Mrs McMullen Parent Forum Wednesday 27th January 2016 Assessment Mrs McMullen Parent Forum Wednesday 27th January 2016

Assessment Assessment means … the process of making a judgement or forming an opinion, after considering something or someone carefully The purpose of most forms of assessment in the classroom should be to inform people of how much progress a student is making. Assessment can take many different forms and does not need to be limited to tests and exams.

The purpose of most forms of assessment in the classroom The purpose of most forms of assessment in the classroom should be to inform people of how much progress a student is making. Assessment can take many different forms and does not need to be limited to tests and exams. Here are two types of assessment: Activity assessment a) Did you like that activity? b) Was that activity easy or difficult? c) What was the hardest part of that? d) Was the activity useful? How? Why? Self-assessment a) Now I can … b) I still need to work on … c) I’ve improved in … d) Today I learnt … e) In the test I got X and Y wrong. I’m going to study these for homework

Assessment – changing attitudes One of our first tasks as a teacher has got to be to help our students become more comfortable with the idea of assessment. Because assessment often has a negative connotation and is equated with tests, passing, failing and scores, this can be quite a challenge. But if we can make our students understand that assessment is actually beneficial then it will make the whole process easier. Here are a few simple ideas aimed at achieving this:

When should assessment take place? The simple answer is that it should take place at every stage of the learning process and that it should be fairly frequent. Of course, there are many different forms of assessment. So, at the start of a course some form of diagnostic assessment should take place to see how much students know. This can then be used as a form of ‘benchmark’ used later on to see how much progress has been made. Throughout a course various forms of assessment can be used, from homework, project work, in class activities to more formal tests.

Making the student become comfortable with assessment Here are a few simple ideas aimed at achieving this: Talk about assessment with your students. a) What is assessment? b) Why do we assess students? c) How are we going to assess them? d) What are the criteria used? Are these criteria clear? Get students involved in assessment. a) Use self-assessment, i.e. ‘Can do’ statements. b) Use peer assessment. c) Get students to come up with assessment criteria / agree criteria with students. d) Get students involved in picking or designing assessment tasks.

Make assessment part of the teaching and learning process. a) If you can build in a form of assessment regularly, maybe even every lesson, then your students will become used to it and therefore more comfortable. b) Make sure you include the results of any assessment into your teaching. For example, if students have a particular problem with an aspect of grammar then go back over the grammar in a lesson making it clear that you are doing this because it was identified as a problem from the assessment. If students can see that you actually take notice of the assessment, and not simply the score, it will become more meaningful and positive for them

Making the students aware the key here is to make students see assessment as part of the teaching and learning process that has a direct influence on what is taught. If students understand that assessment is about the process and not simply about a product (i.e. a score), then they will start to have a more positive attitude towards it.

Areas of Assessment Diagnostic tests Portfolios 'Can do' statements, self-assessment and peer assessment Assessing skills Assessing tasks and lessons Preparing students for tests and exams Assessing Young Learners

Assessment – data captures KS4 – every half term (February half term / Easter) KS3 – Half termly from Jan 2016 (Spring term 2 – Easter)

Key Stage 3 Preparing for mastery curriculum Maths – KPI (2015/2016)- Year 7-8 Maths – Grade 1-9 (2015/16) – Year 9 English – KPI (2015/ 2016) – Year 7 – 9 Foundation subjects – levels (2015/2016) Year 7-9 Foundation subjects – KPI (2016/17) Year 7-9

Key Stage 4 (2015-2016) Grade 1-9 Maths – Grade 1-9 Year 10 Maths – Grade A* - G Year 11 English – Grade 1-9 Year 10 English – Grade A*- G Year 11 Foundation subjects Grade A* - G Year 11 Grade A* - G Year 10

Point Score Table 2016 - 2017 GCSE Grade BTEC grade 2015 points Distinction* 58 8 8.5 A Distinction 52 7 B Merit 46 6 5.5 C Pass 40 5 4 D L3 – Distinction 34 3 E L2 Merit 28 2 L1 Pass 25 2.5 1.75 F 22 1.5 G 16 1 U

Dept. of Education – Table – - caution

Progress 8 Measured from how far the child has moved from their starting point form KS2-4. Progress is expressed as the difference between a pupils actual result and what we expect them to achieve. Currently – Threshold measure% of pupils making at least 3+ level / 4+ level of progress in English & Maths. This will go. All pupil measure of the value added score - This will go. Progress 8 is an ‘all pupil’ measure to VA The floor target will be based on Progress 8

Floor Standard The floor standard for a school is the minimum standard for pupil achievement that the Government expects schools to meet. In 2016 a school will be below floor standard in their Progress 8 score is below -0.5. The upper band of the 95% confidence interval is below 0. If a school’s performance fall below this floor standard, then the school may come under scrutiny through inspection. Schools which make one grade more progress than the national average will be exempt from routine inspections by Ofsted in the next academic year.

Example School confidence intervals +1.0 = School looking to get outstanding 0 = In line with national average - 0.5 = under floor target – significantly below national average Minus = school may come under scrutiny of an Ofsted Inspection