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Assessment - What's New & UpdatesAssessment News
RAISEonline Validated Data – Key Stage 2 NewRAISEonline Summary Reports, updated with the validated KS2 data, are scheduled to be available from Friday 24th February (late evening). These reports should reflect all amendments made to the data as part of the checking process and any changes made to pupils’ test results following appeal. The validated data should also include accurate information about Children Looked After. The interactive area of RAISEonline will be updated with the validated data earlier in that week (late evening of Tuesday 21st February), meaning that you will be able to explore particular charts and tables in advance of the Summary Report becoming available.
Assessment Updates Spring 2012 – Key Stages 1, 2 and Foundation NewThere are a large number of updates in the world of assessment at present. In the letter below I attempt to bring the most essential ones to your attention:
Ben Fuller
Attainment on Entry (Nursery and Reception)The completed analysis of the Attainment on Entry data has now been sent to all schools that submitted data. We would like to clarify that this data has been sent only to those schools that participated and has not been made available outside of the LA (e.g. to DfE or Ofsted). Should you wish to share the data in an Ofsted inspection, to support your evaluation of attainment and progress, then that is of course your choice. In accordance with the Data Protection Act, we have to use totally secure methods for transferring the data because, in certain cases, the data can reveal information about individual pupils, for example if there is a 'sub-group' containing only one child. It was therefore decided to use the S2S (school to school) website because it is a completely secure system, whereas not all schools currently have completely secure email accounts. It is likely that we might use this S2S system for similar data transfers in the future, rather than send emails with password-protected attachments. However can we assure you once more that files sent in this way can only be seen by the specified recipients and will not be seen by DfE or Ofsted.
Important Assessment Updates for Primary SchoolsThis year’s editions of the Assessment & Reporting Arrangements (ARA) booklets will be sent into schools during November. They will also be available online to download, as in previous years. These booklets will clarify all the arrangements for statutory testing this year. NCATools – ordering tests, access arrangements etc.As the QCDA is being dissolved, the NCATools website is now run by the Standards and Testing Agency (STA), which is an executive agency of the DfE. You will find the NCATools site here: You can log in to order your KS2 test materials now. (These must be ordered by the end of November.) This will also be the website where any applications for additional time, early opening of papers or timetable variation need to be made. Full details will be in the ARA booklet for KS2. KS2 Test datesAs you will know by now, the statutory tests covering Levels 3-5 will take place in the week beginning 14th May. These tests will cover reading and maths for all schools, and, for some schools, writing (see ‘KS2 Writing’ below). Additionally, as before, a sample of schools will be selected by the DfE to take science tests for the purpose of monitoring national standards. We believe there may also be a sample of writing tests for the same purpose. Level 6 tests will also be available this year and these will take place on 21st and 22nd May. A number of Headteachers have contacted the Assessment Team regarding these dates, as they have already arranged school trips to take place in that week. Unfortunately, if pupils are unable to take the tests on those dates due to school trips, they will not be able to take them at other times. I have made enquiries of the STA to investigate whether a timetable variation of up to a week could be applied for in such circumstances. I have received confirmation that, whilst this year there will be more flexibility regarding the length of time for which a timetable variation will be allowed, there is no change to the criteria regarding acceptable circumstances for a timetable variation. To clarify, the STA will consider applications for a change to the test timetable for individual pupils or the whole cohort under the following circumstances:
STA will not allow a change to the test timetable for:
Further details on KS2 testing arrangements can be found by going to:
KS2 WritingThis year, writing will be a Teacher Assessment, informed by (but not limited to) a test. Schools have a choice regarding the writing test. Schools may either choose to administer a writing test at any stage during the year and mark it internally, or to administer a writing test within the normal test week to be externally marked. We understand that these will not be the same test, i.e. different tests will be sent to schools depending on whether the school has chosen to mark internally or externally. The STA will be contacting schools to find out which option they have selected. NB whichever marking option is selected, the writing test result will not be reported in RAISEonline or Performance Tables. Only writing Teacher Assessment will be reported. The LA will be expected to moderate a proportion of KS2 teachers’ writing assessments. At this stage we do not have precise details on this. KS1 TestsAs in recent years, Year 2 teachers will be able to choose which tests to administer from the bank of materials published in 2007 or 2009. There is flexibility about when the tests are administered, and the test results are not reported. The tests are merely to inform the overall teacher assessment judgement, which should be based on a broad range of evidence. The date for ordering KS1 tests from NCATools has in fact passed. If you still need to order tests, contact the STA helpline on 0300 303 3013. Phonics tests for Year 1 pupils must be administered in the week beginning 18th June. Further details are expected in the ARA. Submission of data on pupils’ attainment on entry to Nursery and ReceptionAs I indicated in a letter earlier this term, the LA will be collecting data from schools on attainment on entry. This data submission is optional; however we hope that many schools will submit the data as it will allow us to produce useful information for schools enabling them to compare their pupils’ attainment on entry with the district or county average. SITSS have produced the guidance for schools on how to create the report from SIMS and submit it. This guidance, together with the RptDef file that will need to be imported into SIMS in order to run the report, can be found at: In my letter I indicated that the deadline for submitting this data was November 4th. We would request that schools wishing to submit this data endeavour to meet this deadline; however we will still accept the data if it is submitted in the following week. RAISEonlineRAISEonline now includes the unvalidated 2011 data for both KS1 and KS2. The Summary report (previously called ‘Full Report’) is considerably longer than in previous years, with a greatly expanded ‘Contextual information’ section. Please note that the unvalidated KS2 data does not take into account any marks that have been changed as a result of appeals. It also does not take into account any applications to have specific pupils removed from the published data via the checking exercise. These changes will be reflected in the validated dataset. It is anticipated that this will be loaded into RAISEonline in the Spring term. FFT LiveFFT Live has also been updated to include analysis of how your pupils have performed at the ends of Key Stages 1 and 2. As with RAISEonline, this is unvalidated data at present. Amended KS2 data is expected in FFT Live in early December. FFT estimates have also been updated to include KS2 estimates for the current Year 3 for Primary schools. Year 3 estimates for Junior schools will be available later this term. FFT have also for the first time developed estimates for KS1, on the basis of pupils’ scores on EYFSP. These can be found in the ‘Developments’ section of FFTLive (click into the purple area). As with all FFT estimates, these data are intended for use as part of a target-setting process, which should also include schools’ own knowledge about pupils. Estimates should not be seen as predictions, nor as targets in their own right; they simply indicate outcomes that are statistically likely on the basis of past national patterns of progress. If you require support in making best use of the data in FFT or RAISEonline, and can also work with you in school on a consultancy basis. Support with using and interpreting RAISEonline and FFTLive data – the Assessment team is running a number of relevant training courses this term to support users of this data. Alternatively, if you would like an adviser to come into school and work with you, please contact us. TestbaseIn recent years, the Local Authority has paid a subscription to allow all schools to access Testbase free of charge. This LA subscription runs out in November and we are no longer able to renew it. After this date, schools will need to pay for their own Testbase subscription in order to be able to use the most up-to-date version of Testbase (accessed via www.testbase.co.uk). However if you still have the previous version of Testbase installed on a computer, this will continue to work even if you do not pay a subscription – but will no longer be updated. Assessment Manager 7Please be aware that, if you have not imported the AM7 updates that SITSS produced last Summer, you will not have the latest versions of reports. Recently developed reports that are proving very popular are
SITSS have also further developed the possibilities for recording pupils EYFSP scores at 3 different points across the Reception year, in response to demand from schools. These may be a useful alternative to eProfile. All information, guidance and new reports for AM7 can be found on the SITSS AM7 website – Updated Guidance on Progress across Key Stage 1Following discussion with School Effectiveness Advisers and SIPS, I have updated the document called ‘Tracking Progress Across KS1’, which gives guidance on good practice approaches to the analysis of progress from EYFS to KS1. This document can be found on our website at: To keep up with all the latest Assessment updates, please visit this page regularly or Ben Fuller Key Stage 2 Assessment Updates4 update items:
Test Level ThresholdsThese are now available on the QCDA website: Marking ReviewsIf you wish to have any of your pupils’ test scripts reviewed, either due to a clerical error (such as incorrect totalling of the marks) or an error in the way the markscheme has been applied, please see the information on the QCDA website: http://www.qcda.gov.uk/assessment/7370.aspx Review applications must be submitted by Friday 15th July 2011 Checking ExerciseThe checking exercise is now live, and will close on Monday 18th July. This is the process by which schools can check that pupil results are correct, and can request the removal of data relating to pupils that arrived from overseas with English as an Additional language during Years 5 or 6. This is your only opportunity to check this data that will be published in the Performance Tables later this year. Please go to the Tables Checking website:
Pupil Data AnalysisYou can download your Year 6 pupils’ test scores directly from the NCA Tools website: Or from Key to Success: The file on Key to Success is a Common Transfer File (CTF) which means you can import the file straight into SIMS, using the instructions sent out to schools by SITSS earlier this term. Once this is done, you can run the reports that give information to parents about the pupils’ test and teacher assessment levels. We have also produced a report that you can run straight from SIMS Assessment Manager 7, that uses these test results to produce some early analysis on KS2 standards and progress from KS1-2. This is available to import into SIMS now. Please check the SITSS website for updates: 12 July 2011
Data Dashboard 2011Post-16 L3 Datadashboard
Quality Assurance to Support Sixth Form Consortia
Changes and cuts to post-16 funding (2011-14)
Estimates in FFT LiveKS2 and KS3 - Pupil Estimate reports in the Development Reports area of FFT Live include several new options. A ‘most likely’ level is shown for each pupil and this can be shown as a sub-level or a decimal. The chances of pupils achieving each level can be shown either as cumulative probabilities (e.g. chance of level 4 or higher) or as actual probabilities. There is also an option to change the layout of the report for improved exporting of the data into other systems. There is also a new KS3 report which gives pupil estimates for Foundation subjects (KS3 OFS). KS4 – The new KS4 Pupil Estimate report includes the option to view the chances of each grade cumulatively (e.g. chance of a grade C or better). It also produces two key estimate grades, which could be interpreted as a ‘minimum target’ and an ‘aspirational target’. There is an option to change the layout of the report for improved exporting of the data into other systems. Fischer Family Trust Update - Passwords for FFTLive and Training Materials
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