What is Inclusion in Assessment?
(3 minute read)
According to the DfE, one of the aims of the current Curriculum and Assessment Review is to deliver an “assessment system that captures the full strengths of every child and young person and the breadth of curriculum.” This is an acknowledgement that while school students currently take a range of statutory assessments and standardised tests, as well as other school assessments, the whole system of assessment may not be as inclusive as it could be.
Different types of Assessment
- Primary Sats at KS2 are statutory assessments in core subjects that inform the school performance measures at primary and secondary. These are mostly marked externally but include some teacher assessment, specifically for English Writing and Science. These are judged by a number of evidence-based ‘pupil can’ statements to determine whether or not a pupil is working at the required standard.
- Standardised tests, such as GCSEs, provide accountability and consistency in terms of standards. They can measure potential (ability tests), as well as performance, knowledge and skills, (attainment tests), relative to all others taking the same test. Schools often use a range of standardised ability tests, such as cognitive ability tests and reading age tests, to help determine pupil potential and set targets.
- Schools also use a range of formal and informal assessments set by the teacher or the school to assess pupil progress. This is done regularly to inform teaching, (formative assessment), and also at the end of a period of teaching, (summative assessment) to assess what the pupil has achieved and whether they have met the learning aims.
What does inclusion in assessment look like?
There are three obvious ways in which schools can measure inclusion in assessment:
- How adjustments are made for SEND pupils so that they are not disadvantaged by the way a test is set up. It is important to measure what all pupils can do when reasonable adjustments are in place, rather than setting some students up to fail with tests they can’t do.
- How assessment data is used to feed back to students and set targets and expectations for them. The KS2 Sats are a snapshot of attainment at a moment in time, it should not determine expectations for the next five years. This should be regularly reviewed within the context of a broad range of assessment data.
- How much attention is paid to each small step of progress towards learning objectives. When students in the same class are working at different levels, or below the NC levels, but only the final curriculum or exam objectives are measured and tracked, this is not only disheartening for pupils, it fails to recognise the progress they are making.
How can Educater support inclusive assessment?
• Educater offers a flexible tracking system that can measure any curriculum using any objectives.
• It can store and track evidence for access arrangements and the EHCP process.
• Small steps of progress can be recorded and tracked to help support summative assessment or feed back to pupils and parents to show all progress towards the final objectives.
• All test scores can be tracked alongside teacher assessments and other data to ensure the broadest picture possible for accurate target setting.
• Educater includes a number of standardised tests in the system, such as GL Assessment and KS2 Sats. Test scores can easily be uploaded from a spreadsheet or input on screen and raw scores converted to standardised scores. New school tests can also be set up and tracked at any time.
Conclusion
A broad range of evidence and data, which is regularly updated and reviewed, gives every child a chance to have accurate targets set. A flexible and easy to use tracking system can check whether or not pupils are on track and enable interventions to be put in place early enough to impact outcomes. Tracking evidence for access arrangements means no child is disadvantaged in an exam. And measuring small steps of progress allows all pupils, at whatever level, to know that they are making progress. Good technology supports good outcomes for all students. That is inclusion.
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