Robertson House SROB210
Six Hills Way
Stevenage, Herts, SG1 2FQ
Tel: / 01438 844767
F.A.O. Headteacher, SLT, / Email: /
Assessment Leader / Date: / 1st December 2015
Dear Colleague
Primary Assessment Updates – December 2015
The world of assessment has been developing at a rapid pace recently, so I am writing this additional ‘termly letter’, to make you aware of some of the key changes. NB there are several hyperlinks within this letter. Therefore you may find it easier to access this letter electronically online so that you can click on the hyperlinks directly. This letter can be found at www.thegrid.org.uk/learning/assessment/updates
Items contained in this letter are:
· changes to statutory assessment including the timing of submission of teacher assessments and of external moderation
· information on 2016 ‘floor standards’ and ‘coasting schools’
· calculation of progress (from KS1 to KS2) in 2016
· developments and updates to the HfL assessment system
· RAISEonline, FFT Aspire and Herts Assessment Profile
Changes to Statutory Assessment including Teacher Assessments at KS1 and KS2
Although the Assessment & Reporting Arrangements documents for KS1 and KS2 do not indicate any change to teacher assessment submission dates, information now coming from the Standards & Testing Agency shows that there are in fact going to be some substantial changes this year, as follows:
· the date of statutory teacher assessment submission (KS1 and KS2) is to be brought forward (exact dates to be confirmed, but I believe it will be KS2 teacher assessment to be submitted by end of May and KS1 teacher assessments by mid-June)
· external moderation of these assessments must all take place after the data has been submitted, during June and July
· we understand that schools will not know, at the point of submitting the data, whether or not they will have been selected for moderation
· the selection of schools to be moderated will be a combination of schools that the DfE has selected and schools selected by the local authority
This information has been obtained from two online videos of webinars, recently produced by the STA. These can be viewed at: https://registration.livegroup.co.uk/efa/ContentTabs/Category.aspx?ctid=242&cat=1695
These changes mean that we will need to amend the document ‘Overview of the coming year in Assessment’ which I sent out earlier this term. I will produce a new version of this document in the Spring term, when we have confirmation of specific dates.
When published guidance is produced by STA, I will alert schools via a bulletin entry and by placing an item on the Assessment Updates page of the grid.
Herts for Learning Assessment team will be carrying out the statutory moderations, on behalf of HCC. If you have an experienced teacher in Year 2 or Year 6 who is interested in becoming one of our moderators and has the relevant skills, please get in touch.
KS2 Teacher Assessment Frameworks
Since the initial publication of the KS2 Teacher Assessment Frameworks earlier this term, a change has been made to the text of the Writing document. The change is to remove references to spelling ‘Common Exception Words’ as there is no list of common exception words at Key Stage 2.
Download the updated version of the document from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/interim-frameworks-for-teacher-assessment-at-the-end-of-key-stage-2
NB this is the statutory document for making the end of KS2 teacher assessment judgements – not the Herts for Learning assessment criteria, which support ongoing assessment throughout Key Stages 1 and 2.
KS1 Tests
Some schools will be selected to take one of the new tests in April, to enable the STA to carry out a benchmarking exercise so that they can determine the scaled scores. NB because the test scores are not submitted or reported to parents, the STA feels that taking the test early will not disadvantage the children concerned. When forming the teacher assessment, the school should allow for the fact that a test was taken early.
Floor Standards & ‘Coasting Schools’ Criteria
Information on the way progress will be taken into account in these measures has been released, which indicates that, whereas in the previous floor standards methodology, progress in each of reading, writing and maths was taken into account separately, this year the measure will be based on pupils making “sufficient progress” in all three subjects.
The progress measure will be a Value Added calculation (see below for further details).
The definition of “sufficient progress” is yet to be determined. It may be fixed slightly below the national median. It is likely that the progress threshold will be higher in the ‘coasting’ standard than the floor standard.
The information is included within the DfE Consultation on ‘Intervening in failing, under-performing and coasting schools’. This consultation closes on 18th December. Details are here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/intervening-in-failing-underperforming-and-coasting-schools
Floor Standard 2016: So, to clarify, a primary school will be above the floor standard in 2016, provided that either:
· at least 65% of pupils meet the expected standard at KS2 in reading and writing and maths
or
· pupils have made “sufficient progress” (from KS1 to KS2) in reading and writing and maths
Coasting Schools 2016: this will take into account the last 3 years of results. A school would be deemed ‘coasting’ if it was below every one of these 10 thresholds:
KS2 Results / 2014 / 2015 / 2016Attainment - % attaining the expected standard (in Reading and Writing and Maths) / 85% L4+ (RWM) / 85% L4+ (RWM) / 85% attaining the new expected standard
(not yet known exactly how that will be set)
Progress – reading
(2014 & 2015 based on Expected Progress;
2016 based on Value Added) / 94% making Expected Progress / % making Expected Progress = at least national median
(available from 10/12/15) / “Sufficient Progress” (VA model) – threshold yet to be determined
AND
Progress – writing
(2014 & 2015 based on Expected Progress;
2016 based on Value Added) / 96% making Expected Progress / % making Expected Progress = at least national median
(available from 10/12/15) / “Sufficient Progress” (VA model) – threshold yet to be determined
AND
Progress – maths
(2014 & 2015 based on Expected Progress;
2016 based on Value Added) / 93% making Expected Progress / % making Expected Progress = at least national median
(available from 10/12/15) / “Sufficient Progress” (VA model) – threshold yet to be determined
Calculation of Progress from KS1 to KS2 in 2016
The progress measure that will feature in RAISEonline and Performance Tables next year will be a Value Added model. I suspect it will work in a very similar way to the current Value Added model.
The measure of prior attainment is most likely to be the pupil’s KS1 overall Average Point Score (APS) based on their KS1 assessments in reading, writing and maths.
For every possible level of prior attainment (KS1 APS) the national average test outcome will be determined, once all the national data is in. This then determines the average rate of progress from each starting point, which becomes the ‘neutral value added’ position. Positive value added requires pupils to make above average progress, i.e. to achieve a higher KS2 test score than the national average for pupils with the same prior attainment.
There will be no ‘expected progress’ data in the 2016 RAISEonline, as this model was based on levels.
Herts for Learning Assessment system updates
As new information becomes available at national level, we aim to update our assessment system so that it remains relevant and useful to schools. It was for this reason that we adjusted the definition of ‘age-related expectation’ in the system, so that the step previously referred to as “Age-related expectations” is now referred to as ‘Securely within age-related expectations’ and the step below is referred to as ‘Broadly within age-related expectations’. Included with this letter is a handout clarifying these adjustments.
We are keen to make sure that we continue to develop our assessment tools and guidance according to the needs of schools. For this reason I have set up a working party, including Heads and senior leaders in schools, as well as HfL advisers, to discuss and consider future developments. The first meeting of this working party is on Thursday 10th December, 1.30pm. If you are interested in joining this group, please contact me as soon as possible.
We are in the process of making some amendments to the assessment criteria for reading and writing, following feedback after the first year of the system and also in the light of the national teacher assessment frameworks. We have also adjusted the guidance at the start of the criteria documents, to clarify common procedural queries around making summative assessment judgements. For example, a commonly asked question was around the use of the percentages when determining how secure a pupil was within the age-related expectations. The newly amended guidance hopefully sets out a clearer approach to forming a ‘best fit’ judgement about a pupil’s current position in the learning journey. Please log in to the HfL Resources (now ‘Primary PA+’) to download the updated criteria documents and please distribute these documents to all relevant staff. (At the time of writing, new documents for reading and maths are already online; writing document to be posted online very shortly.)
Updated files to import into Assessment Manager 7 were posted within Primary PA+ just after the half-term break. These included some updates to reports and to marksheets.
The English marksheets now include columns for Spoken Language – these have been included in preparation for the production of Spoken Language assessment criteria. Until these criteria have been released, please disregard these columns in the marksheets.
The marksheets also include the ability to enter a new set of grades, EAL0 to EAL5. These are to be used as a means to track progress for children with English as an additional language who are working below Phase A because they are new to the English language. A group of primary schools in Watford have developed this approach, in conjunction with Herts for Learning, including developing assessment criteria to go with the steps EAL0-5. If this is an issue relevant to your school, I would advise you to send a member of staff to be trained in the assessment of EAL pupils using these criteria, by contacting John Mynott, the Head of Central Primary School in Watford (). The criteria will only be made available to schools through this training.
The Whole School Attainment and Progress report (accessed by running *HfL: Attainment/ Progress Overview in AM7) has been updated to include a sheet that shows the proportions of children working within age-related expectations in reading, writing and maths combined, as this is the approach taken in the attainment measure of floor and coasting standards.
Updates in RAISEonline, FFT Aspire and Herts Assessment Profile
The primary RAISEonline Summary report has now been updated to include 2015 absence data. The EYFSP data is still based on 2014 outcomes – it is anticipated that this will be updated early in the Spring term.
The front page of the Ofsted Inspection Dashboard document still shows information relating to the 2014 Floor Standards. (This is because national median figures for expected progress are not yet available – expected 10/12/2015.) However the rest of the page (showing Strengths and Weaknesses in the school data) does relate to 2015 outcomes. The Floor Standards section should be updated when validated data is released, which is usually in March.
FFT have now adjusted their target setting modules in FFT Aspire to reflect the fact that pupils will not be assessed against levels at either KS1 or KS2.
The Herts Primary Assessment Profile has been updated to include all national and ‘statistical neighbour’ figures. This latest version (version 7) can be downloaded from www.thegrid.org.uk/info/edcs
I hope you have found the information in this letter to be useful. We aim to keep schools updated on key assessment matters via the schools bulletin, our updates page on the grid (www.thegrid.org.uk/learning/assessment/updates) and via twitter (@hertsassessment).
If you have any queries about any of the contents of this letter, or require any support, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Yours sincerely
Ben Fuller
Lead Assessment Adviser, Herts for Learning Ltd.
Quick Guide to the Age-Related Steps in the
Herts for Learning Assessment Tracking System
(NB it is assumed that summative assessment judgements are made
near to the end of each term)
Slightly below Age-Related Expectation / Broadly within Age-Related Expectation / Securely within Age-Related Expectation / Above Age-Related Expectation / Strongly above Age-Related Expectation(Exceptional cases)
Y1 Autumn / 40-60S / ELG / A0 / A1
Y1 Spring / ELG / A0 / A1 / A2
Y1 Summer / A0 / A1 / A2 / A3 / A4
Y2 Autumn / A1 / A2 / A3 / A4
Y2 Spring / A2 / A3 / A4 / A5
Y2 Summer / A3 / A4 / A5 / A6 / A+
Y3 Autumn / A4 / A5 / A6 / B1
Y3 Spring / A5 / A6 / B1 / B2
Y3 Summer / A6 / B1 / B2 / B3 / B4
Y4 Autumn / B1 / B2 / B3 / B4
Y4 Spring / B2 / B3 / B4 / B5
Y4 Summer / B3 / B4 / B5 / B6 / B+
Y5 Autumn / B4 / B5 / B6 / C1
Y5 Spring / B5 / B6 / C1 / C2
Y5 Summer / B6 / C1 / C2 / C3 / C4
Y6 Autumn / C1 / C2 / C3 / C4
Y6 Spring / C2 / C3 / C4 / C5
Y6 Summer / C3 / C4 / C5 / C6 / C+
Points to note:
1. In this approach, we suggest that summative judgements are made no more than 3 times per year. At other times of the year, discussion about pupils’ progress should focus on the qualitative evidence of learning – i.e. work in children’s books, observations, talking to pupils etc. (The balance of assessment that takes place in schools should be overwhelmingly formative – as this is what makes most difference to pupils’ progress.)
2. At this stage it is not possible to predict outcomes of KS2 tests in 2016 – in terms of where the threshold will be fixed for the ‘age-related standard’. We feel that pupils working within C4 in our system should be well placed to achieve the age-related standard. It is possible, but by no means certain, that some pupils working below C4 may also achieve the age-related standard on the tests. After 2016 tests have taken place we will be in a position to explore how this HfL system aligns with national standards, and make adaptations if necessary.