King’s Lynn Academy Maths Department - Assessment Policy 2017-18
Principle and Purpose
This assessment policy will show how the Mathematics department uses formative and summative assessment in line with the Academy policy. For the purpose of this policy, KS3 is defined as Year 7 and 8, and KS4 is Year 9, 10 and 11.
The policy cites the Education Endowment Fund paper, entitled “A Marked Improvement: A review of the evidence on written marking” by Victoria Elliott et al (Oxford University), written in April 2016. References throughout the policy are from this report.
The principles and purposes of the Mathematics assessment policy are to provide:
- Opportunities for students to provide feedback on their work
- Teachers with assessments which inform meaningful teacher feedback (every three weeks for KS3, every two weeks for KS4)
- Students with an opportunity to know how they are doing, and how they need to improve
“Marking is a central part of a teacher’s role and can be integral to progress and attainment. Written responses offer a key way of providing feedback to pupils and helping teachers assess their pupils’ understanding” (page 6).
Different Forms of Assessment
Throughout the year, teachers will utilise formative and summative assessment to monitor student progress. It is crucial to include both forms as “no evidence was found showing that only awarding a grade, with no formative comment, leads to pupil progress…. Purely summative marking [grade-only marking], does not give pupils the information they need to improve” (page 10).
Formative assessment - Topic tests will be used towards the end of a topic being taught, and will be used to assess understanding of a topic, and the further learning which may need to take place. Departmental homework will also be used to allow students to consolidate their learning, and practice learned skills. Exercise books are marked routinely by teachers, quality assuring the self-assessment, and seeking to correct misconceptions in student work.
Summative assessment - Formal assessments which cover the entire Maths syllabus, which provide reported grades, and show the progress of students within their cohort. KS3 will use AQA KS3 tests, which are designed in line with the new GCSE, and KS4 students will use practice/past GCSE papers.
Inclusive Assessment
Formative assessment by topic test will be differentiated to the relevant scheme of work, to ensure that the assessment is fit for purpose. As Mathematics teaching is set by ability, different sets will have different topic tests built into their scheme of work, to ensure that students are assessed on what is being taught. At KS3, these topic tests have been designed (or adapted from existing resources) by the teaching staff at King’s Lynn Academy.
Summative assessment in KS4 is made inclusive through the use of Higher and Foundation tiers, in line with the national approach at GCSE. At KS3, the same termly assessment will be used for all students, and is designed to increase in difficulty throughout the paper(s). This enables comparison of students across the year group, rather than giving different sets different levels of assessment.
Scheme of Work
The scheme of work (SOW) for each class/year group has detail on which topic tests to use with which modules. This ensures consistency across the department, and students are assessed fairly from teacher to teacher. The summative termly assessments are provided from the Head of Faculty, and will be provided for each student, to ensure consistency.
Departmental homework will also be designated each week, either via My Maths (KS3) or past GCSE exercises (KS4). All of this information is available via the Mathematics SOW.
Exercise Books
Exercise books will all be assessed in class, by either self or peer assessment. Appropriate coloured pens (redfor self-assessment, greenfor peer-assessment) will be used. Exercise books are routinely marked by teachers (purple pen), by “acknowledging that it has been seen with a tick or the provision of simple praise” (page 13). Teachers/TAs may mark/make comments throughout lessons, and when doing so this will be in purplepen. All work completed by students will be self/peer assessed as appropriate.
KS4 exercise books are marked every two weeks (or every 10 lessons, whichever comes later), and KS3 books are marked every three weeks (or every 12 lessons, whichever comes later). When books are marked, teachers provide a Presentation and Effort code as follows:
These codes are displayed in lesson, so students understand their feedback.
Teachers also provide an EBI (Even Better If) Feedback Question which students respond to in red pen. This question highlights the area the student needs to work on to make further progress. As the examples below demonstrate, teachers may use different formats for feedback (e.g. stickers), but will ensure a P/E code is provided, and an EBI Feedback Question, to which students respond in red.
Teachers are responsible for quality assuring exercise books to ensure presentation and level of work is in line with teacher expectations. Monitoring of exercise books will be done by the Head of Faculty, and it is expected that teachers monitor exercise books, and speak with students who are not meeting their expectations. Exercise books are also to be used during parents’ evenings and other events, to demonstrate student work.
Topic Tests
Topic tests are completed towards the end of a topic/module, and are used to understand current student understanding, and for teachers to provide feedback.
At KS4, PiXL topic tests will be used, which are 10 mark tests for a specific GCSE topic. A teacher may combine two (or more) tests to create a longer topic assessment. Topic tests at KS3 have been embedded into the SOW by the department, and were adapted fromGCSE resources.
Topic tests are completed in lessons, and are marked by students in lessons, either through self or peer assessment (red/green pens respectively). The scores for these topic tests are recorded by teachers (on a departmentally provided spreadsheet).
Homework
Homework will be set each week, either online (via MyMaths) or as a worksheet. All homework will be recorded on Show My Homework. Departmental homework will be assigned to each week through the scheme of work, although teachers can choose to use other homework resources if it is more appropriate for their class.
Completion of homework will be recorded by teachers, and where homework is set on paper, it will be marked at the start of the lesson it is due in (as the starter activity). Students will self/peer assess their homework, and the teacher will review for recording completion. My Maths homework automatically marks and tracks completion.
There is no need for teachers to keep track of marks for homework, as this data will not necessarily be used to inform teaching and learning. Instead, completion of homework is monitored, so as to inform discussions about the students’ progress.
Summative Assessment
Termly assessments will be used to report summative assessment, although given the differences in approach, they are split into KS3 and KS4 below.
KS3
The same formal assessments (AQA KS3 assessments) will be set for every student, to allow for comparison and better understanding of student progress within their cohort. In line with the Academy policy, KS3 ability will be reported as a banding of Age Related Expectation (ARE). Once the assessment has been completed (and teachers have marked it), teachers send the scores to the Head of Faculty, who will rank the scores for the year group. In line with the principle at KS2 and KS4, these ranked scores will then be split into groups (based on set percentages) which represent ARE bands:
-Top 25% ARE+
-Next 40% ARE=
-Next 25% ARE-
-Bottom 10% ARE--
Teachers will receive back their class list, with their students’ ARE, and their ranking within their cohort. Student progress in these formal assessments will be monitored in three ways:
- Their ARE banding improves
- Their ranking in the cohort improves (if their ARE has not)
- Their overall score has improved, as a percentage (if neither their ARE nor their ranking have improved)
KS4
Formal exams will still be utilised, but are reported as GCSE grades, from 1-9. Depending on class and situation, either a Foundation or Higher tier GCSE (past or practice) paper will be used. A class may use a Foundation tier paper, even though they are aiming to sit the Higher tier at end of Year 11 (for example, a set 2 Year 9 class may be summatively assessed using a Foundation tier paper, even though they are Higher tier candidates).
The same assessment will be used by all classes (within Higher and Foundation tier respectively), and grade boundaries will be provided to ensure consistency across the department.
Summary
The below points summarise the King’s Lynn Academy Mathematics assessment policy.
-all work in lessons will be marked by students, with either teacher or student providing answers in lessons
-exercise books will be routinely marked by teacher
-students will receive teacher feedback (formative assessment) every two (KS4) or three (KS3) weeks in the form of a Presentation/Effort code, and an EBI Feedback Question
-topic tests are used towards the end of modules to check student understanding in an exam context
-formal assessments (summative assessment) will assess for ARE/GCSE grade purposes, and provide Current Assessment Grade (CAG) data.