We set students targets which are GCSE grades. If only 14% of students correctly answered the problem solving questions on this paper but nationally only 13% achieved the same result, it means that while there is clearly a skills gap between what we want students to be able to do, there is very little gap between these students and students nationally. Student targets can be increased if students achieve above their target grade in the Spring or Summer term assessments. Students working below 1 can be graded w-, w or w+. We’ll send you a link to a feedback form. However, in a world beyond levels and new 9-1 GCSEs, by benchmarking our students’ attainment and progress against others nationally using standardised tests from GL Assessment, we were able to validate that confidence, and support teams and teachers in developing themselves as assessment experts that impact on learning, rather than creating ever more complicated ways to reinvent levels. For example if we are asked to explain how many students in Years 7, 8 and 9 are making at least expected progress, we are able to do this very easily by using our internal assessments (mapped at the end of year to GCSE grades), which are validated in English, maths and science by the correlation to the Progress Test Series. This removed the agreed national assessment framework for schools at KS2 and KS3 and left no national replacement. Ref: Ofqual/20/6673 However as a school, we must ensure that our assessment “system” is giving us the right “picture” of a student’s progress in their school life. For example, 2- will be at the lower end of 2 and 2+ will be the top end and getting close to the grade above. We will also use w-, w and w+ for students who have not accessed grade 1. The total figures include all subjects available in each year. Using data from the Progress Test Series, we can judge the percentage of Year 9 students that made at least expected progress in English within the year when compared to the national average, as well as the number that achieved the same standardised score. This enables students, parents and staff to measure progress with respect to GCSE grades from 1 to 9. This freedom (eventually) allowed accurate, valid, reliable and efficient assessments to be created by staff, and importantly, for different class groups with different curriculum experiences. GCSE assessment have changed from letter grades to numbers grades (9 to 1) - This will affect all students in Year 7 to 9 2. This allows great freedom for staff to plan and assess professionally, without concerns about students’ progress term by term. In the graph below, we can see that students have demonstrated skills and knowledge broadly in line with national averages. What are ... 11 this will also indicate their end of Key Stage 4 grade. We then create the holistic view of the team and the student by a simple three times a year conversion of the percentages to a GCSE grade level. AS and A level ‘other sciences’ includes all science subjects except biology, chemistry and physics. On track means no more than 1 fine grade below target, e.g. Changes to GCSE Grades and Assessment at Key Stage 3 A Guide for Parents . To help us improve GOV.UK, we’d like to know more about your visit today. It will take only 2 minutes to fill in. GCSE, AS and A level achievements in 2020 compared with 2019. Expected progress is one GCSE grade per year. The problem was that assessment systems in schools are not JUST about assessment, are they? Each school was left to create its own. We decided that developing our teachers’ expertise in assessment was more important than trying to invent levels by another name. We can see the groups, classes and students who made much greater than expected progress within the school year as well as those that matched their peers nationally in attainment. Our assessment system for students in Year 7 to Year 9 reflect two significant recent national changes : As an Academy we have responded to these changes with the purpose of best preparing our students for their GCSE exams. AS and A level ‘other modern languages’ includes all languages except French, German, Irish, Spanish and Welsh. It shows us that this is broadly national in attainment – a vital step to ensuring that attainment can be measured on the new GCSE 9-1 before the exam is taken. Oh, and did I mention all without impacting on teachers’ time? At all times the students see only the formative feedback and a percentage (where needed). The 2019 results data is taken from the data tables published by JCQ. GCSE science double award counts as 2 GCSE entries. This chart indicates the overall GCSE target grade, with the grade we might expect students to be at by the end of each year. On track means no more than 2 fine grades below target, e.g. Every school has a different curriculum map, and as such, a national assessment comparison may indicate students demonstrating knowledge and skills extremely well as those skills have been deeply embedded that term. We use this information to make the website work as well as possible and improve government services. Increased content and difficulty 3. The reported grade is no longer a working grade but the grade achieved in the most recent assessment. Three years ago, the Department for Education removed national curriculum levels at Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 with the introduction of a new curriculum. It will help compare between these different ways of measuring progress. We also need to ensure that we are preparing our students as best we possibly can for sitting GCSE exams as described above. We email the individual parent reports to parents at the end of each year to give them more ideas about how they can support their child with work at home. As the DfE said at the time: “The assessment framework should be built into the school curriculum, so that schools can check what pupils have learned and whether they are on track to meet expectations at the end of the key stage, and so that they can report regularly to parents.”. We can also say that they have made (on average) more progress than the national average in their fluency in conceptual understanding, and the processes they use, but we can also see that we need to work as a year group at their ability to problem solve. This is where we used the GL Assessment data. All content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0, except where otherwise stated, National restrictions in England from 5 November, Secondary curriculum, key stage 3 and key stage 4 (GCSEs), Key stage 3 and 4 exam marking, qualifications and results, Results tables for GCSE, AS and A level results in England, 2020, GCSE and equivalent results: 2012 to 2013 (revised), Summer GCSE, AS and A level results 2020: information for students, Key stage 5 exam marking, qualifications and results, Coronavirus (COVID-19): guidance and support, Transparency and freedom of information releases. By using the Progress Test Series (which covers English, maths and science), we can now tell that, in maths, our Year 7 students matched their peers nationally with the exact same standardised score. Students will either have MET TARGET, ON TRACK or BELOW TARGET. The concern was how we would know if the students were making the same amount of progress as their peers nationally – but we later found that GL Assessment would fill this gap for us. We used the idea of reporting all assessments at KS3 numerically, as a simple percentage, based purely on how much of the criteria being used to make the assessment has been demonstrated by the student. However, it is a useful way of looking at progress between old NC Levels, GCSE grades and numbers. Assessment is best when its designer (the teacher, when we’re talking about internal assessments) is free to create an assessment that is valid, reliable and efficient based solely on the curricula that has been taught (or is expected to have been experienced by the students). Here are some direct examples from teachers on how they are going to use the data this term: With the help of GL Assessment’s national standardised data, we have been able to develop Assessment Experts who are free to assess in the way that works best for students, while providing evidence of students’ success to parents, leaders, governors and school visitors.