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© Herts for Learning Ltd
Herts for Learning approach to Assessment without levels
Sally Cort
Herts for Learning Ltd
© Herts for Learning Ltd
About Herts for Learning Ltd
‘Herts for Learning Ltd is a not for profit company owned by Hertfordshire schools and the Local Authority. Providing school
improvement and business services, it is dedicated to improving standards of education in Hertfordshire and beyond.’
• Company was formed in September 2013. Teams include previously traded services such as SITSS (SIMS support team), Finance, Governance and Schools HR, as well as the School Improvement and Curriculum advisers
• 97% (512) of Hertfordshire schools have bought a share in the company and Hertfordshire County Council has a 20% shareholding
© Herts for Learning Ltd
Previous use of Assessment in SIMS
• For the past 7 years, we have provided AM7 templates and SIMS Excel reports for tracking pupil assessments
• AM7 templates for data entry only
• SIMS Excel reports provide a wide range of analysis by cohort, vulnerable group and individual pupil
• Reports developed in conjunction with the Assessment team and SIPs (known as HIPs in Hertfordshire)
• Used by over 85% of Herts schools
• Around 100 schools using other well-known Assessment packages moved over to using AM7
© Herts for Learning Ltd
Removal of Levels
National Curriculum review: “We believe that constant assessment to levels is itself over-burdensome, obscures the genuine strengths and weaknesses in a pupil’s attainment, obscures parental understanding of the areas in which they might best support their child’s learning, and likewise, weakens teachers’ clear understanding and identification of pupils’ specific weaknesses or misunderstandings.”
However:• Accountability at the ends of the Key Stages is still as high-stakes as ever• Governors need to be able to monitor attainment and progress• Ofsted still expect to see evidence of attainment and progress
Our schools expected us (and asked us) to provide an alternative system, and it was also very important to them that we continue with using SIMS to provide the data analysis.
So we took the decision to design a new system for schools, whilst also being mindful of the problems and pitfalls that led to the removal of levels.
© Herts for Learning Ltd
Key Aims of the System
• A complete package, to provide a wide range of planning and teaching resources, plus criteria for assessment as well as SIMS tracking resources
• To be easily understandable by internal and external users of the data
• To provide a tracking system for management purposes only, that provides data to satisfy Ofsted that pupils are ‘on track’ to get to where they need to be
• To provide users with key performance indicators about attainment and progress, to inform self-evaluation and for demonstrating progress
• To enable users to determine whether or not pupils are on track to meet the expected standards in the end of Key Stage statutory assessments
Developed in consultation with schools – over 97% take up by Herts schools, plus a growing number (70+) of non Herts schools
© Herts for Learning Ltd
Tracking pupils’ progress using phases and steps
• Expectations of learning divided into key phases:
Phase A = expectations for Years 1-2
Phase B = expectations for Years 3-4
Phase C = expectations for Years 5-6
• Steps of progress within each phase (linked to detailed criteria produced by HFL) – expectation of one step of progress per term
• We are confident that our HfL assessment criteria are appropriately pitched to indicate whether children are on track for the DfE expectations of attainment
© Herts for Learning Ltd
• A2 and A5 represent the age-related expectation for Years 1 and 2 respectively
• A+ signifies that a child has mastered all aspects of the phase and the teacher is extending this child’s thinking by going broader and deeper within the curriculum – e.g. exploring higher-level thinking skills, within the content domain of the phase
Example – Phase A
© Herts for Learning Ltd
Key Principles of the Tracking System
• Intended as a management information tool – NOT as a basis for reporting attainment or progress to pupils or parents
• Once per term is enough for summative judgements such as these
• Ongoing formative assessment against specific learning objectives is more appropriate for feedback to pupils about learning
• Quote from a school’s recent Ofsted report: “… a proper and effective new system in place for assessing pupils’ learning that is aligned to the new National Curriculum requirements.”
© Herts for Learning Ltd
SIMS Marksheets
© Herts for Learning Ltd
SIMS Reports
© Herts for Learning Ltd
SIMS Reports – Pupil Level
© Herts for Learning Ltd
SIMS Reports – Cohort Level
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Future Developments
• We cannot stand still – schools must want to continue their subscriptions into year 2 and beyond
• Further subjects to be added e.g. Spoken Language, History, Geography
• As more data becomes available, further reports can be added e.g. an individual pupil graph
• Reception Baseline tests, new requirements for the end of KS1 and KS2
• Listen to what our schools want!
