An overview of assessing pupils progress

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An overview of assessing pupils progress

• Nothing new?

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• APP is a structured approach to periodically
  assessing mathematics and reading and writing so
  teachers can
• track pupils' progress through Key Stage 2
• use diagnostic information about pupils'
  strengths and weaknesses.

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• Using APP materials teachers can make level
  judgements for each of the following National
  Curriculum attainment targets (ATs)
• reading
• writing
• using and applying mathematics
• number
• shape, space and measures
• handling data.

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• Based on the assessment focuses (AFs) that
  underpin National Curriculum assessment, the APP
  approach improves the quality and reliability of
  teacher assessment. It has proved to be robust,
  manageable and effective in practice.

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• The materials are made up of two elements
• assessment guidelines - sheets for assessing
  pupils' work in relation to National Curriculum
  levels
• standards files - exemplars of pupils'
  performance at National Curriculum levels of
  attainment.

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• APP involves 'stepping back' periodically to
  review pupils' ongoing work and relate their
  progress to National Curriculum levels.

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• As well as these APP materials, the
  Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) and
  the Primary National Strategy (PNS) are currently
  developing a range of further materials to
  support teacher assessment throughout Key Stage 1
  and for speaking and listening.

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Making judgements the process
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Use these steps to formalise your assessments of
pupils' mathematics into level judgements.

• You will need
• evidence of the pupil's mathematics that shows
  most independence, for example from work in other
  subjects as well as in mathematics lessons
• other evidence about the pupil as a
  mathematician, e.g. notes on plans, the pupil's
  own thoughts, your own recollections of classroom
  interactions, oral answers given during mental
  starters
• a copy of the assessment guidelines for the level
  borderline that is your starting point.

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Standards files

• Purpose
• exemplify standards by giving guidance accurate
  assessments
• acting as a resource and reference point for
  teachers
• on assessing pupils' work
• on diagnosing pupils' strengths and weaknesses
• for training and professional development
  purposes.

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Each standards file includes

• examples of pupils' ongoing classroom work which
  have been assessed
• commentary on the evidence at assessment focus
  (AF) level
• the assessment guidelines sheet that records both
  a profile of attainment across the AFs and a
  National Curriculum level for the attainment
  target (AT).

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Teacher's notes establishes a starting point
uses diagrams, as modelled in question finds
four of six possible solutions and repeats one
solution.
Next steps develop a more systematic approach and
organised way of recording compare results,
discuss which are the same or different and find
all possibilities.
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What the teacher knows about Paulo's attainment
in Ma1

• Paulo suggests suitable ways of starting a
  problem and sometimes selects and uses
  appropriate apparatus to support his work. In
  problems when he is finding 'How many ways...?'
  he needs to be more systematic in his approach.
• He discusses his methods and strategies, using
  mathematical vocabulary. He sometimes uses
  pictures, diagrams and symbols to explain, and
  this helps him to visualise a solution. He
  increasingly chooses to make recordings and
  jottings when working independently.
• Paulo explains his thinking for example, he
  identifies and explains the first steps needed to
  solve the 'Sail away' 1 problem.

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• In this logic problem, he soon loses sight of the
  mathematics and offers other practical solutions
  such as 'One man could swim back to the island.'
• His explanations are becoming more detailed,
  though he sometimes needs prompting to be more
  specific. Paulo looks for patterns in numbers.
  For example, when working with addition
  sequences, he identifies how much is added each
  time and uses the rule to find missing numbers
  and to extend the sequence

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Summarising Paulo's attainment in Ma1

• Paulo's attainment in Ma1 is best described as
  working at secure level 2. He sometimes needs
  support to break into a problem but he then
  selects the mathematics to solve it. He discusses
  his work using some mathematical language and he
  sometimes represents solutions using simple
  diagrams. He explains why an answer is correct
  with increasing independence however, he needs
  to try different approaches and organise his work
  more systematically.

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Using the standards files

• There are different ways of using the standards
  files
• to ensure that teachers' judgements are in line
  with national standards before making assessments
  
• as a reference when assessing your own pupils
• to support moderation activity
• to clarify what it means to make progress
• to exemplify the APP approach.

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standardisation training in school could use the
materials in the following ways.

• Each teacher assesses one pupil, and agrees the
  level judgement with a colleague by comparing and
  contrasting the pupil's work with that of a
  standards file pupil at that level.

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• Teachers assess the work of one standards file
  pupil, using a training version of the standards
  files with the references to level judgements
  removed, and then compare their judgements with
  those in the full standards file.

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• Teachers copy one or two collections of work from
  their own pupils, without any annotation or
  commentary, and ask colleagues to identify pupils
  in the standards files to which each is closest
  in performance.

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• Using two standards files at the same level (e.g.
  low 3 and secure 3) with all the annotations but
  without the assessment summaries or assessment
  guidelines sheets, groups discuss and agree which
  is low and which is secure.

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• To clarify progress, look through all standards
  files that cover one identified AT to track the
  evidence for a particular AF or group of AFs.

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When assessing your own pupils you should use
the standards files for reference

• as a benchmark when making periodic assessments
• to compare the performance of your pupils at a
  particular level with exemplars that have been
  assessed against national standards
• to check what constitutes sufficient evidence of
  attainment in an AF at a specific level
• comparing two collections of work in the same AT,
  one on either side of a level borderline
• to check what progression in a particular AF
  looks like.

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Supporting in-school moderation

• Moderation activity generally involves a group of
  teachers reviewing a sample of class teachers'
  initial assessments, reconciling any
  disagreements and agreeing a final judgement.
• Disagreement can be resolved by recourse to the
  question How does the pupil under discussion
  compare with pupil X or Y from the standards
  files?

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Discussion could be focused on

• attainment at a particular level in different
  year groups, or in a particular AF at different
  levels
• the range of potential evidence in using and
  applying mathematics or reading, for example how
  much evidence of attainment for a particular AF
  is required to support a judgement
• differences between evidence gathered from oral
  work and from writing
• whether it is harder to find evidence for some
  AFs than others
• identifying the next steps in teaching and
  learning for a particular pupil or groups of
  pupils.