2. Assessing without levels
The current issue:
The Government have stated that:
‘As part of our reforms to the national curriculum , the current system of
‘levels’ used to report children’s attainment and progress will be removed. It
will not be replaced.’ (DfE, 2013)
It seems that it is the complexity of levels which has been a deciding factor in
their abandonment. This is seen in the DfE’s argument that the ‘system is
complicated and difficult to understand, especially for parents.’
They feel that Schools should have the freedom to decide how to assess their
pupils. They believe that levels provide parents, and students, with an
arbitrary description of the students’ attainment for a particular assessment
focus. There argument is that parents should be provided with a clearer
outline of how their child is progressing in English.
3. Assessing without levels
The debate:
The removal of Ks3 assessment levels has left a mixed reaction.
As a trainee I can see that levels are a way for us to understand and assess our students
against a set criteria for different sub-focuses for reading, writing and S&L. However, I
can see how to someone who does not have each individual breakdown of the levels
would be completely overwhelmed by them (this includes students). Even though
students have a breakdown of each assessment focus and the corresponding level
(number) for what students should be achieving at each stage, they still have no real
understanding of what their level actually means. I also feel students become more
concerned with the number and letter that they receive on an assessment and not what
they are actually able to DO at that level. There is a sigma attached to achieving lower
levels, even though those students are not actually fully understanding what they are
doing to achieve that level and what they need to do to make progress.
I can appreciate both sides of the argument for the removal of levels. They are effective
for teachers, but appear to be less so for students and parents.
4. Assessing without levels
The impact:
The impact within English will be that Schools will need to
devise a new format for providing summative feedback.
Although this may seem to add to a teachers workload, it can
also enable teachers to provide feedback which doesn’t define
their pupils to a certain number. It could provide teachers with
the opportunity to develop an effective way of communicating
current attainment to learners and providing them with ways in
which they can develop their learning and make the progress
they need to.
5. Assessing without levels
The suggestions:
• Students need to understand how they are being assessed.
Therefore there stills needs to be a clear assessment focus
which is shared with students.
• An all-aspects approach, rather than blocks of isolated
study, is best. This would suggest that areas of the
curriculum shouldn’t be assessed as separate sections of
knowledge, as students should be applying knowledge
learnt through their assessments. It would also imply that
teaching shouldn’t be assessment focused, where a skill is
taught in one block an then assessed at the end. The
process needs to be on-going.
• Schools should develop a thematic curriculum that
stretches students, rather than assessing them on
regurgitating information at the end of each topic.
• Assessment should encourage creativity and skills
development.
Using success criteria to create a language for assessment.
Quality feedback so that the student can make progress.
Rather than providing them with a number which means
nothing to them.
Every department needs to define its
standards. It should be student centred.
We can ask:
what knowledge and skills are essential
for an exceptional English student?
No matter what starting point, we are
aiming for every student to
make exceptional progress which is
relative to their starting point. Setting
the highest standards possible for our
students is essential.
6. References:
Department for Education (2013a). Assessing Without
Levels [online]. Available: www.education.gov.uk/schools/
teachingandlearning/curriculum/nationalcurriculum2014/
a00225864/assessing-without-levels
