Introduction to CEM Primary Dr Chris Jellis Research Associate CEM

What Will We Cover? What makes a good baseline assessment? The concept of Developed Ability Adaptive assessments CEM Primary assessments

What is a Baseline Assessment? A baseline assessment is a measure of what the children know and understand before they have any teaching from us It is a summary of the experiences, both learning and otherwise, that they have had prior to coming to school

What do young children know? The names of some everyday things Some letters Some numbers Maybe some counting Maybe some reading Possibly some simple sums The most able will be able to retain these things more readily than others

What Makes a Good Baseline Assessment? A good baseline assessment will use items that cover the range of experiences that the children have had and be sufficiently discriminatory that we can separate children into groups depending on what they know. Some items are good predictors of future learning and including these allows predictions to be made about progress.

What Can Baseline Data Tell Us That We Don’t Already Know? Profile of strengths and weaknesses for planning appropriate learning experiences Early indicator of special educational needs Monitor progress and attitudes of pupils and cohorts over time Enables comparisons between groups to be made more easily

Comparisons Children within a class – Range of abilities Groups such as boys/girls – Differences/Similarities Classes within a year-group – Parallel classes Current cohorts with previous ones – Changes in intake Progress over time – Comparing current performance with previous performance

Developed Ability Most assessments include a measure of developed ability CEM Primary assessments use – Vocabulary – Non Verbal Ability Why would we need that measure?

Developed Ability Maths Test Marks 8/10 7/10 4/10 3/10 Average ability Low ability Average ability High ability

Assessment Types Traditional Assessments – Typical of pencil and paper tests – Range of questions matches national averages Adaptive Assessments – Usually computerised – Questions chosen to suit pupil ability

Traditional Assessment Q1Q2Q3Q4Q5Q6Q7Q8Q9Q10Q11

Adaptive Assessments SubjectQ1Q2Q3Q4Q5Q6Q7Q8 Words Letters Reading000 Numbers Sums1000

Adaptive Assessments Item Difficulty Pupil Age Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10 Q1 Q2 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10 Q3 Ability

CEM Primary Assessments AssessmentYear GroupsTime of Year ASPECTSNurseryAnytime PIPS BaselineReceptionFixed PIPSY1 to Y6Fixed InCASY1 to Y6Anytime

Any Questions? Chris Jellis Research Associate CEM