A parent’s guide to Assessment, Tracking and National Curriculum Levels, used in reporting for students in Keystage3 (Years 7-9)

Dear Parents/ Guardians.

Recently, I was asked to deliver a session to parents on Assessment, tracking and reporting. This was well attended, but it did leave a number of areas with questions that still needed answering. These questions surrounded the use of National Curriculum Levels and details about how your children are assessed and reported on during the course of a school year. This publication has been put together specifically for parents of students in Keys stage 3 as response to some of those questions. Please feel free to contact me if you have any further questions about teaching and learning in the Secondary School.

Regards,

Deputy Head of Secondary

What do the National Curriculum Levels mean?

In Key Stages 1, 2, and 3, the National Curriculum is accompanied by a series of eight levels. These are used to measure your child's progress compared to pupils of the same age. There are eight National Curriculum levels, covering the ages 5-14 years. The lowest is Level 1, which describes the achievements of children at around the age of five. The highest is Level 8, which is attained by the most able pupils at the age of 14. There is also a description of ‘exceptional performance’ above Level 8, which only a very few pupils are expected to reach.

Children develop at different rates, but National Curriculum levels can give you an idea of how your child’s progress compares to what is typical for their age. For example, by the end of Key Stage 1, most children will have reached level 2, and by the end of Key Stage 2, most will be at level 4

Why are National Curriculum levels so important?

The numbered attainment levels tell you what progress your child is making in comparison to national standards. Any sublevels used (some departments use them, some don’t) show whether your child is working at the higher (A), middle (B) or lower (C) levels within each numbered level. For example, 5C is higher than 4A.

National Curriculum levels at The Regent’s

Level 3: Attaining below the national average standard expected of a pupil in Year 7

Level 4: Attaining the national average standard expected of a pupil in Year 7

Level 5/6: Attaining the national average standard expected of a pupil in Year 9

Level 7: Attaining above the national average standard expected of a pupil in Year 9

Level 8: Attaining significantly above the national average standard expected of a pupil in Year 9

It is, of course, possible for students to exceed targets and in this instance would be issued with a more challenging target during target setting.

What testing is carried out at the start of a Keystage?

At the start of year 7, students will take a computer adaptive assessment called MidYis. This is used to measure the potential of a student. It is not a test that can be studied for or past and failed. It measures potential and is a helpful tool for teachers to predict how much progress a child will make through years 7, 8 and 9. This helps the school to track the students and make sure that they’re on course to fulfil their potential.

At the start of year 10, students will take a computer adaptive assessment called Yellis. This helps us to predict what a student’s GCSE grades will look like. Teachers can then use this information to plot target grades and make sure that students are on course to pass their subjects. It also helps us to make sure that students are taking the correct subjects. Teachers targets are generally set as two levels of progress, based on year 7 individual assessments and combinations of Key Stage 2 (end of year 6) prior attainment (in English, Mathematics and Science). These targets are sued for internal assessment and monitoring by staff. This is where the term tracking comes from

Tracking:

After the results of these assessments are in our database, teachers access the data and start to plot targets for their students. Once the data is plotted, they can start to track the progress being made and use the information to help write reports. 

What is progress?

Progress is the term used to describe how much improvement has been made by an individual in a particular subject area. Progress is not to be confused with attainment, which means how good someone is at something! This can be a little confusing… teachers focus on both; Attainment and progress. Teachers are looking to see how much better their students are at regular intervals – that’s why we test.

Measuring progress

For each Curriculum subject, there is a programme of study (the subject content) and supporting schemes of work. The programmes of study describe the subject knowledge, skills and understanding pupils are expected to develop during each key stage. These are not generally shared with parents, but students understand the concept of units of work. Teachers make judgements every day; either formatively, or summatively. Student work is assessed and progress measured in a number of ways: Formal tests, homework, class presentations, evaluations, groups and pair work and a number of other ways sometimes unique to the subject (Music, drama and PE, for example).

As a parent, how can I best support my child?

Parents’ Evenings and other information evenings — these are valuable opportunities for you to meet your child’s Teachers or Form Tutor and talk about any concerns that you may have. You will be able to look at some of the work that your child is producing and discuss targets to help improve his or her work still further.

Generally, you can help your child by: 

• encouraging them to give maximum effort in all lessons
• ensuring regular attendance at school
• impressing upon them that punctuality is important to the prompt start to lessons and the maximising of teaching and learning time
• checking your child’s ‘Planner’ every week and ensuring that your child gets into the habit of doing homework every night
• ensuring that any targets set by teachers are clearly understood and acted upon by your child; and, most importantly, 
• Acknowledging and celebrating the progress that is being made by your child.

A parents Glossary of terms

• Attainment is how good someone is at something
• Formative assessment is generally carried out throughout a course, project or unit of work and used to aid learning. In a school setting, formative assessment might be a teacher (or peer) or the learner, providing feedback on a student's work, and would not necessarily be used for grading purposes. Formative assessments are diagnostic. 
• MIDYIS is a computer adaptive test used to measure potential at the start of year 7 National Curriculum
• Progress – how much has an individual improved
• Schemes of work are the documents used by teachers to inform their teaching. They are the content.
• Summative assessment is generally carried out at the end of a course, project or unit of work. In a school setting, summative assessments are typically used to assign students a final grade. Summative assessments are evaluative.
• YELLIS is a computer adaptive test used to measure potential at the start of year 10.