As a tutor I am always acutely aware of the time of year once the end of April approaches. Typically, it brings a flurry of extra SATs and GCSE prep and a range of questions from parents related to understanding their child’s end-of-year academic progress and what they should do if it’s less than expected. And as we’ve hit that time of year once more, I thought it might be useful to clarify some of the details of the progress and achievement tracking systems we use here in the UK.
Let’s start with SATs.
National curriculum tests / Standard Assessment Tests, or SATs as they are better known to most parents, are initially carried out at the end of year 2, where the children are formally tested on their reading and maths abilities and teacher assessed on listening, writing, speaking and science. The scores recorded at this point form a baseline against which the scores the children achieve in year 6 can be compared. This comparison indicates how well the school are doing as far as teaching and learning are concerned and for the pupils it tracks how much progress each child has made over the duration of 4 years.
The 2022 SATs timetable runs as follows:
Monday 9th May English GPS Paper 1: questions English GPS Paper 2: spelling
Tuesday 10th May English reading
Wednesday 11th May Mathematics Paper 1: arithmetic Mathematics Paper 2: reasoning
Thursday 12th May Mathematics Paper 3: reasoning
Outcomes
Your child’s results will be scaled in line with all other children in the year across the UK. The scores will range from 80 (the lowest scaled score that can be awarded) up to 120 (the highest scaled score).
The expected standard for each test is a scaled score of 100 or more and will be accompanied by the letters AS meaning the expected standard was achieved.
If a child scores 99 or less, they won't have achieved the expected standard in the test and the letters NS will indicate this.
The Department for Education expects at least 65 per cent of children to reach the expected standard.
Your child’s school will share your child’s SATs scores with you - usually in July, and they will most likely share it with the secondary school your child will join in September as well.
Secondary school and SATs
The SATs scores are usually shared with secondary schools because they are a useful measure to help the new school staff understand your child’s strengths and areas of extra need. In this way, schools may use the SATs results for setting or streaming within maths and English classes. Schools will also often combine the information from the SATs scores with outcomes from their own cognitive ability tests (CATs) which pupils usually sit within the first few weeks of the autumn term if they haven’t already taken verbal and non-verbal tests linked to their secondary school entry.
SAT’s and GCSE targets
As pupils enter their new secondary schools, targets are set for each child. These can be GCSE targets or interim targets whilst working towards their GCSEs, either way they are typically based on a combination of the scores a child gains at the end of KS2 in year 6 and the output of an algorithm used by the Fischer Family Trust, although the trust don’t recommend this specific use of its data. At best, these produce a very general guide to each child’s academic trajectory or ‘flight path’ as several schools describe it.
SATs and Progress & Attainment 8
Secondary schools also use the results of the SATs tests to calculate the school’s Progress & Attainment 8. This is a pair of performance measures which were brought in 2016 to monitor how well pupils progressed between year 6 and 11. The Attainment 8 score measures, usually through termly tests, the achievement of an individual student across their eight best performing subjects. The Progress 8 score measures how well they’ve progressed since their time in secondary school compared to their peers who were at the same level as them at key stage two. Collective student Progress 8 scores are used to determine the success of whole secondary schools based on how much progress all students have made.
Originally Progress and Attainment 8 was introduced to move the focus away from getting pupils over the C/D grade borderline and to ensure all pupils were pushed to their full potential. In short, this tracker acknowledges not all pupils start at the same point and allows schools to monitor how much progress each pupil makes.
How does tracking and targeting affect pupils?
The SATs are a dual measure of achievement for both schools and pupils. For this reason, many year 6 pupils find the spring term curriculum hijacked and replaced with intense practise in preparation for the tests in May. Schools experience pressure from Government to be seen as successful through pupil performance and they therefore narrow their teaching to focus chiefly on the tests. In turn, this change in teaching and checking prompts pupils to feel equal pressure to perform, generating, at the tender age of 10, the possibility of academic failure which will be nationally recorded and shared.
For many pupils then, the SATs experience can bring about:
- Anxiety and stress associated with negative self-thoughts and doubts
- Discrimination for children with late birthdays, additional needs, second language speakers and those on free school meals, we know children in these groups fare less well yet there is no adjustment for them
- Removal from the learning environment, in extreme cases, this happens when the child’s score increases the risk of lowering the school’s overall performance
For a few pupils the experience can also feel like long-term categorisation.
As a tutor I have lots of conversations with children who are approaching their SATs. Several give me details on why they feel so worried about the tests. There is usually a list of reasons all of which culminated in their main fear - that the outcome of the SATs tests will predicate ‘getting a good job or not’. Their understanding of the tests is that a poor set of scores at 11 years old will indicate if they have the ability or not to succeed academically in the adult world of work. Of course, I reassure them that the tests are not a total sum of them as a person and of course these tests alone can’t be a determinant.
Although many of the children, and indeed many of the parents, are usually unaware of the targeting and tracking systems that schools operate, these children’s fears may hold an element of truth for some. The use of year 6 data as a base line marker makes a heavy contribution to the pupil’s academic targets and the schools’ expectations of them. Typically, the target grades are meant to be a motivational tool to inspire pupils whilst simultaneously gathering evidence that the school is supporting each pupil to reach their potential. Yet, for many, the target grades and later, predicted grades, become glass ceilings and self-fulfilling prophesies that keep disadvantaged pupils disadvantaged in exam outcomes with associated limitations within the employment market.
What if the target’s off target?
Of course, if the targets do the job with positive outcome – great! Let’s remember through that the targets are formed from an average attainment across two subjects, maths and English, yet they also inform the targets for subjects such as foreign languages, art, music and DT. The suggestion here then is that outcomes from the SATs indicates a pupil’s capacity to learn rather than their understanding of two discreet subjects or that learning from two generic subjects can be transferable to all other subjects – neither of which is true, hence their probability of inaccuracy.
Feeling like a fool
Kids are competitive and the very notion of setting personal targets introduces a level of comparison between them and those with the lower targets are likely to feel less able than their colleagues with higher aspirations – a harsh start to a new school and a new phase of one’s academic journey. But the allotted target grades can work in two directions, targets can be set too high or too low and can see both have a worryingly negative impact on a pupil’s confidence and outcome both resulting in a sense of not being good enough.
Targets set too low
Pupils in this position are at risk of buying into the targets and believing they have reached their potential, or worse, believe that the target is indeed inspirational and therefore the best-case scenario. This may lead to an even lower level of performance. Pupils may also lack motivation to aim higher when their low achievement scores are congratulated and recorded as being ‘on target’. I have worked with a couple of boys in a similar situation to this and in both cases, resolution only came about when the parents moved the boys to another school.
Target set too high
Although initially a high target might seem flattering, it can quickly become demoralising for pupils when their best efforts result in unmet target achievements, leading them to self-doubt and becoming under-confident.
Indeed, the Fischer Family Trust reviewed how schools use data in 2019 and found the following proportions of teachers believed pupil targets to be too challenging:
Over 50% for Humanities, Maths and Science
60% of English teachers
70% of language teachers
Unrealistic expectations can be demotivating and overwhelming - and not just for pupils. Teachers are held accountable for pupil performance and under-achieving pupils can create tensions such that lesson delivery is less effective and teacher / pupil relationships are strained, limiting the likelihood of success for both.
A difficult situation which needs parental help
Schools need to be held accountable for pupils reaching their potential. To have knowledge of pupil progression, tracking is needed, and tracking begins with a baseline. Using KS2 data from pupils in year 6, in the way it is currently, clearly isn’t perfect and poses as a tricky situation with no easy answer, hence our current situation.
As a parent it might feel as though there is little you can do to influence issues around targets and grades but in fact you are an ambassador for your child and you can play an important supporting role in your child’s GCSE success. Here are my top tips for parents navigating their way around tests, targets and tracking:
1. Join Mumsnet, a brilliant e-forum that shares knowledge, explanations and advice from a wide range of parents and professionals.
2. Read-up on how the UK targeting and tracking system works and what the research says. I’ve added some links below to some useful documents.
3. Talk to your child about how the targets are produced and explain that GCSE results can be differ hugely to predictions and that they themselves are, in fact, the biggest influence on their GCSE outcomes through their effort and application.
4. Talk to your child’s head of year if you are concerned that your child is not being stretched, or indeed is being pushed to the extent of stress. The head of year has access to the big picture of what’s going on for your child inside school and is therefore well placed to be your partner ambassador for your child.
5. Grapple with the school’s tracking system so you understand what is being shared in the school progress reports. Again, if you are unsure what codes or numbers mean or who sets the targets / predictions or what’s the thinking behind them - get back to your child’s head of year for an explanation.
I hope this is helpful. As always, your thoughts and comments are most welcome and if you have any questions regarding supporting your child, please do drop me a line at nicolab662@gmail.com.
Until next month, very best wishes
Nicola