Key Stage 3 Targets

[Charlie2000]

We have been given these with no information as to what they mean. My daughter has been given targets of 7C in English, Biology, Chemistry and Physics and a 7A in maths (don't know how because maths is not a strength!) She has 6a's in History, Geog, R.E and Spanish. Does any body what this means in terms of GCSE's and will these targets change over the next few years?

Should have said - she is in year 7

they are targets, nothing more. Schools have to give them but they are pretty meaningless and each school does its own thing.
Is she happy?
That matters more after the first term of secondary school.

Level 7 at end year 9 should equate to a B in gcse. The highest grade possible in national curriculum levels is an 8

But as a year 7 the whole key stage 4 is up in the air, probably to be replaced with Goves brainchild but will definitely be a single end of year exam and not modular ( as definite as we can know now)

Suffice to say on current knowledge the national expectation at end key stage 3 is a high 5 to a 6

No one knows what they mean in terms of GCSEs, even if GCSEs stay, because GCSEs have been made harder. I'd expect pass rates to fall further over the next few years.

I really wouldn't pay that much attention to targets anyway, as trying to predict the future is not a science. If they are computer generated targets, it is a misuse of data to give them to individual students anyway as they are average targets and are meant to be applied to and averaged out over a whole cohort of students.

It isn't a misuse of data to give students targets that are generated by algorithm but targets should be refined as the students develop.

It is. Those computer generated targets are not designed to be individual targets for individual students. They are to do with what the average student who is like that student would be expected to attain; across a year group you would expect the cohort, on average to meet them. That means some will be bang on, some will be above, some will be below, and that is expected. Yet you give them to students and if some are above they'll think they have done well and if some are below they will think they have failed. These computer generated targets also change year on year depending on what successive cohorts of students actually attain. I've been in the ridiculous situation of having computer generated targets for a group of Y11 students change after they have sat the exam.

What should be given to students, if targets are necessary, is a teacher assessed target based on how that student is actually performing at school at that time, and what is reasonable to expect from that student. This can be with a nod to the computer generated target, but shouldn't be dominated by it.

Theres a long way to go before GCSEs let her enjoy school instead of thinking about GCSEs in year 7.