My previous blog introduced the recently published draft Ofsted Framework for 2019. It also looked at the first of the three I’s that Ofsted will use to inform their new ‘quality of education’ judgement – intent.
This blog looks closely at the second ‘I’ – implementation – how the curriculum is taught and assessed in order to support pupils to build their knowledge and to apply that knowledge as skills.
Ofsted will expect teachers to use assessment to:
- check pupils’ understanding in order to inform teaching
- help pupils embed and use knowledge fluently, develop their understanding, and not simply memorise disconnected facts
Target Tracker’s statement assessment allows both breadth and depth to be assessed and measured:
- breadth – how much of the curriculum has been covered
- depth – how well the pupil understands and can use their knowledge, understanding and skills
Underpinning assessment of depth is the Target Tracker model of learning which describes how pupils learn and can apply their knowledge.
Shallow learning means that the pupils have begun to acquire the skills and knowledge being taught, but not everything is retained.
Deep learning is the ability to demonstrate the skills and knowledge within the context in which they were taught and similar contexts.
Profound learning is being able to demonstrate the ability to apply learning in unfamiliar and new contexts.
Note that the default in Target Tracker is working towards, achieved and mastered, but this can be changed if the school uses different vocabulary.
Depth of learning is easily assessed in Target Tracker… and we have easy ways to assess multiple pupils and do ‘assessment by exception’ – indicating where most pupils are and then identifying the exceptions.
Target Tracker provides the gap analysis report so that teachers can check pupil’s knowledge and skills and make sure they are always building on secure foundations. Clicking on a statement will group the pupils for you – instant assessment for learning!
It is also possible to assess the coverage (breadth) in statement assessment. The statement progress summary report gives the percentage of statements which have been covered in the chosen bands. Multiple terms can be chosen and the change in percentage between terms is shown allowing a progress judgement.
But that’s not all…
It shows the percentage of statements which are working towards or above (red), however it is easy to change and look at statements which have been achieved or above (blue) or just those which have been mastered (gold). This is really useful to talk about more able pupils and their ‘mastery’ of the curriculum.
What About Summative Assessment?
“Schools choosing to use more than two or three data collection points a year should have clear reasoning for what interpretations and actions are informed by the frequency of collection, and the time that is taken to set assessments, collate, analyse and interpret the data created from this, and then act on the findings.”
We need to understand what Ofsted mean by ‘data collection’ point.
They’re using the same vocabulary as in the ‘Making Data Work’ report of the Teacher Workload Advisory Group and are referring to an attainment snapshot which might be based on a variety of sources including tests and Target Tracker step assessments.
Bear in mind that, with the basis of summative assessment in Target Tracker being a teacher indication of ‘on trackness’, which will be informed by everything you know about pupils , it is very quick to record that snapshot of attainment.
Target Tracker also gives you many ways to make sure you’re getting as much out of your data collections as possible but it doesn’t impose any requirement on how often a summative step assessment is entered.
I hope that has helped explain implementation for the new Ofsted framework. The third and final blog in our series will explore “impact”.
If you’d like to find out more about Target Tracker contact us today.