A in class all show he is working at level 5b rather than level 6b???

Ask.

Have you got a parents' evening coming up?
If not.... just ask to talk to the science teacher after school one day. Failing that - the form tutor. Honestly, if they're reporting that back to you, then they must have some concerns and they should only be grateful for your support (remind them of that if necessisary).

But also remember, be nice to start, but in the end it's the arsey parent who gets results.

He's a lazy arse like me. Did not a lot all year, frequently "forgot" my HW and got As in exams.

Drove my poor Biology master mental and my dear English mistress kicked me back to set one because I talk so much.

we have some QCA tests which score very, erm, generously and give fairly inflated grades. Teacher assessment of ongoing work is more likely to be accurate, if perhaps conservative, showing very secure levels rather than a level which a child is working towards. If you're not clear as to why/how they've arrived at the grade, can you ask to see the teacher or head of year?

Thanks for the replies.
He actually works really hard on his homework.
We had a parents evening but that was before we had picked up the report.
The teacher told me he was doing brilliantly and that in next weeks test he was looking to see a 6A?? He said that if he kept up the way it was going he could see him doing a triple science award and getting high marks.

He is very much a loner in the sense he likes to work alone and due to his shyness hes not very good at group work.
Would that have an impact on grading for science?

I will ask the school when i can, but hes got a training day tomorrow so it wont be til monday now...

Joking aside, I would ask.
There is certainly a differerence between the secure grade a teacher will give, every item in the check list highlighted as known and what a DC might get in an exam.

I've my fingers crossed DD2 gets her level 6 maths SAT.
But no way do I expect any high school maths teacher to give her level 6 until at least next summer. Scraping 50% in the test no way means she knows the work well enough to move on.

Maybe the higher grade is on the units covered but he hasn't actually done all level 6 syllabus yet. If the teacher gave him a 6b overall now and he still has a lot of level 6 to cover, you may have found him going nowhere for the next twelve months or so. But you can ask, because I may be wrong.

From our experience, the individual teacher grades that end up on the reports are often set BEFORE the final test results are in.

Also, the grade/level may be based on what they would be expected to get at the end of the key stage if they took the final test now.

DD always gets a 'working at' (what they would get if they continue to work at they rate they currently are) and a 'teacher assessed' (potential grade at end of key stage). When we have instances of the former being higher, it is either 1) the current terms work is something she was especially good at. or 2) the teacher is being 'careful' with the targets.

They are assessing different skills, the level descriptors are hard to find on the internet now due to the govt disbanding the institution that set them up, but the level boundaries on the tests are pretty leinent and not particularly extending, whereas the level descriptors for one of the many different threads on APP (assessing pupil progress - teacher assessment) are much more challenging eg use abstract models to explain phenomena and actually quite hard to hit in class settings. Have you asked your dc? as i always try to explain this a bit to the students.

There could have been a balls up, my school once nearly sent out reports where the grades for mfl were accidentally mixed with those for maths. Or the teacher could have mis-entered the grade. Phone and check before getting too worked up.

Cynical response here... I suspect the teacher knows she is going to need to show he makes progress over the next two years until he finishes Key Stage 3 in year 9 so she's marking him low now to give room for 'progress' in the future...

quite likely to be spot on, ATUA