Baseline – the rationale
An overview
GL Assessment’s approach to the Reception baseline
assessment
• Why are we using a dual tablet approach?
• Why are we focussing on language skills, phonological skills
and mathematics?
How our approach can add value to teachers’ observations
• Assessment of different skills requires different approaches
• Narratives in baseline reports
• Standardised age scores
Baseline – the rationale
A dual tablet approach (1)
Understanding each child through observations of self-initiated
play and small group activities across Foundation Stage
activities and across time is vital. Sometimes it can be helpful
to add to this with adult-initiated tasks.
“This [baseline assessment] will sit within teachers’ broader
assessments of children’s development – which we know go
wider than any single baseline assessment can accurately
capture.” (page 7 of Government Response to Consultation on
Primary School Assessment and Accountability, March 2014)
Baseline – the rationale
A dual tablet approach (2)
The child’s experience
• Tablets are enjoyable and engaging
• Baseline can take place in a place
where the child is comfortable
• Relaxed one-to-one interaction
• Feedback from trials: the majority
of children are intrinsically
motivated with this approach
• Adds to the settling-in period
Baseline – the rationale
A dual tablet approach (3)
The adult’s experience
• Gives insight into non-cognitive
factors
• Time efficient
• High reliability
Baseline – the rationale
Deciding on content
• DfE specified that baselines must have most of their content
linked to the learning and development requirements of the
Communication and Language, Literacy and Mathematics
areas of learning from the EYFS.
• By looking at research in different areas of child development
we can see why GL Assessment have chosen the precise
content of Baseline.
Baseline – the rationale
Language (1)
Research tells us:
• As many as half the children
starting school in some areas have
poor language skills.
• Language skills influence lots of
different areas, including academic
outcomes, behaviour and socialemotional skills.
Baseline – the rationale
Language (2)
• Some children have good understanding
of language (receptive language) but
poor use of language (expressive
language); others have better expressive
language than receptive language.
• Early intervention for language skills is
effective, although intervention is less
successful for children with poor
receptive language than it is for children
with poor expressive language.
Baseline – the rationale
Literacy (1)
Research tells us:
• Literacy skills influence a wide range of
factors, including economic outcomes,
social mobility and mental health.
• Depending on which research you look
at, 3-10% of children will have a
difficulty with accurate and fluent
reading and spelling because of
neurobiological differences (differences
in the way in which their brains work).
As well as this, approximately 10% of
children have specific difficulties with
reading comprehension.
Baseline – the rationale
Literacy (2)
• There are a number of factors at
school entry which can cause
difficulties with literacy. One of these
with particularly strong research
behind it is ‘phonological awareness’
(the ability to attend to and
manipulate the sounds in words).
• Early literacy intervention can
improve literacy outcomes for many.
Baseline – the rationale
Literacy (3)
BUT… research also tells us:
Many children have not developed the skills and dispositions to
benefit from formal literacy teaching aged 4/5. It is important to
use information from early literacy assessment in a positive way
(e.g. to support planning, to develop positive dispositions) rather
than as an indicator of early failure.
Baseline – the rationale
Mathematics (1)
Far less research has been carried out on
mathematical difficulties than on reading
difficulties. We know, however, that:
• About 1/5th of the British population
have difficulties with maths which
interfere with their ability to carry out
practical activities.
• Ability with number at the start of
Reception tends to predict achievement
in primary school arithmetic.
Baseline – the rationale
Mathematics (2)
• It is important to identify early signs
of mathematical difficulty in order to
reduce the chance of later
difficulties.
• Mathematical difficulties respond
well to early intervention.
• Early intervention for mathematics
basically involves good teaching
differentiated to meet each
individual’s pattern of strengths and
weaknesses.
Baseline – the rationale
Adding value to teachers’ observations (1)
“…the more knowledge the adult has of the child the better matched
their support and the more effective the subsequent learning...” (REPEY,
2002, page 48)
• Information from Baseline goes beyond that which is easily learned
through observation alone.
• Maximises time that can be spent in observations of wider skill areas.
• Findings from Baseline can be ‘triangulated’ with other assessment
information e.g. observations and discussions with parents/carers.
Baseline – the rationale
Adding value to teachers’ observations (2)
• Provides a valuable opportunity to build positive
relationships through one-to-one adult-child interactions.
This can support the process of children settling into
Reception.
• Baseline reports are designed to stimulate thinking as to
why children might be showing particular patterns of ability
as well as suggesting next possible steps.
Baseline – the rationale
Adding value to teachers’ observations (3)
• Standardised age scores help teachers to think in terms of
where each child might be expected to be at a particular
point in time, taking their age into account.
• Links to the Progress Test series (GL Assessment’s highly
popular assessment system for key stages 1 and 2) provides
schools with a comprehensive system for tracking progress
from the EYFS through Key Stages 1 and 2.
Baseline – the rationale
Conclusions
Baseline is a carefully crafted set of adult-led interactions which,
when combined with existing practices of observation, enables
practitioners to understand each child’s unique profile of
strengths and weaknesses so that each and every child can have
access to broad, challenging but achievable experiences.