Dont understand child's SATS grades

andyrules

bestpud wrote: »

No, I agree with you!

I could never remember whether 4a was higher than 4, for example!

If it were just a,b,c it wouldn't be so bad but having just number in there as well is very confusing. Or maybe they could just have and upper and lower level in each grade, if they really need to split them?

I may add wew were given very little info about the grades either! We were told they should be at level x but given no further breakdown. Of course, parents made their own mind up about the letters then, depending on what their child had done!

Just to try to make to make it clearer, as I think many schools assume you know (!) - levels start at L1, usually applies to Y1s, then up to L2, up to L3 and so on to L5. Within those general levels there are c,b,a in that order upwards, so a 3c is just in a L3 whereas a 3a is top end of L3, with b bang in the middle. The sub-levels are important as there is such a vast range within a level - if you think a Y2 can hit a L3 yet L4 is expected national level for Y6. Some Y6s attain above the expected, and get a L5, yet a L5 is still the expected national level for Y9s! Many Y9s hit a L6 (which is above expected) and some exceed to a L7, and a few attain a L8! Below L1 is shown as W (working towards), and Early years have their own criteria. I might be out of date with that last statement, but it was thus a couple of years ago.

foreversomeday

My mum used to buy me books for getting good reports. Not too big so as it's a bribe, but a nice little incentive.

I don't remember getting letters on my grades when I did my SATs (1999) - I just got told I had high level 5s in all subjects.

Nicki

misty wrote: »

Can I just clarify in my own mind - I thought I new but now I'm not sure. My son got a great report and I'm not too fussed about SATS results - he is in year 2.

He got a level 3 for Maths (no letter on it though?)

Level 3 (again no grade ) for speaking and listening

Level 2 a for reading and the same for writing

Am I right in thinking - he is roughly where he neds to be for reading and writing and oing better in Maths. He prefers maths but gets good comments for his reading and writing too.

Why do some have grades / letters next to them and others don't ?

I will ask at school when I can catch the teacher - it's not worht an appointment because I don't really agree with all this testing anyway!

I'm pretty sure when doing KS1 SATs that they don't break level 3 into sub levels. Anything below a Level 3 will be subdivided into a's b's and c's but because level 3 is deemed achieving beyond what is expected it won't be. That's how it was explained to us last year, when DS managed to get level 3s across the board.

[Deleted User]

They are still making pupils do these tests? I thought they were meant to be phasing them out for primary schools?
When they wanted to bring these in they made us do trial sats when we were 6! We never had to do mock sats though just the real thing in year 6 and 9. We also had something called the yellis test in year 10. There were far to many exams in school, I don't have nearly as many in university!

misty

Nicki wrote: »

I'm pretty sure when doing KS1 SATs that they don't break level 3 into sub levels. Anything below a Level 3 will be subdivided into a's b's and c's but because level 3 is deemed achieving beyond what is expected it won't be. That's how it was explained to us last year, when DS managed to get level 3s across the board.

That makes sense of his results - no letter with the level 3s and letters for the 2a s. To be honest, I wasn't bothered about them because I don't agree with them. A teacher knows (and hopefully the parent) if a child is good at maths etc. A good result confirms this, a disappointing result shows a poor result on the day - likewise a good result for someone poor at maths shows a good performance on the day but doesn't make them suddenly very good at maths.

Having said that, now I have the results - I would like to know what they mean. There was some info on the paper but it wasn't clear which way the sub levels went. I agree why have the numbers going up and the letters down?

BernadetteN

SATS results really should be taken with a pinch of salt, especially the optional SATS which are marked internally.

I worried so much about our eldest son who only managed a 3a score in Year 5 at age 9 for Maths and had to take his 11 plus in the following January in Year 6. I just didn't believe the 3a score could be accurate which was cast into odubt when he passed his 11 plus quite comforatably, much to the surprise of the head teacher who told us he had no chance. In his externally marked KS2 Maths in Year 6, he scored a level 5, then in his continuous assessments at grammar school in Year 7 aged 11, he is now at level 6b, just 2 years after he was assessed as level 3a, over 8 sub-levels lower. I really can't believe he could have jumped 8 sub-levels in 2 years which is double the expected increase. I knew my son was far higher than level 3a for maths in Year 5. His 11 plus results and all other tests since then have indicated that he was more likely to have been around level 4a at age 9, a whole level higher than his Year 5 assessment.

I would trust your own ability to assess your child at a young age than any primary class teacher. I no longer worry about the SATS results for our younger children and I wish I hadn't wasted so much time worrying about our eldest son.

mumoftwoandapig

Hi,

Can some clever person help me with sons results please?
Is level 5 the top you can get as in assessments at school he was getting 5a in reading? His results have come back as:


Reading=level 5
Writing level=4
So English result= level 5( thats what is says on paper)

maths level 5
Science= level 5


so did he get all 5's and could he have got a level 6 or not? Was 5 the top level you could get or do schools get sub levels and is it the overall English mark that counts not the individual reading and writing!!

Thanks

lab-lover

mumoftwoandapig wrote: »

Hi,

Can some clever person help me with sons results please?
Is level 5 the top you can get as in assessments at school he was getting 5a in reading? His results have come back as:


Reading=level 5
Writing level=4
So English result= level 5( thats what is says on paper)

maths level 5
Science= level 5


so did he get all 5's and could he have got a level 6 or not? Was 5 the top level you could get or do schools get sub levels and is it the overall English mark that counts not the individual reading and writing!!

Thanks

hi, your son has exactly the same marks as my DD.

as i understand it level 5 is the highest it goes to. there is no mention of level 6. it is pretty confusing though and really hope there gonna be scrapped soon. xx

2cats1kid

Yes, the highest they can be assessed at at KS2 is L5. They used to be able to try for a L6 at KS2, but that was totally unrealistic as all it meant was they were doing a lot harder versions of the same stuff they were doing to get L4/5 - it wasn't a true L6 as they simply wouldn't have covered the curriculum that a year 7, 8 or 9 child would be to achieve a level 6.

Our teacher assessments on the report have come back with level 5 differentiated (with the A/B/C) but I guess that depends on how the school does it - her actual SATs have come back just with Level 5.

A_little_stressed!!

I got 555 which was the highest. I think we had to do more in year 9 and no way did I do as well!