Assessment Framework
The Archway Learning Trust (ALT) Assessment Framework aims to ensure in-year assessment is robust, offers opportunities for trust-wide collaboration and comparability and helps us work together towards common goals to achieve the best for our students.
At Key Assessment Points during the year, all students complete formal assessments which track their progress, highlighting areas of strength and any need for further improvement. During Key Stage 3 (Years 7-9), there will be one formal assessment in each subject per academic year, rising to two in Key Stage 4 (Years 10-11). The assessments are designed to test students’ retention of core knowledge and develop how they apply this in different contexts. Content and skills are interleaved within assessments throughout the year to support students in moving knowledge from the short- term to their long-term memory. These formal assessments sit alongside teachers’ ongoing low-stakes in-class assessments during lessons, assessed homework, providing opportunities for verbal and written feedback to students.
How can Parents and Carers Support?
Research suggests that students who make most progress from their individual starting point are often those who also engage in regular conversation and reflection about their learning and experiences at school. This is where parents and carers can help. Below are suggested ‘over the dinner table’ conversation starters about the assessments.
- How did you prepare for the assessment?
- What topics did you struggle with?
- How might you approach the next assessments differently?
- What opportunities are available to push yourself further next time?
- Why do you think your teacher has graded your attitude to learning in this way?
Where further clarification or support is required, parents are encouraged to make contact with the student’s year leader.
Attitude to Learning
Attitude to Learning (ATL) grades are recorded by teachers alongside progress data to describe each student’s approach to their own learning. Grade descriptors indicate the types of attitudes students display and are used in order to guide and support students in becoming better learners. The descriptors for these can be seen below.
Sharing the Results with Parents and Carers: Key Stage 3
Parents may see the outcomes of their children’s formal assessments either online via the GO 4 Schools website, Arbor parent app or as a printed report sent home or shared at a Parents’ Evening. In years 7, 8 and 9 we intend to provide a clearer picture of how your child is achieving. This will be done by using GCSE grades. Since 2017 GCSE grades have been reported using a 9 to 1 scale where 9 is the highest. Roughly a 4 is equivalent to a C and a 7 is equivalent to an A.
Parents will see a Minimum Expected Grade (MEG), Indicative GCSE grade, an Attitude to Learning indicator and the percentage of marks obtained in the latest assessment. Staff may also share details of assessment marks and percentages at Parents’ Evenings and with students in lessons.
Minimum Expected Grade: For each subject you will see a minimum expected grade. This is an indication of how students with similar starting points achieve at GCSE nationally. Many will achieve this grade, but we hope your child will achieve above this.
Indicative GCSE Grade: Once a year students sit a “Key Assessment” in most subjects. The results of these assessments are standardised and used to produce an indication of GCSE outcome. An Indicative GCSE Grade of a 5 means based on their latest assessment the student is on track to achieve a 5 at the end of year 11. It does not mean they would achieve a Grade 5 today. It should be seen alongside the percentages displayed from smaller checkpoint assessments throughout the year.
KS3 Progress Band: Reports will contain a statement using the words “Above”, “On”, “Below” and “Well Below”. This indicates how they are performing in comparison to their minimum expected grade. These are indicators of progress with the intention of identifying any potential issues as early as possible. Where progress in an assessment is not ‘in line’ it is important to share that with parents, students and teachers at an early point so that the necessary steps can be taken to identify and address gaps in learning or understanding, the need for support or intervention in study skills, or anything else as early as possible whilst the stakes are still very low. It is also important to recognise that the progress band is determined by the assessment that has been taken, and a student’s teacher can provide a much better picture of their progress and performance in their subject.
Example Parent Report (Key Stage 3)
Sharing the results with Parents: Key Stage 4
Parents may see the outcomes of their children’s formal assessments either online via the GO 4 Schools website, parent app or as a printed report sent home or shared at a parents’ evening. In years 10 and 11, we report progress through GCSE grades.
Parents will see a Student Target grade, an indicative Current GCSE grade, a Projected GCSE grade, an Attitude to Learning indicator and the percentage of marks obtained in the latest assessment. Staff may also share details of assessment marks and percentages at Parents’ Evenings and with students in lessons.
Student Target Grade: Key Stage 4 assessment measures the progress made in each subject towards students’ individual target grades. These targets are based on English and Maths results from the end of Key Stage 2, or for students without this data, CAT4 Cognitive Abilities Tests. These give us an indication of their individual starting point relative to students across the country. From here, we look at how students with the same starting point have achieved at GCSE in the past. As a school, we always aim for our students to exceed these. This process reflects the approach used by external performance measures against which the school is measured.
Current GCSE Grade: Twice a year, students sit a “Key Assessment/mock exam” in most subjects. The results of these assessments, along with other marks, such as coursework (sometimes referred to as an NEA or PSA), produce an indication of GCSE outcome. An Indicative GCSE Grade of a 5 means based on their latest assessment the student is on track to achieve a 5 at the end of year 11. It does not mean they would achieve a Grade 5 today. It should be seen alongside the percentages displayed from smaller checkpoint assessments throughout the year.
Example Parent Report (Key Stage 4)
Common Assessment Framework
The Archway Learning Trust (ALT) Common Assessment Framework aims to ensure in-year assessment is robust, offers opportunities for trust-wide collaboration and comparability and helps us work together towards common goals to achieve the best for our students. At key points throughout the year, all students complete formal assessments which track their progress, highlighting areas of strength and in need for further improvement. For most students there will be two formal assessments in each subject per academic year. The assessments are designed to test students’ retention of core knowledge and develop how they apply this in different contexts. Content and skills are interleaved within assessments throughout the year to support students in moving knowledge from the short term to their long term memory. These formal assessments sit alongside teachers’ ongoing verbal and written feedback to students.
Key Stage 3 assessments measure the progress made in each subject as teachers prepare students with the knowledge, skills and understanding that need to be developed and mastered in preparation for starting Level 2 courses in Key Stage 4. Progress is tracked by teachers and feedback given in order to support students in moving forward. Progress data on GO 4 Schools indicates if students are above, in-line or below their individualised flight paths which are set on a trajectory from their Key Stage 2 starting point to their end of Key Stage 4 targets.
Key Stage 4 assessment measures the progress made in each subject towards students’ individual target grades. Using ongoing teacher assessment of classwork and tested assessments, teachers record a projected grade which is the grade which the student is expected to achieve at the end of the course. A current ‘working at’ grade is also calculated using the academy’s tracking processes.
Additional Assessments
To complement and validate our internal assessment, students sit online externally standardised tests which indicate their ability and potential performance, attainment and progress compared to their peers across the UK and also highlight potential barriers to learning. These tests are:
- Cognitive Abilities Tests (CAT4) highlight pupils’ strengths and weaknesses in four areas: Verbal, Non-Verbal, Quantitative and Spatial Reasoning.
- New Group Reading Tests (NGRT) screen and monitor progress of students’ reading and comprehension.