Management Information Sheet

Key Stage 1 and 2 Teacher Assessment - interim arrangements for 2016 only

Teacher Assessment in 2016 is against the Interim Teacher Assessment Statements. The most important difference to previous years is that pupils must meet all the criteria for a standard (and the criteria from any lower standards) in order to be awarded that standard. The only exception is the handwriting criteria in the writing assessment for some pupils.

Schools must be able to evidence that pupils demonstrate consistent attainment of all the statements within the standard. Exemplification to support teachers in making judgements against the statements will be published by the Department for Education (DfE) in the Spring term.

Because of this significant change away from a "best fit" to a "secure fit" model of assessment, the test outcome and teacher assessments for individual pupils may not align as they are assessing different things using a different methodology.

Teacher assessment is submitted earlier than previously indicated - the deadline is likely to be early June.

Moderation

As in previous years, the local authority will be moderating 25% of schools at Key Stage 1 for reading, writing and mathematics and Key Stage 2 writing against the Teacher Assessment Statements. Please note - as final teacher assessment at both key stages will be submitted earlier in 2016 moderators will be checking there is sufficient evidence against data that has already been submitted. This is a DfE amendment to what has been published in the Assessment and Reporting Arrangements. The schools to be moderated will be selected by the DfE and notified that they will be moderated after data has been submitted.

Key Stage 1 Testing

Tests must be taken in May, unless your school is selected by DfE as part of the scaled score setting exercise to undertake one test in April.

At Key Stage 1 the test is one important source of evidence which will show what pupils can achieve independently. In 2016 the test will be used as evidence for teacher assessment and the test score will not be published. It is likely that some pupils will achieve a scaled score on the Key Stage 1 test over the threshold of 100, but have not achieved one or more of the teacher assessment statements for working at the expected standard. They cannot be reported as working at the expected standard.

Pupils working below the level of the tests

Dame Rochford is chairing a review into the assessment of pupils whose attainment is above the P Scales, but who are not working at the level of the tests of interim teacher assessment frameworks.

Further Information

For up to date information on Statutory Testing and Assessment please check the Assessment page on Norfolk Schools.

Key Stage 2 Accountability Measures in 2016

Because of the changes to assessment in 2016, the key accountability measures have changed significantly. A technical guide to accountability measures will be published in the Spring, but it will include :

• The percentage of pupils who achieve the expected standard in each subject and on the reading and mathematics tests and in writing teacher assessment
• The percentage of pupils achieving "a high score" on the tests
• The average attainment achieved on the tests
• The progress made from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 2 in each subject. This will be a value added calculation which will show the difference between each pupils attainment in a subject compared with the average attainment of pupils with similar average point scores at Key Stage.

In order to do well on the new measures we recommend :

• Targeting pupils to achieve the expected standard in all subjects. Ensure all are following an age related curriculum, and that teachers are aware of the content of the new tests (as shown in the test frameworks and the example tests published by the DfE) and the interim teacher assessment frameworks. The test frameworks give the best indication of what the new expected standard will be on the tests. Schools should monitor the percentage of pupils who are on track to achieve the expected standard and may find FFT estimates useful to benchmark and set targets for their performance.
• Ensure that as many pupils as possible take the tests. The details of how pupils working above P scales but below the level of the tests have not yet been published but a low score on the tests will count positively towards average attainment and progress measures compared to not taking the test. As now - it is not possible to remove pupils from the cohort just because they are working below the level of the test.
• Ensure that all pupils score as many marks as possible on the test. Unlike the old expected progress measure, the new progress measure credits every additional mark, and other than 100, there are no fixed thresholds for attainment.
• Close gaps in attainment between subjects. On current value added measures, a pupil who is lower attaining in one subject needs to make more progress in the lower attaining subject than the higher attaining subjects to achieve a positive value added score. This is likely to also be the case from 2016.

2016 Key Stage 2 Floor Standards and Coasting Schools

There will be significant changes in 2016 as to how progress is calculated and how the progress measures are used to decide if a school meets the Floor Standard or can be considered Coasting.

Floor Standards

In 2015, there are four floor standard measures. As in 2014, if a school is at or above any one of them, it is above the floor standard.

• 65% achieve level 4 in reading, writing and mathematics
• The national median making expected progress in reading
• The national median making expected progress in writing
• The national median making expected progress in mathematics

Progress medians are published with the Performance Tables in December.

For 2016, there will continue to be four measures, but the way they are calculated, the criteria and application are different. A school will be above the floor standard if :

• at least 65% of pupils achieve the expected standard on the reading and mathematics tests and writing teacher assessment, or
• they make sufficient progress in all of reading and writing and mathematics

There are two important changes to the Floor Standards in 2016.

• The three progress measures will be value added calculations. Pupils' KS2 results will be compared to those of other pupils nationally with similar starting points (using KS1 average point scores) to calculate pupil progress scores. A school's progress score will be the average of their pupils' scores. A school will be given a progress score in each of reading, writing and mathematics. The DfE will confirm what constitutes a "sufficient" progress score for the school after the pupils have taken the tests.
• If a school has fewer than 65% of pupils meeting the expected standard, then to be above the floor the schools needs to show "sufficient progress" in each of the reading, writing and mathematics progress scores. A school will no longer be above the floor if progress in only one or two subjects is sufficient, but progress in another is not sufficient.

Coasting Schools

The coasting schools criteria are based on the same metrics as the Floor Standards, but with a more challenging bar for attainment and progress.

Coasting schools will be defined based on performance over a three-year period, rather than an annual measure. To be deemed coasting in 2016, a school must fall below both the attainment and the progress elements of the coasting level for all three of the years 2014, 2015 and 2016.

The DfE are consulting on the details of the definition. The consultation can be found at www.gov.uk/government/consultations/intervening-in-failing-underperforming-and-coasting-schools. It closes on 18 December and we encourage all schools to contribute their views.

The definition they are consulting on is that a school will be coasting in 2016 if :

• in 2014 fewer than 85% of pupils achieve level 4 or above in reading, writing and mathematics and a below median percentage of pupils make expected progress, and
• in 2015 fewer than 85% of pupils achieve level 4 or above in reading, writing and mathematics and a below median percentage of pupils make expected progress, and
• in 2016 fewer than 85% of pupils achieve the new expected standard across these subjects and the school does not have a good progress score in any of reading, writing or mathematics

The DfE will confirm what progress scores a school needs to meet the 2016 progress element of the coasting definition after the pupils have taken the tests.

From 2016, it is therefore more important than ever that as many pupils as possible are achieving the expected standard in all three subjects, and that pupils make strong progress in all subjects. No longer will schools meet DfE criteria for expected school performance because of good progress in one subject.