Assessment and
Monitoring in the
Primary Years
Christine.Merrell@cem.dur.ac.uk
www.cemcentre.org
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International Primary
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England
Scotland
Wales
Australia
New Zealand
Netherlands
Germany
South Africa
Hong Kong
Serbia
Luxembourg
International Schools
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Why assess?
• Profile of strengths and weaknesses for
planning appropriate learning experiences
• Early indicator of special educational
needs
• Monitor progress and attitudes of pupils
and cohorts over time
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• Comparisons
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Children within a class
Groups such as boys/girls
Classes within a year-group
Current cohorts with previous ones
Other schools within a consortium and nationally
• Progress over time
• Research
– Within school
– Nationally and internationally
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• Layers of information:
– Diagnostic at pupil-level
– Group and class trends
– School-level information (including trends
over time)
– Consortium/Authority-level
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Designing a baseline assessment
for young children
• For value-added purposes, need items that
are good indicators of later attainment
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Correlation = 0
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Correlation = 1
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Correlation = 0.7
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Child development and predicting
later attainment
• Speech & Language
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Before 6 months vowels are predominant
After 6 months use of consonants
8 months: Babbling
1 year: 6 words recognised by mother
18 months: Approx. 50 words understood by mother
2 years: Mother understands language
3 years: Other adults understand language
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Reading
When beginning to read, children need different types of
knowledge:
• Global and cultural awareness
• Vocabulary and basic
understanding of language
• Conventions of print
• Phonological awareness
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Mathematics
• Babies born with numerosity of small quantities
– Before acquisition of language
– Subitising
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Early Arithmetic
Subitising
Learning to count
Learning simple arithmetic
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What would you include in a
baseline assessment?
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Drawing
Marshmallows
Language
Maths
Phonological
awareness
• PSED
• Motor skills
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ASPECTS
• Baseline Assessment for Foundation Stage
– Early Language and Maths
– PSED
– Motor Development
• Test/retest reliability for reading and maths
= 0.82
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ASPECTS
• Demo of assessment
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PIPS On-entry Baseline
& Follow-up
• Assesses
– Early reading and vocabulary
– Phonological Awareness
– Early maths
– Personal, social and emotional development
– Short-term memory
– Attitudes (End of Year only)
– Behaviour (End of Year only)
• Test/retest reliability for reading and maths
= 0.98
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PIPS Baseline
• Demo of assessment
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Years 1 - 6
PIPS or InCAS
• Maths
• Reading
• Developed Ability
½ hour
½ hour
– Picture vocabulary
– Non-verbal ability
½ hour
• Attitudes
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PIPS Years 1 - 6
• Standardised scores and grades for
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Maths
Reading
Science (Year 6 paper-based test only)
Developed Ability (Context)
• Vocabulary
• Non-verbal ability
• Attitudes
• Value-added
– Prior
– Context
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InCAS Years 1 - 6
• Age-equivalent scores for:
– General Maths
• Number 1, Number 2, MSS and Data
– Mental Arithmetic
• Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division
– Reading
• Word Recognition, Word Decoding, Text Comprehension
– Spelling
– Developed Ability
• Vocabulary, non-verbal ability
– Attitudes
• Longitudinal pupil progress
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Traditional approach
Low
Average
High
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Individual approach
Low
Average
High
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How It Works
Easy
Difficult
Age
1st Question
X X X X
X
X X X
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Administration
• PIPS
– Fixed assessment
periods
– Pencil and paper
or CD (installed on
school network)
– Group assessment
– Feedback
• Approx 6 weeks for
pencil and paper
• Quicker for CD
• InCAS
– Administer at any
time of year
– CD (installed on
school network)
– Group assessment
– Feedback
• Within 24 hours
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Pricing structure
• PIPS
– Annual cost per
year-group
– Annual cost per
pupil
• InCAS
– Annual cost per
school
– Annual cost per
pupil
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