All over the country, Year 2 and Year 6 pupils have been sitting the sample tests that were published last summer… and then finding very little out as a result about how they’re progressing towards the expected standard.
Of course, there are benefits in practising for the style of the test and identifying gaps in knowledge, but teachers are desperate for an indication of how their pupils compare nationally. In an effort to help, I am hoping to collect data from as many schools as possible so that we can draw some comparisons.
I’m asking Year 2/Year 6 teachers who have used the sample tests to share the raw score data for their children with me. No names, no links to schools… just a set of raw scores for each of the three tests.
If enough schools contribute, then hopefully we can start to build a picture that will give us some idea of how children are faring. We’ll be able quickly to see an approximate mean score for the group, and we’ll start to see what percentage of children are scoring more than half-marks, or what proportion are achieving a 65% threshold, say.
It won’t provide all the answers, but it might just help us feel less in the dark!
If you’ve completed the tests with your pupils, please do share your results. You can enter them directly onto the Google Spreadsheets at
Key Stage 1:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CkE17ixOGIWwSaexl-m9iJJVzGUrqCR0pFngoVwfygk/edit?usp=sharing
Key Stage 2:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OupodGAMPVCqHRXwi4YkzXX1usvGH2YSCp-dgkavwAc/edit?usp=sharing
Or you can email me them at info@primarycurriculum.me.uk and I’ll happily collate.
I’m hoping that in a week or so I might be able to start picking out some key messages which I’ll share here and via Twitter.
Ramblings of a Teacher 
Brilliant idea! Thank you.
This is wonderful. We’re trying to do something similar as a large cluster of schools at the moment but I’d really like to add to your spreadsheet. I’ve been ‘saving’ the sample tests till this term (knowing that they’ll be the only ones) and will be administering them early next week. Will that be too late?
Many thanks.
Not too late at all. I’m hoping to be able to get some initial ideas of numbers this week, but these will only become more useful with time.
That’s wonderful. Thanks again.
We’re using them just before Easter. Will upload them then. Thank you, Michael.
Great idea, I will upload our results later!
Are you the DfE in disguise? Oh… errr… no… that can’t be right… this would actually be a useful thing for them to do and we can’t be expecting that now can we? Facetious Monday.
In Maths, SPAG, Reading the results will be what they will be, but in Writing I have only an approximate idea if the schools local to me (who submit approximately the same TA for writing year on year as we do) will be submitting approximately the same once again.
Collating the % of pupils on track to meet expected in Writing would be even more informative for me. We are normally just above national average. If we find that we aren’t in that position for a sample of nationally collated data we could just make it up again so that we are back where we belong!
See ramblings regarding data
Karen
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So you inspired me to do a little research.
We are one of 3 large local primaries. All in previous years 85%-90% for Writing at Level 4+.
Predictions for all 3 are in line, however a huge caveat when it comes to spellings.
We are all hovering somewhere in the 75%-80% region *if* the 10% of children (again, all schools) who are struggling with spellings all learn what they need to. This means accelerated progress in spellings including the independent use of correct spellings repeatedly in writing before teacher submission. A big ask.
So spellings are having a huge impact on the % of children at expected. Who’d have thought? Well, probably someone with lots of experience teaching in a primary school.
We have done this as a cluster of local schools (creating an average of all of the marks from the sample papers), so it will be interesting to see whether you come up with similar data. We have ‘pass marks’ of: Maths 48, Reading 26 and GPS 27. We find it hard to believe that having stated that writing is not a best fit, but every aspect must be evident in order to meet expectations, less than half marks in maths will be acceptable. However, all of the schools normally achieve 90%+ L4 and between 50%-80% L5. Based on those ‘pass marks’ the lowest school will be at around 50% of children achieving expectations in each subject and the highest school at 80% achieving expectations. So even with relatively low pass marks, schools that would have achieved 100% L4 in the past, will be much lower. It would definitely be good to have a bigger picture from around the country.
We went Maths 52%, reading 48% and spag 61%. This equates to 57/110 maths, 24/50 reading and 43/70 SPAG. We took the old score for a 4B and reduced it a little as the tests are harder, so a lower score represents the same achievement. I’m not sure how this balances with the numbers you’ve given…
[…] If you find these sheets useful, and you haven’t already shared your school’s data with me to add to the “accuracy” of the project, please read here about how you can contribute. […]