English assessments in Key Stage 3 Notes and guidance

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1 English assessments in Key Stage 3 Notes and guidance Introduction We are keen to support progress checking and tracking in Key Stage 3 and have created a complementary choice of options to provide flexible ways to meet the needs of all students. Our new Key Stage 3 assessment papers are in the style of our GCSE English Language papers and offer a full and comprehensive approach to assess your students in Years 7, 8 and 9. As an alternative, our newly launched Step Up to English qualification has been designed to develop literacy skills for students in KS4 but can equally offer a complementary approach to assessing students in Key Stage 3. The options available to you Option 1 Key Stage 3 assessment papers for Year 7 to Year 9 Option 2 Step Up to English certificated qualification These can be followed exclusively, or mixed and matched at different points in Key Stage 3 in order to offer your students a blend of engaging learning and assessment opportunities. The attributes of either option Key Stage 3 assessment papers can be your preferred choice if: You want GCSE style assessment papers that align with the challenge and demand of our GCSE English Language assessment strategy but which use source materials to suit the reading interests of students in Key Stage 3. You want to gain insight into how well students might perform on similar text genres and time periods, as well as track progress year on year towards GCSE potential. Step Up to English qualification can be your preferred choice if: You want to reward students with a certificate as a way of building their confidence and sense of achievement within the context of Key Stage 3. You want to introduce students to the GCSE Assessment Objectives in a more teacherguided and supported format.

2 A point of difference Key Stage 3 assessment packs are freely available at any point in the year and can be downloaded from the Secure Key Materials section of e-aqa. The provided papers exist as a complete bank of three papers for each year group which offers the opportunity for end of year, as well as end of term assessments. As such, the collection will not be added to at a future point. Step Up to English is a chargeable qualification with certification available twice a year in January and June. As such, the bank of 5 assessment units and materials will have one item replaced each year Access to Secure Key Materials is through e-aqa: aqa.org.uk/log-in A user name and password is needed to access this which are available from Examinations Officers at your school/college. If the Examinations Officer has not registered your school for access to this area, it can be done through the following link: aqa.org.uk/help-andcontacts/help/eaqa Option 1: Key Stage 3 assessment papers for Years 7, 8 and 9 Aims: To provide opportunities to introduce skills development and familiarity with GCSE paper formats. To promote targeted teaching and learning strategies for groups of students as a lead into developing skills and time management strategies that can benefit students in Key Stage 4. To develop opportunities for tracking of progress at formative and summative level. To supplement the evidence base for groups of students and help to inform intervention programmes. The full suite is made up of 3 assessment packs for each year group. Each pack comprises of a Paper 1 and Paper 2 with accompanying mark schemes. This provides a flexible opportunity to assess students each term, or at the end of a year depending on particular requirements or preferences. Assessment Contents pack 1 Y7: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Beauty Pageants Y8: Boy and Dogs Y9: Carrie s War and Child Labour Commentary This pack is based on pilot papers which were first made available in summer 2014 to support the launch of our new GCSE English Language specification. Revised in light of feedback, they offer a useful starting point and lead-in for assessments and provide students with additional scaffolding to develop their confidence and understanding of question types. 2 of 13

3 2 Y7: The Fire Eaters and Street Musicians available in two versions, a pure version and a differentiated version with additional support and scaffolding (see explanation in table below) Similar text genres, time periods and paper identities as assessment papers created for GCSE but with source materials and topics that reflect the interests of students in Key Stage 3. Y8: Kes and Child Prisoners Y9: WW1 short story and Ghost Hunters 3 Y7: Don t Ask Jack and Hot-air balloon flights - available in two versions, a pure version and a differentiated version with additional support and scaffolding (see explanation in table below) Y8: Pick Your Poison and Zoos Y9: White Fang and Animal Welfare What we learned from the first pack of pilot assessment packs The first pack of pilot assessment papers introduced additional support and scaffolding for students in Year 7 and Year 8 compared to how similar questions were asked in Year 9 papers for example. This was to explore whether such approaches would help to provide a gradual degree of differentiation for different year groups. Analysis of data shows that whilst this can act as a useful way to introduce students to the assessment strategy in Year 7, it can affect outcomes as a year on year measure. This has led to two developments. We have slightly revised the first pack to still maintain many of the original questions whilst also introducing some improvements. More importantly, for Year 7 assessment papers in Packs 2 and 3, we have provided a choice: a pure assessment paper with no additional scaffolding of questions so that this can be selected if the primary purpose for the assessment is to track progress as a year on year measure a differentiated version of the same assessment paper with additional scaffolding and prompts so that this can be selected if the primary purpose of the assessment is to introduce students gradually to the full challenge of the assessment strategy, to build confidence, or to provide lower ability students with a more accessible version. 3 of 13

4 How the Key Stage 3 assessment papers build familiarity with GCSE assessments The reading Assessment Objectives are assessed in the same sequence and to the same weighting as in GCSE assessments The same reading questions confirm the degrees of consistency that will be used for questions at GCSE The writing questions for Paper 1 further exemplify the combinations for the assessment of narrative and descriptive tasks The writing questions for Paper 2 further exemplify the range of forms and purposes that support the assessment strategy, and which are set out in the Insights Series booklet that can be freely downloaded from the open section of our main website: filestore.aqa.org.uk/resources/english/aqa fi-w.pdf For example, across the full suite of Assessment Packs, we have exemplified: 5 Tasks which assess writing to argue for or against a statement 2 Tasks which assess writing to explain a point of view in relation to a statement 1 Task which assesses writing to persuade in relation to a statement 1 Task which assesses writing to advise in relation to a statement 4 of 13

5 Use of the Key Stage 3 assessment papers The papers are designed to be used flexibly and for a range of different purposes: They can be integrated into existing schemes of work as miniassessment tasks. They can be used as on-going formative assessments. The topics and themes of particular papers have been chosen to appeal to different age ranges and so they offer the opportunity to embed them into existing schemes of work. Different questions on Papers can be chunked-up to act as mini-assessments of students learning, either for homework or within lesson activities. Each question assesses a single Assessment Objective. The sequence and format of how each Assessment Objective will be assessed both in Key Stage 3 and at GCSE will stay consistent. This provides an opportunity to record, track and measure student performance on particular questions over a series of assessments, and potentially from year to year. When considered over a number of assessments, the patterns that emerge could add to the evidence base used to develop targeted intervention and personalised learning programmes, as well inform feedback to students and parents. For example: for individual students as an aspect of progress when taken alongside broader aspects of their learning for groups of students within a class for particular classes within a cohort. Where schools have started this process, they are positioned to note: They can be used as summative assessments. how within a class, some students are more secure in their achievement on certain questions than others, allowing for peer to peer support and targeted intervention to improve learning how within a cohort, some classes are more secure in their achievement on certain questions than others, allowing teachers to share best practice with other colleagues in a department. There is provision to mix and match assessment packs to suit different summative assessment needs. For example: selection of a preferred pack out of the choice of three to assess progress at the end of a year and allow decisions to be made about particular topics or source materials, or selection of all three packs for a particular year group which would allow for summative assessments to be made on a termly basis selection of assessment packs targeted at a particular year group for older or younger year groups which would allow more flexible decisions about challenge or demand, either to increase for more able, or reduce for less able students. 5 of 13

6 Application of the mark schemes To support consistent marking of the assessment papers, we have provided: more detailed and extended indicative standards content in the mark schemes in order to explore ways that students might approach the questions a Standards Comparison Chart which sets out, side by side, the indicative standard for every level of response across all currently available Key Stage 3 papers and GCSE specimen papers to help confirm the parity and comparability of standards a colour coded and annotated set of student responses for papers in Year 9 Pack 2 to add to the points raised in the power-point written by students in Year 9 under full exam conditions and all annotations and with marks agreed by our senior team of examiners that will also lead the examination of our GCSE live series from 2017 onwards a power-point with notes section to show how marks have been allocated for these papers in Year 9 Pack 2 establishing a common approach to inform departmental training and standardising meetings. All of these support materials can be freely downloaded from the Secure Key Materials section of our website: aqa.org.uk/log-in In that the same principles of design and progression apply across our Key Stage 3 assessment packs and GCSE mark schemes, there are some key points to note: the criteria for progression in each assessment pack, for all year groups, as indicated in the different levels of response use the same mark scheme template that is used to describe progression in the GCSE mark schemes the indicative standards in each assessment pack, for all year groups, as exemplified in the end column of the mark schemes are set at the same standard as a student at the end of the GCSE course would be expected to achieve given the nature of the Key Stage 3 sources selected indicative standards are aligned to GCSE standards in this way in order to allow for year on year measures of progress as such, they can help to indicate the extent to which a group of students is making progress to a particular Assessment Objective, question type, or summative outcome crucially, the levels of response and indicative standards are not reinterpreting the standards for a particular year group the wording of indicative standards is not in the guise of a Y7 student for example, nor is it applicable to say: a top level of response for a Y7 student differs from a top level of response for a Y8 student rather the indicative standards set the same expectation if a student is judged to be in level 4 of the mark scheme, whichever year group they are in, they are being judged to meet the required standard for a level 4 response at GCSE a factor that is likely to see fewer students in Year 7 for example achieve this than in Year 9, or when sitting live assessments at GCSE. 6 of 13

7 How you can process and analyse results Student achievement at question level By entering student data at individual and class level for each question, over a number of assessments, it can give useful insights into: which questions are being completed more successfully than others which students or groups of student are more secure in their progress with a particular Assessment Objective which questions are being completed less successfully than others which Assessment Objectives require further teaching, learning and intervention which students are making progress on particular questions compared to other groups of students, or to their previous performance when assessed on the same question on a previously set paper which students are making less or insufficient progress on particular questions compared to other groups of students, or to their previous performance when assessed on the same question which teaching groups are performing more successfully on particular questions when compared to other teaching groups which areas of good practice can be shared more widely across teaching groups. Over time, when tracked as year on year progress, improvements in trends, higher raw marks and better average scores per question can all provide evidence of student progress. Rank order of raw marks Each paper is marked out of 80 to give a total of 160 raw marks per student. Entering these into a spread-sheet, allows for the arrangement of total marks for students in rank order from the highest score to the lowest. It is then possible to plot each student s progress at raw mark level to see if over time, a student or group of students is on an upward or downward trajectory in-line with their anticipated or projected progress. Average mark per question Within the same spread-sheet, it is equally possible to calibrate for each question, the average raw marks achieved. This can: establish a base-line profile for the cohort which can be tracked at different points in the year, or year on year to see if the average score on each question increases or decreases show how for any particular student, or teaching groups the average score might be increasing or decreasing. 7 of 13

8 Average score per question (column highlighted) will be shown in the bottom right hand corner Average mark per question for percentiles of students It is possible to further divide data into student percentiles. This can usefully provide the opportunity to consider: the performance profile of able students, for example within the top 5%, 10% or 15% of your cohort the performance of sub-sets of percentile that can divide below this at equally regular or targeted points. 8 of 13

9 Use of a tracking tool to traffic light student progress Colour coding performance at question level can offer a way of charting changes in progress over time, or how individual or groups of students might be performing compared to other students in a cohort for the same question. For example: green for students on a similar score or better than the average score for the question as calibrated for students in the cohort amber for students scoring within a set range of marks that is just below the average score for the question as calibrated for students in the cohort red for students scoring significantly below a set range of marks than the average score for the question as calibrated for students in the cohort P P2 AO AO AO AO AO AO tot AO AO AO AO AO AO tot al al total Stu Stu etc P1 + P2 Student distributions Where marks are added together from Paper 1 and Paper 2 to create a raw total out of 160 marks, the student outcomes that result from this can indicate a rank order for a particular class, or cohort. When presented as a bell-shape curve of distribution, depending on the context of the class or cohort, it might be the case that typical distributions can show a change over time: 9 of 13

10 Number of students Number of students Number of students Year 7 Raw score achieved Year 8 Raw score achieved Year 9 Raw score achieved 10 of 13

11 This might indicate: that in the early stages of Key Stage 3, the distribution is skewed to the left because more students achieve marks in the lower bands of the mark scheme that in the later stages of Key Stage 3, the distribution is less skewed to the left because more students are beginning to achieve marks in the higher bands of the mark scheme. If this were to be the distributions achieved by the same class or cohort over a three year period, it can act as one indication of progress. Option 2: Step Up to English in Key Stage 3 Step Up to English is a chargeable and certificated Entry Level Certificate qualification that students can be entered for at any age. Specification at a glance 11 of 13

12 What is Step Up to English? Step Up to English has been designed as an entry level qualification and assesses Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3. The qualification encourages students to develop the skills they need to progress to GCSE such as to read and understand a range of texts as well as to write clearly, coherently and accurately using a range of vocabulary and sentence structures. It can be tailored to students needs through either Silver Step or Gold Step. Silver Step is aimed at Entry 1 and Entry 2 students and Gold Step is for Entry 3 students looking to progress to GCSE. Clear progression markers and GCSE-ready descriptors will enable you to easily identify those students who are showing the skills that they will need to tackle GCSE English Language assessment papers. 12 of 13

13 The qualification offers non-exam assessment which supports an engaging and supportive learning and assessment experience. It offers two components in both steps which assess reading and writing. Spoken Language is included in Component 1 and contributes to the overall mark. Aims of Step Up to English To provide a stepping stone to GCSE and bridge the gap between pre-gcse and GCSE. To emphasise the development of literacy skills. To provide a confidence boost for students looking to progress to GCSE. Using the Step Up to English assessments The Step Up to English assessments are available throughout the year and can be downloaded at any time through the Secure Key Materials area of e-aqa. A bank of five externally-set tasks is provided for each component at each step. This allows for the contextualisation of tasks for students by picking the task that best suits them. Component 1 is transactional in nature and assesses Reading, Writing and Spoken Language. The inclusion of Spoken Language in this component is important for students as they can start to build up the skills needed to tackle the Reading and Writing elements through the accessible nature of spoken language. The reading texts and pieces of writing are taken from real life contexts and could include things like s, webpages, letters etc. Component 2 is literary in nature and assesses Reading and Writing. As non-examination assessment, the task can be taken in one go or be broken down into a specified number of sessions for lower ability students. This component will include literary or literary non-fiction reading tasks and creative writing tasks to differentiate it from Component 1 and to prepare students for the literary elements of GCSE. At Gold Step, 19th century texts are introduced in a supportive and accessible way by breaking the text into chunks and using questions types such as true/false and table completion. 13 of 13