How often does your school assess?

[lalalonglegs]

I am currently visiting secondary schools for my oldest child. At one of them, the HT said that yhe cjildren do tests everu half term to measure their progress which seemed a crazy amount - am I being naive? Is this normal?

Tests or assessments?

I teach MFL and we assess 4 times a year; each skill area is tested 3 times.

At my kids school, they seems to test them every other week. I thought it was a bit much at first, but the good thing is that at least they are forced to learn the material and when it comes to the 'big' exams, they aren't that phased by them. I think it is normal.

I got the impression it was a proper test every six weeks. I felt it would be teaching to the test but perhaps I'm over-reacting?

Well they probably are teaching to the test, but isn't that what GCSEs are all about? Ultimately, if they are going to be taking exams in the future, then developing good study and revision skills along the way isn't necessarily a bad thing. I think it's good that the school wants to make sure that the child is progressing academically and, like it or not, tests are arguably one of the best ways of doing this. I do understand your concerns though, I wasn't at all happy about it at first. It seemed to me that all of the fun would be taken out of school and learning and that it would all be terribly stressful. But the kids seem to cope very well.

The teachers should be assessing the pupils every lesson!

Formal exams are once a year, and in a lot of schools not even that. Tests normally at the end of a topic, especially in Sciences.

It is probably very different to how you were taught.

DD1 has had topic tests every half term for the academic subjects since Yr7 - she has to revise for them and they count towards her final report. I was tested in exactly the same way in Holland in the 1980s, not strange at all. They need to get used to assessment and develop exam technique at this age.

In addition their homework is assessed as well and logged.

At ds's new school there are 3 periods of full assessment a year done at the end of each term plus ongoing assessment through homework and lessons so that if a child is not meeting the targets set in September it is addressed long before the end of the school year via a traffic light system. It's pretty much identical to how his primary school did things including the once-termly assessment week so he won't notice much difference apart from there now being far more subjects to have to revise for.

We do assessments pretty much constantly, but you would experience that largely as homework. We test at the end of each unit (roughly every 4 weeks at KS3, 3 weeks at GCSE), and there are three exams a year, on everything taught so far. We only level/grade these exams.

Ours assess their work every lesson. Then I assess them at the end of a project, but also assess them all the time in my head through questions etc.

We have one set of exams per year. Ofsted outstanding school

Yes, my older two have assessments or tests in each subject five times a year, partly to check that they are making progress in that subject and partly to check they understand the material covered that half term. It is quite useful because it makes them revise each topic as they go along, and highlights if there is a big gap in their understanding.

Hmm, I probably should have said "test" rather than "assess". You're right, mummytime, it is very different to when I was at school but then I did go to a particularly crappy one . It does seem over the top to me and, while I agree sitting exams is important, I'm not sure the constant testing is the best way to achieve good results - but I am reassured that it may be relatively normal.