Life without Levels Assessing children without levels

Old way of assessing using levels Using levels on a continuum. W1C1B1A2C2B2A3C3B3A4C4B4A5C5B5A6 Y1Y2Y3Y4Y5 Y6 Linked to statements in the national curriculum.

Old way of assessing using levels.

Why get rid of levels? What does the DFE say? “We believe this system is complicated and difficult to understand, especially for parents. It also encourages teachers to focus on pupil’s current level, rather than consider more broadly what the pupil can actually do. Prescribing a single detailed approach to assessment does not fit with the curriculum freedoms we are giving schools. With the introduction of the New Curriculum it is time to re-think”. The new curriculum was introduced in Sept 2014 for years 1,3,4,5 & Sept 2015 for years 2 & 6.

What has changed in the new curriculum? Lots of changes – the new curriculum is a lot more prescriptive in English and Maths, less prescriptive in the Foundation Subjects. The expectations are much higher than ever before, with much of the curriculum being shifted down into lower year group, particularly in English and Maths. For example some old Y5 expectations can now be found in Y3, some Y7 / 8 in Y5 / 6

What will levels be replaced with? There is nothing from the DfE to replace levels and assessments. Teachers are expected to continue to track progress and provide regular information to parents and OFSTED. Schools have been given the freedom to design their own approaches to assessment, to support pupils attainment and progression.

Summative Tests For SATs in Years 2 and 6 as per the rest of the country we remained using levels as we know them. This is why year 2 and year 6 didn’t study the new curriculum in Sept 2014, as they would be tested on the old in May We also reported to parents for other year groups using levels for Maths and Literacy. This was our period of transition from levels to our new system.

Summative Tests New Tests for Year 2 Previous tests and tasks replaced by a new set of tests which will now include a Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling as well as a Maths Paper, Reading paper and a writing task in Year 2. (In May 2016).

Summative Tests New tests for Year 6 Mental Maths test replaced with Arithmetic Test Reading Test Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling Test (2 papers) Maths Test (2 reasoning papers) Writing assessment will be based on a portfolio of writing for each child. These writing pieces will be collected over time. There will not be a separate ‘level 6’ paper in any subject for high attainers as the government have said that the tests from 2016 should “provide a suitable challenge for all children and give every child the opportunity to achieve as high a standard as possible”. A new baseline has been introduced into Foundation Stage and in the future, progress through school will be monitored against this.

Summative Tests No national Science test, but there will be statutory Science sampling Scoring: Will NOT be in levels Scaled scores will be used to report the outcome of the tests, the National Standard will be 100, but the threshold to be placed at (the raw score) may change each year

Assessing progress in school – a new way of assessing. After exploring and analysing several different options and working collaboratively with the ‘Federation of Oldham’s Catholic primary schools’, we decided to invest in a system called ‘Target Tracker’. This is the same system used by the other Oldham Catholic Primary schools and by our feeder school – Newman R.C College.

What does the new system look like? Each year group will now be assessed on a ‘Band’ These bands are referred to as being ‘Age Related’ Sets of statements for each subject set out the expectations for that year group Each band is then divided into steps – Beginning, Beginning plus Working within, Working within plus Secure, Secure plus Year 1Band 1 Year 2Band 2 Year 3Band 3 Year 4Band 4 Year 5Band 5 Year 6Band 6

What does the new system look like? Age related

What does the new system look like?

The statements in the band are taken from the new National Curriculum and relate to what a child should be taught and learn during that year. They are what children should achieve by the end of the year. These sub steps enable us to monitor progress and relate directly to the objective statements in the curriculum. It clearly identifies where the gaps are in learning and allows the teacher to build this into planning – closing the gaps. C:\Users\helen\Desktop\Band 3 Poster-English-Reading- SpokenLanguage.pdf

What does the new system look like? Please remember that changes to the national curriculum have meant that the skills expected to be taught to and achieved by children have become much harder. This means that in many cases a child may appear to have gone backwards, while in actual fact it is the skill that has moved, for example a skill previously expected in year 3 may now be in year 2. This is true throughout the country.

Assessments at Corpus Christi Teachers continually assess pupils’ work and may change the step within a band at which a child is working at any point. Teachers plan their lessons based on what the children in the class need to learn in order to progress –this is based on the objective statements within the National Curriculum. Formal Assessments take place once each term, and following this the summative judgements are recorded in our Progress and Attainment Tracking programme – Target Tracker. Progress Meetings are held each term to look at individual and whole class progress, to identify any problems and look at ways of addressing these.

Attainment Indicators What we should all be aiming for is progress throughout the year, culminating in children being Secure in the Year Band by the end of the year. Children can be working at a different Year Band above or below. Until a child is secure in a band they cannot be assessed against the next year group’s band –this is because they are not completely secure in the previous year’s learning.

The mastery model of learning The principle that most or all pupils will attain the required standards embedded in the new National Curriculum is challenging. It implies an approach to learning and teaching and therefore to assessment that makes certain as many pupils as possible: have attained key learning intentions can use and apply concepts and skills before moving on through the curriculum to achieve greater coverage. This is called ‘the Mastery Model’

The mastery model of learning First all pupils would be introduced to new learning and given opportunities to develop their understanding. Teachers would assess through formative assessment to distinguish those learners who had successfully mastered the new learning, and could clearly demonstrate it, from those who needed more time and correctional/further instruction in order to do so. After that, the children who had mastered new learning would be provided with opportunities to deepen and enrich their understanding, whilst those still acquiring the learning would receive further support and feedback personalised to their needs, so that they too achieved the intended learning. So mastery is about acquiring new learning and then being able to apply that learning across the breadth of the curriculum independently before moving on to further new learning. It is ‘deep learning’

Reporting Progress The bands are completely linked to statements, from which the teachers plan. (packs available for the year group your child is in) A child HAS to be able to achieve the previous band of statements before moving onto the next band, so if a child has not achieved the skills required in Band 2 during year 2, then they will not move into band 3 in year 3, they need to be taught and to achieve the missing statements from band 2. At the start of the academic year –September- most children will only be ‘beginning’ as they have only just started that year group band.

Reporting Progress At the end of the year you will receive an annual report as usual, and it will tell you about what your child can do and what the next steps are in their learning. In 2016 this we will also tell you about the Band within which your child falls, and the step within it for English and Maths. Foundation subjects will continue to be reported in terms of skills achieved. We are working on using the steps system for all subjects by There is also a focus on children being able to explore the curriculum in more depth and being able to apply their learning before moving on – the concept of MASTERY. So it is likely that not so many children will be ‘exceeding’ because of these raised expectations.

National Tests 2016 – Year 2

National Tests 2016 – Year 6

Resources Please take a leaflet with highlights the key points raised today. There are packs available for the year group your child is working in. These indicate the statements which will be used for assessment purposes. These are also available to download on our website under information/assessment.