Trinity School KS3 Assessment Handbook
Trinity School KS3 Assessment Handbook
Why is Key Stage 3 assessment changing? In 2011 the government published ‘The Framework for the National Curriculum’ outlining proposed changes to Key Stage 3 Assessment. It was felt that there was an over-reliance on the National Curriculum levels themselves rather than details of the actual skills that made up a subject. This coincided with new programmes of study in all Key Stage 3 subjects taking effect from September 2014. In line with this, the government declared that the previous system of assessment (National Curriculum levels) would be abolished. The directive to schools was that we were to design our own system of assessment for Key Stage 3.
The government gave no details as to what the assessment should look like but wanted a more secure system that no longer relied on the notion of ‘levels’; there needed to be a focus on the specifics of key areas of the curriculum, a way of identifying within each subject what it was that students understand and what they need to do in order to make further progress. We spent a year researching and looking into different options and launched the concept of our new assessment model this year. It is an assessment system that is based on: • developing the key knowledge & skills required for success at Key Stage 4 • building high expectations of standards of students • providing feedback that allows all students to succeed – ensuring students develop a growth mindset
Baseline assessments To ensure a fair and consistent starting point, all students are given a baseline assessment to place them on the assessment grid. They are tested against each of the strands within the subject in a variety of ways specific to the subject. Students are then given a ‘step’ score for each ‘strand’ from which an overall ‘step point’ score is calculated. By the end of the year, we expect students to have made at least one and a half full steps of overall progress. This progress could be made in any strand and the progress can be an average over the range of strands. For example - Student A’s baseline details for a subject with five strands are = 3 3 2 2 3 From this we calculate their Step Point = 2.6 By the end of the year, Student A needs to have a Step Point score of at least 4.1 and this can be made up of progress in any of the strands. Please note that the strands have different weightings (in the example above they are all the same), so a progression in one strand may move a students Step Point score more than others. Teacher are free to raise individual targets so you may see a subject target that is higher than one full step.
The Steps Assessment grid The steps assessment grids are the centre of our assessment model. They show the key areas of study and skills required to achieve success. Every subject is split into 3-6 strands breaking the subject down into key areas, including literacy. For each strand there are nine steps ranging from step 1, being the simplest to step 9, the most complex. As the system is looking to prepare students for the skills and knowledge required for Key Stage 4, this is then an early indication of expected progress at GCSE level. By the time your son/daughter reaches this stage there will no longer be letter grades (A*-G) but numbered grades (9-1). This is another reason why we have chosen this system of assessment. For example, if your son/daughter at the end of Year 9 achieves an overall ‘Step Point’ of 5, they would be expected to achieve at least a ‘5’ at GCSE. This booklet gives you all the steps assessment grids so that you can record your child’s progress from now until the end of Year 8.
Why is Key Stage 3 assessment changing? In 2011 the government published ‘The Framework for the National Curriculum’ outlining proposed changes to Key Stage 3 Assessment. It was felt that there was an over-reliance on the National Curriculum levels themselves rather than details of the actual skills that made up a subject. This coincided with new programmes of study in all Key Stage 3 subjects taking effect from September 2014. In line with this, the government declared that the previous system of assessment (National Curriculum levels) would be abolished. The directive to schools was that we were to design our own system of assessment for Key Stage 3.
The government gave no details as to what the assessment should look like but wanted a more secure system that no longer relied on the notion of ‘levels’; there needed to be a focus on the specifics of key areas of the curriculum, a way of identifying within each subject what it was that students understand and what they need to do in order to make further progress. We spent a year researching and looking into different options and launched the concept of our new assessment model this year. It is an assessment system that is based on: • developing the key knowledge & skills required for success at Key Stage 4 • building high expectations of standards of students • providing feedback that allows all students to succeed – ensuring students develop a growth mindset
Baseline assessments To ensure a fair and consistent starting point, all students are given a baseline assessment to place them on the assessment grid. They are tested against each of the strands within the subject in a variety of ways specific to the subject. Students are then given a ‘step’ score for each ‘strand’ from which an overall ‘step point’ score is calculated. By the end of the year, we expect students to have made at least one and a half full steps of overall progress. This progress could be made in any strand and the progress can be an average over the range of strands. For example - Student A’s baseline details for a subject with five strands are = 3 3 2 2 3 From this we calculate their Step Point = 2.6 By the end of the year, Student A needs to have a Step Point score of at least 4.1 and this can be made up of progress in any of the strands. Please note that the strands have different weightings (in the example above they are all the same), so a progression in one strand may move a students Step Point score more than others. Teacher are free to raise individual targets so you may see a subject target that is higher than one full step.
The Steps Assessment grid The steps assessment grids are the centre of our assessment model. They show the key areas of study and skills required to achieve success. Every subject is split into 3-6 strands breaking the subject down into key areas, including literacy. For each strand there are nine steps ranging from step 1, being the simplest to step 9, the most complex. As the system is looking to prepare students for the skills and knowledge required for Key Stage 4, this is then an early indication of expected progress at GCSE level. By the time your son/daughter reaches this stage there will no longer be letter grades (A*-G) but numbered grades (9-1). This is another reason why we have chosen this system of assessment. For example, if your son/daughter at the end of Year 9 achieves an overall ‘Step Point’ of 5, they would be expected to achieve at least a ‘5’ at GCSE. This booklet gives you all the steps assessment grids so that you can record your child’s progress from now until the end of Year 8.
