A journey without maps but with alternative navigational aids

Most children starting Year 7 this September won’t have been in school full-time since Year 4. Every school in the country is struggling to cope with the after-effects of the pandemic – but arguably there is no greater challenge than successfully and sensitively managing the transition of young children, whose education has already been severely disrupted, into the unfamiliar environment of a new school.

The lack of national data for the second year running only compounds the challenge for the teachers who are now preparing to receive them. What can schools do in the absence of SATs at Key Stage 2?

Andy Daly, Executive Headteacher at Cambridge Meridian Academies Trust who oversees transition and assessment arrangements for three secondaries, says his schools used to triangulate SATs with CAT4 and Progress Test data, and although the first isn’t available this year, the other two are reliable mainstays.

“We’re not doing anything differently this year to what we have done in previous years. These assessments have given us enough information to establish a baseline for new students, especially in English, maths and science, even though we have lost SATs,” he says. “We try to get as much information as early as possible by running CAT4 in primary feeder schools in July where we can and assessing those who we haven’t managed to reach in September.”

External checks

Internal assessments play a part, Andy says, particularly in non-core subjects where data isn’t readily available. But external, standardised testing is an invaluable check for measures that always contain an element of subjectivity. “We’ve learnt from Teacher Assessed Grades the importance of impartiality and the part that bias can play in assessment. CAT4 and the Progress Tests not only help us establish a baseline but also allow us to impartially benchmark our own assessments.”

Lee Walker, Headteacher at King Edward VI School in Bury St Edmunds, agrees that internal assessments alone won’t suffice in the absence of SATs data. “Schools will have to use some form of external assessment to get a reliable baseline. Our feeder schools provide us with a raft of data along with their own interpretations of what the data means for individual students. However, it’s not always easy to assess abilities and potential in all subjects – so we use GL Assessment’s New Group Reading Test (NGRT), CAT4 and the Pupil Attitudes to Self and School (PASS) survey to get a complete picture.”

Using triangulation

“Triangulation can be incredibly useful,” says Andy. “For instance, CAT4 can spot the underperforming boy who didn’t necessarily do well in his SATs but who has plenty of untapped potential.” Both Andy and Lee say their schools use FFT Aspire as a complement to CAT4 at transition. King Edward VI School uses it “to generate estimates that help us set meaningful targets for students” and Andy says his schools “use FFT to set cohort targets rather than to set targets for individuals”.

Andy points out that while more data sets can help schools get a more holistic picture of a student it’s important that teachers and leaders don’t misrepresent what the data is telling them. “Individual data points won’t tell you everything about a child – they can’t. CAT4 and the Progress Tests have helped us to build a full picture of the potential of our students but it’s important that scores are not seen as corridors with pre-determined outcomes.

“They present possibilities and pose meaningful questions. Everyone’s progress will be different. We like to talk about choices and chances with our students – and the more positive choices they make, the greater the chances of them attaining the grades the assessments suggest they could achieve.”

Sharing data

Both headteachers say the ability to share data with staff is crucial to maximising its use and potential. At King Edward VI all assessment results are posted in the school’s management information system so teachers can easily access them. Lee says, “Teaching staff find the diagnostics fascinating and the data really useful, particularly when they are used in context to form part of the picture of the whole child, their future potential and possible barriers to success.

“We ask colleagues to look at SEN need, reading ages and CAT4 data in their lesson planning. It’s incumbent on leaders to find ways to give staff the time to consider the data, to understand its uses and limitations, and to plan and implement strategies to help each student develop their knowledge and understanding.”

Andy also says CAT4 indicators and FFT scores and predictions are uploaded into his schools’ MIS and that data is used alongside teacher judgements to set targets for students. He stresses that the way these datasets should be used always requires reinforcement because of teacher turnover, or because new schools joining the Trust are unfamiliar with the way it operates.

“The biggest danger is that data isn’t used consistently or in the way it’s supposed to be used,” Andy explains. “We always stress that data isn’t definitive but gives a likely outcome not a pre-determined one, and that staff should use it to inform their targets and support student progress and motivation. Conversations about the proper use of data are a bit like conversations with students about uniform – every year you end up having an argument about trousers! It’s the same with data.”

Preparing for September

Lee says given the absence of SATs, he’s expecting the CAT4, PASS and NGRT data for the new intake to be even more essential this year “because we’re going to know less about them”. Both headteachers say their schools assess late entrants with CAT4 or NGRT if they join after Year 7.

Andy says he’s keen to see what the Progress Test data shows – his schools run these assessments at the beginning and end of Years 7 and 8 – to see what progress has been made in another extraordinary year. “Last September’s CAT4 and Progress Test data really highlighted the division between disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged students, not only within schools but between them too. Schools with more disadvantaged children tended to fall further behind.”

He cautions that the picture was mixed and other factors apart from deprivation played a part. “Different family circumstances and access to digital resources were factors too – it wasn’t necessarily just about disadvantage. One of our schools, for instance, did surprisingly well because almost half of the students were in school all through lockdown as their parents were key workers or they were classed as vulnerable.

“It’s this complexity, as well as the absence of SATs, that makes access to reliable data all the more crucial. The data we will have in September will highlight exactly where individual differences are and it will help colleagues plan the appropriate interventions and ensure students are in the best place to be able to progress.”

Andy’s assessment tips

1. Be clear and understand why you’re doing assessments in the first place
2. Be transparent about what you’re doing, why you’re doing it and what it’s for
3. Triangulate data where possible to get a fuller picture
   Don’t treat single data points as predetermined predictors of future attainment
4. Don’t overcomplicate
   Present any reports or analyses in a clear and accessible format
5. But don’t oversimplify
   Use the information in a nuanced way not as a blunt tool
6. Minimise workload
   The proper use of data and the use of external assessment like GL Progress Tests can really cut down on things like marking
7. Don’t add to workload
   People can occasionally disappear down data rabbit holes and produce far more than they or anyone else needs
8. Prize questions above answers
   Data doesn’t give definitive answers but the right questions to pose. The answers should come from the conversations we have with colleagues – not the data itself