Terry Cook
TC/RB 01603-433276
22nd August 2002
Dear Colleague
Re: Target setting
for 2004 – Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 1 (2003)
As you will know schools are required to set targets this autumn in English and Mathematics for the current Y5 pupils for their SATs in 2004. Schools are responsible for setting and publishing their own targets for raising pupils’ attainment in discussion with the LEA (as set out in paragraph 18 of the Code of Practice LEA-School Relations 2001). Regulations require schools to set these statutory targets by the end of December 2002 for the Summer 2004 tests. The Code makes clear that in the interests of continuous improvement, targets should be ambitious, rather than safe predictions of pupil performance.
The LEA is committed to supporting schools, through their RDAs, and through the provision of additional relevant data. Once again this year the LEA will be providing you with customised target setting data for this Key Stage 2 cohort of pupils in each of the core subjects based upon previous performance. The LEA is in a position to provide you with this information because its pupil level data has been collected since 1998 and can be matched to current cohorts. To enable us to provide you with this reliable data, on which to base your target setting, the LEA has continued working in collaboration with The Fischer Family Trust. The Trust provides calculations to aid target setting based on national data and builds these from predictions of performance for pupils based on prior attainment. As a result together we will generate a customised target setting pack for your school. This pack will contain:
1. A school estimate summary sheet for the relevant Key Stage.
This has four columns of aggregated school data. (Refer to guidance sheets sent to your school last year). Columns A and B provide predictions for attainment, and C and D offer targets. If Norfolk schools are to continue to meet national and local improvement targets your school’s minimum target should be drawn from column C.
2. Pupil level data for the relevant cohort i.e. those to be tested in 2004. This includes the estimated targets for each pupil. There are two sets of targets, Type C and Type D, which aggregate to produce the figures in columns C and D of the school summary above. Please note that the information provided for KS2 is based on pupils in your school last term – so any new pupils will not be included. Guidance sheets explaining areas 1 and 2 were sent to all schools last year, (if you would like a further copy please contact Terry Cook at the Norfolk Education Advisory Service, Tel: 01603-433276 Ext 178).
3. This year’s target setting proforma. Including schools’ target setting timetable 2002.
Please remember that the targets we are setting through this process relate to those agreed with the government as part of EDP 2 and the County Council’s Public Service Agreement. Reaching the targets releases substantial additional financial gains for the schools in Norfolk.
I hope you will agree to the importance of getting this first part of the target setting process complete by 1st November 2002. Best practice shows an early submission of targets is one of the key factors in getting school and LEA targets to match. If all schools adhere to the 1st November 2002 deadline for submission of provisional targets the LEA will be in a position to analyse the aggregated schools’ targets to produce the composite LEA predicted target. This will enable us to match the aggregated target with the LEA targets set by the DfES and those published in EDP 2. If all deadlines are kept to, this process will be completed by the 15th November 2002.
In the period to 1st November and 13th November 2002, your RDA will assess your provisional targets in relation to the LEA / Fischer Trust column C target for your school and the match between the aggregated target and the DfES target. Soon after 18th November 2002, when this process is complete, your RDA will be in
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contact with you to discuss your school-level target. The finally negotiated targets will then need to be agreed by your governors and submitted to your RDA by 20th December 2002 so that we can submit them to the DfES as required.
These time-scales are set out in tabular form on the attached timetable. Your RDA will be available to discuss and advise on these procedures and, at the end of the process, we will be evaluating the effectiveness of this approach.
To further support the accuracy and effectiveness of the setting of targets, the LEA will again this year support those schools wishing to use the QCA optional tests for Key Stage 2 (Years 3, 4 and 5). The LEA will finance the provision of the QCA tests for schools for a further year and collect the results to analyse and support the school with data analysis and the compilation of targets for each school. The funding will come from an additional grant we have received through the Public Service Agreement.
In relation to the setting of targets for the end of Key Stage 1 it is recommended good practise that targets are set by each school. Last year, as a trial, we requested schools set targets for the end of Key Stage 1 in line with the time-scales set for Key Stage 2. This proved not to be a practical exercise. Therefore for this year we are proposing the following structure:
¨ For pupils taking SATs in 2003 the school to set their forecast target by the end of the Autumn Term 2002.
¨ In subsequent years the targets to be set as part of the school self review discussions with the school’s RDA at the end of the Summer term prior to the academic year in which the SATs will be taken.
I hope that you find this information useful and your RDA looks forward to receiving your draft targets in November and agreed targets by the end of term. If you require any further guidance or clarification on any of the above, please do not hesitate to contact Terry Cook.
Yours sincerely
Bryan Slater
Director of Education