Planning, Preparation, Progress – How To Put In Place Statutory Assessment That Works
Statutory assessment at Y2 and Y6 has changed – but don’t start chasing end-of-key-stage objectives too early, warns Stephen Anwyll…
As schools adjust to the new assessment landscape around the revised national curriculum, key challenges and opportunities are becoming increasingly clear. And one issue in particular will come sharply into focus this summer when teachers write their annual student attainment reports. In Y2 and Y6, where the process is subject to statutory requirements, teachers will be assessing in relation to new criteria specific to the end of each key stage. Following the change of deadline announced earlier this year by the Minister for Schools, teacher assessment judgements at both key stages now have to be submitted by 30th June, after most external moderation visits will have taken place.
In Reception classes teachers will have to submit judgements within the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile, while in other year groups, schools are busy developing new terms to describe and capture pupil attainment. Gone are the days of the continuous scale of level descriptors which could, in theory, be used to assess the attainment of pupils at any age from 5 to 14. Teachers, pupils and parents had got used to the common language of this system of attainment, but as we all know, this approach ended up being used in ways for which it was never intended. Now, levels are no more.
On your marks
So where does that leave teachers and students? Will it allow them to make a fresh start in assessment practice? How easy will it be to separate the requirements of the statutory assessments at the end of Y2 and Y6 from the ongoing, day-to-day assessment that underpins all good teaching, and from the periodic reviews that form the basis of any system of progress-tracking? The most important fact for teachers in every year group to recognise is that the objectives of the programmes of study are the key reference point. These form the basis for planning not just for the initial teaching of objectives, but in a system which now calls for extension of more-able pupils rather than acceleration onto new content, for designing activities that will consolidate and deepen children’s skills and understanding.
Good schools are already recognising the need to rethink their curriculum, so that not only are the objectives in reading, writing and mathematics effectively covered, but also that pupils have meaningful and engaging challenges in the rest of their learning, where they can secure and extend their understanding and apply new skills. Whatever system is used to record children’s ongoing performance, its impact on their progress will depend on the skills of the teacher in recognising learning through observation, discussion and marking. Effective teachers constantly draw on this evidence to refine their planning and pedagogy so that it best meets the specific needs of the pupils with whom they’re working.
School leaders need to be confident that class teachers are recognising and addressing pupils’ detailed needs in this way. Their biggest challenge at the moment is working out how, at appropriate intervals, to draw on this detailed classroom knowledge to gain a broader overview of pupil attainment and progress across the school. Leaders need this wider perspective to make informed, strategic decisions about where to deploy resources, where intervention may be required and to judge whether existing strategies are proving effective.
Remember that Ofsted’s fundamental question about assessment is not about the system that’s employed, but about how well the school is using assessment information to improve teaching and learning.
Yes, master
What aspects of assessment practice should schools prioritise in the current context?
One thing for schools to avoid is applying the new approach to statutory teacher assessment in other year groups. At the end of Y2 and Y6, teachers are now being required to adopt a ‘mastery’ model instead of the ‘best-fit’ approach which has operated for the last 25 years. There’s no need to use this approach in other year groups, since it may lead to teachers ‘chasing’ evidence of particular grammatical features or mathematical knowledge towards the end of the year, instead of focusing on the most important next steps in pupils’ learning, and passing that relevant assessment information on to the next teacher. High-quality teaching generates lots of evidence of children’s learning, which allows teachers to recognise pupils’ strengths and weaknesses and to identify their key next steps.
This is the kind of detailed, fine-grained information that needs to be shared with pupils and with their parents. School leaders need to be confident that all teachers will be using this ongoing assessment to adjust and refine their planning, reflect on their pedagogy and provide useful feedback to pupils. If this is in place, then they can develop a system for gathering summarised information about each pupil from class teachers.
This doesn’t need to go into detail, but simply allocate pupils to broad categories of attainment in each key subject – such as which children are broadly in line with age-related objectives of the curriculum, which are secure and consolidating them and which are not yet in line with them.
For senior leaders to be confident that the information they receive is as reliable and consistent as possible, teachers must have the chance to discuss and compare evidence from individual pupils so that they can develop a common understanding of standards – and most importantly, clarify what the next steps should be for individual pupils. This process of ‘standardisation’ needs to be done within the school and wherever possible across schools, thus increasing the chances that teachers will see a full range of pupil attainment. If this summary information is gathered each term, it’s possible to see where the greatest needs are across the school and where significant progress is being achieved (such as a pupil moving up from one category into another). This level of detail should enable governors to raise appropriate questions – and if it’s used wisely by the school leadership and backed up by evidence in classrooms, it should also satisfy inspection teams.
Dressed to assess
There are five key actions that will provide senior leaders with an effective approach to monitoring pupil attainment and progress:
1. Ensure that teachers are planning from the programmes of study, using the evidence of pupils’ learning to modify their planning, providing useful feedback to pupils and being clear with them about next steps. 2. Provide teachers with regular opportunities to compare and discuss their ongoing assessments of a sample of pupils and what they need to do to improve; it’s important that senior leaders are part of these discussions. 3. Gather summary information from each class on a periodic basis – probably termly – using a small number of categories of pupil performance in relation to year-group objectives (e.g. ‘below’, ‘in line with’ and ‘deepening’ expectations). 4. Review the information carefully to ensure that resources are being deployed to the areas of greatest need across the school, and that additional provision is accelerating progress for identified pupils. 5. Develop consistent arrangements for transition, so that teachers pass on key information about pupils’ attainment to the next teacher at the end of the year and ensure that their progress is sustained.
Stephen Anwyll is an independent education consultant who works with a number of local authorities and academy trusts; he has also produced videos and written material for Oxford Owl
