How are children assessed?
Wednesday, 23 February 2011 14:29
Children are assessed in a variety of ways.
Practitioner/teacher assessment judgements
Judgements are made by practitioners/teachers about a child's/pupil's knowledge, skills and understanding in relation to nationally defined standards.
EYFS practitioners must complete a profile summary for each child based on their judgements. That information is sent to local authorities and the Department for Education. The profile summary scores, together with a written summary of the child’s progress based on the early learning goals, must be sent to parents, carers or guardians.
Teacher assessment judgements in relation to national standards must be reported and made available to parents at the end of key stages 1, 2 and 3 as set out in the overview below.
Teacher assessments are based on evidence of pupils' performance over time and in a range of contexts.
Overview of National Assessments
| Early years foundation stage | End of key stage 1 | End of key stage 2 | End of key stage 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
Practitioner/teacher judgements are used to assess:
|
Teacher assessment judgements are used to assess:
|
Teacher assessment judgements are used to assess:
In 2012, the outcomes of the writing test will not be reported nationally but will help to inform the reported teacher assessment judgement. National sampling is used to assess:
From 2010 onwards only a selected sample of 5% of schools have been required to participate in the science sampling tests. National sampling for writing will take place in a selected sample of 10% schools in 2012. |
Teacher assessment judgements are used to assess: Subject and attainment target level for:
|
Teacher-led tests and tasks at key stage 1
Towards the end of key stage 1, teachers make use of a mixture of nationally-derived tests and tasks to provide additional evidence to consider when they make their teacher assessments of children’s knowledge, skills and understanding. These tests and tasks cover reading, writing and mathematics. To ensure consistency, teachers’ decisions are moderated both internally and externally by local authorities.
End of key stage 2 tests
In 2012 end of key stage 2 tests cover English reading and mathematics at levels 3 to 5. Optional tests are also available at level 6. They are designed to measure pupils’ knowledge and understanding of the specific subjects or elements covered in that key stage. They provide a snapshot of a pupil’s attainment at the end of key stage 2. These tests are externally set and marked.
English writing tests at levels 3 to 5 are also available. Schools that are not part of the 10% English writing sample have been given the option to take either an externally or internally marked English writing test. An optional writing test is also available at level 6. The outcomes from the writing tests are intended to inform teachers’ judgement of writing and will not be reported in official statistics.
The results of end of key stage tests for each school are made available to the public by the Department for Education. Pupils’ individual results are reported by schools to parents and key stage 3 teachers.
National sampling
Since 2010, science has been assessed at the end of key stage 2 using externally marked tests undertaken by Year 6 children in a representative sample of schools. This approach is intended to allow national standards to be monitored over time. Pupil results in this sample of schools are not used in their external evaluation, for example by Ofsted inspectors. In 2012, a similar approach is being used for writing using a 10% sample of schools.
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