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InCASand Annual Report/KS1&2 Assessment

Information Seminar for

Principals

September / October 2010

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Learning Intentions

At the end of the session Principals will be aware of:

• Current information from the Department of Education regarding InCAS and reporting to parents;

• The quality assurance procedures in relation to InCAS;• Managing InCAS in the autumn 2010 term;• Effective interpretation of InCAS data;   • Sharing information about InCAS with parents and pupils; • New CCEA Help and Support available for schools; and

Will have the opportunity to: • Complete data analysis activities; • Share best practice.

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Overview of the Day

Morning Afternoon

9.30am InCAS Quality Assurance 1.30pm

10.30am Tea and coffee 2.30pm

10.45am Managing InCAS with teachers, parents and pupils during Autumn 2010

CCEA Support and Evaluation

Annual Report and Transitional Arrangements

2.45pm

12.15pm Plenary and evaluation 4.15pm

12.30pm Finish 4.30pm

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“The primary purpose of InCAS assessments is to contribute to diagnostic support for pupils’ learning – it is not to compare pupils.”

“ InCAS …. provides assessments in Reading and General Maths and optional associated assessments and is an integral part of our wider, collective efforts to raise outcomes in literacy and numeracy for all young people.”

Paragraphs 4,7 - DE Circular 2010/20

Purpose of InCAS

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“The interests of pupils rather than institutions must be at the centre of efforts to improve educational achievement and tackle underachievement.”

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ETI Report 2009

“… the emphasis for the next period to 2013 needs to be upon:

understanding the continuing implementation of curricular change, and especially the embedding of assessment, in the context of whole school improvement for the purpose of raising standards and improving outcomes for learners …”

A Follow-up Evaluation of the Implementation of the Revised Curriculum ETI, 2009

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InCAS Preparation - Autumn 2010

• Confidence (in InCAS outcomes)

• School/Classroom Management

• Using Data

• Parent Meeting

• Software/Development

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Session 1

Confidence in InCAS

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Quality Assurance Procedures

• CCEA and CEM engaged in an ongoing process of quality assurance checks and reviews of the InCAS tool. This included reviewing CEM’s:

- testing procedures; - business processes; and - risk management processes.• Additional independent checks of the InCAS algorithms

following school trials.• Independent review was carried out about the

circumstances giving rise to the autumn 2009 errors.

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DE Working Group

• Independent Working Group established by the Minister of Education to provide:

- an assessment of the impact of the two errors on school confidence; and

- make recommendations. • Group recommended a number of measures, in

particular to improve data reliability and quality control, and to ensure more effective communication to parents about InCAS.

• Action plan developed in response to the recommendations of the Working Group.

• Further information on www.deni.gov.uk

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DE Working Group Recommendation

“arrangements are made to test the performance of the InCAS data processing before general release of analysed age-equivalent and standardised scores ….. However, it could be accomplished by collaborating with a selection of volunteering schools which provide their data early in the autumn term and contribute to the necessary checking and feedback.”

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CCEA Response to Working Group Recommendation

Arrangements have been made with a small number of schoolsto take part in this additional quality assurance measure.

These checks :• Ensure that the software operates as expected in a live situation

in a school, including situations where classes of pupils are taking the assessment at the same time, and where laptops and a wireless network are used.

• Test the performance of the data processing in advance of the general release of outcomes to schools.

This supplements the rigorous software testing which has already taken place on the C2k network.

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Restandardisation for 2010

• Suitability and performance of questions within the InCAS assessments have been checked annually since 2007.

• InCAS tool has been re-standardised for 2010/11.

• Updated release of the software has been tested to ensure its performance and the accuracy of outcomes in a live situation.

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Impact of Restandardisation

• It is still appropriate to compare a pupil’s age-equivalent outcome with their chronological age.

• Any comparison between 2010 outcomes and those of

previous years, or analysis of progression from year to year, is not necessarily comparing like-with-like.

• Schools should therefore take restandardisation into account when interpreting progression.

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Impact on General Maths

YEARGROUP

IMPACT OF RESTANDARDISATION

Year 4 + 0.09 years 1.1 months

Year 5 - 0.04 years 0.5 months

Year 6 - 0.16 years 1.9 months

Year 7 - 0.27 years 3.2 months

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Impact on General Maths

Impact of the Year 6 Restandardisation in 2010

• At school level you may see that overall year 6 outcomes may be slightly lower than previously.

• At individual level pupils in year 7 may appear to have made slightly less progress than anticipated.

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Impact on Reading

YEARGROUP

IMPACT OF RESTANDARDISATION

Year 4 + 0.46 years 5.5 months

Year 5 + 0.13 years 1.6 months

Year 6 - 0.23 years 2.8 months

Year 7 - 0.45 years 5.4 months

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Impact on Reading

Impact of the Year 4 Restandardisation in 2010

• At school level you may see that overall year 4 outcomes may be higher than previously.

• At individual level pupils in year 5 may appear to have made more progress than anticipated.

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Quality Assurance … school role

• Schools are accountable for checking that all assessments are completed and processed.

• Pupils should not re-sit assessments.

Queries from Schools • CCEA investigates all queries from schools in relation to

pupil outcomes. If CCEA is unable to resolve a query this is referred to CEM for explanation of outcomes.

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Session 2

School / Classroom Management

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Autumn 2010

• Assessments may be completed by pupils, as timetabled by schools during the autumn term, as usual.

• Schools may upload their transfer files on completion of

the assessments. • To allow time for the additional quality assurance checks,

InCAS assessment outcomes will be available for download from the InCAS+ secure site from 8th October 2010.

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InCAS – Practical Guidance for Teachers

Key Processes –

• Creating the assessments

• Completing the assessments

• Sending the assessments for marking

• Accessing and understanding the feedback

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Pupil Preparation

Ensure that pupils:

• understand the assessments they will be completing;

• have had an opportunity to view the Inky Pupil Demo to help prepare for the assessments (available from www.nicurriculum.org.uk); and

• understand why they are sitting the assessments.

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2010/11 Trial Items within InCAS

2010/11 Assessment Developments:

• New trial items will be included in software, but do not contribute to assessment outcome.

• 2 New Comprehensions in English language version are "trial" items in InCAS:

– Pupils who have an outcome between 9.0 and 9.55 in first comprehension passage will receive an additional comprehension ‘The Master Key’ in remaining quiz time.

– Pupils who have an outcome above 13.5 in first comprehension passage will receive an additional comprehension ‘Phileas Fogg’ in remaining quiz time.

• 7 Picture Vocab and 1 Word Recognition item which are not new, having already been present in the software, have been shifted into the trial group due to insufficient data having been acquired on them for the new standardisations.

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C2k Support

C2k have prepared guidelines for schools in the use of wireless computers:

– Wireless Assessment Laptops – User Guidance (Information sheet P036)

– Guidelines for use of managed service laptops (Information sheet P041)– Managed Service Laptops (Quick Check 02) – Checks when WAP Range not available (Quick Check 03 02/)

  Programme of school visits scheduled for the autumn term.

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Session 3

Interpreting Data

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Missing Outcomes

Issue:Pupils have completed assessments but their outcomes are not in the feedback.

Check that:• assessments have been sent for marking once they

were done;• the whole process has been completed e.g. you must

transfer and upload the assessments; and• the Transfer File with the highest number in brackets has

been sent.

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* Look out for asterisks *

You may see an * when a pupil has not completed an

assessment

You may see an * if a pupil has not been given a Comprehension

assessment because they performed poorly in either Word Decoding, Word

Recognition or both.

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* Look out for asterisks *

You should never see an asterisk for Reading if there are outcomes for Word Recognition, Word Decoding or Comprehension.If a pupil has a Reading outcome you should never see an asterisk for their Word Recognition or Word Decoding.

If a pupil has average or high Word Recognition and Word Decoding outcomes you should never see an asterisk under their Comprehension.

An overall Reading outcome should be available to report to parents for all pupils who complete the assessment.

Any queries in relation to asterisks please phone the Helpdesk 028 9026 1274

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Hash signs in Maths sub-scale outcomes in 2010-11

• All pupils should receive an outcome for each of the General Maths subscales.

• CEM have added additional questions to the software and have altered the feedback mechanism to ensure that pupils now receive a full breakdown of the General Maths areas.

Please Note• These outcomes are for diagnostic teaching purposes.• CEM centre does not recommend that these subscale

outcomes are reported to parents.

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CCEA Definitions of the InCAS General Maths Modules

Senior Managers Considering areas for inclusion in the school development plan.

Key Stage and Numeracy

Co-ordinators

Analysing the performance of whole classes, year groups and key stages.

Teachers and Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators

Setting targets for the learning and teaching of individual pupils.

Teachers Reviewing the progress of the whole class and preparing work for groups of pupils.

What is this?This document provides more information about the particular aspects of Mathematics and

Numeracy in the Northern Ireland Curriculum that are assessed within the modules within

InCAS General Maths.

It may be used by, for example:

Throughout this document all of the references are drawn from The Northern Ireland Curriculum Primary published by CCEA (2007) which is available for download on www.nicurriculum.org.uk

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Key points to remember

1. InCAS questions are chosen based on the pupil’s age and then on their answers. This means that, for example a Key Stage 1 pupil working well beyond their age may view questions normally associated with Key Stage 2;

2. General Maths lasts no longer than 30 minutes and it is not possible to assessevery aspect of Mathematics and Numeracy in the Northern Ireland Curriculum within this short time;

3. Not all aspects of the Northern Ireland Curriculum can be assessed effectivelyon the computer; and

4. Several aspects of Number within Mathematics and Numeracy in the Northern

Ireland Curriculum are assessed in the InCAS Mental Arithmetic assessment, which is optional and need only be completed if a school chooses to do so.

CCEA Definitions of the InCAS General Maths Modules

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General Maths:Example

X X X X X

This assessment produced a General

Maths Age of 7yrs 9m for Marina.

X X X X X

5yrs 4m 10yrs

7yrs 4m 9yrs 2m

7yrs 6m 8yrs 4m

7yrs 7m 8yrs 2m

This is the age range covered during this set of

questions.

Pupils are asked several sets of questions to give them a number of chances to demonstrate their ability.

The number of questions in each

set may vary depending on how many right answers

a child gives..

X X X X X

X X X X X

To give her a good chance of getting the first question correct InCAS chose a

question which is targeted at a pupil younger than her

actual age.

Marina’s actual age is 7yrs 3m.

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St. Ita’s PS - Case Study

This case study outlines in practical terms one school’s approach to:

• managing their InCAS assessments;• analysing the feedback data; and• using the data to assist their teaching planning.

The case study can be found in the InCAS section on www.nicurriculum.org.uk and is divided into 3 video clips.

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St. Ita’s PS - Case Study

The 2nd video clip covers the following:

• Reporting InCAS outcomes to parents• The Senior Management Team reviewing and analysing

the feedback data, in particular the Age Comparison Charts

• Pupil tracking sheets used by the school’s teachers• St Ita’s approach to using the data and acting on the

findings• Comparison with other assessments and the school’s

planning for the future

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Session 4

Working with Parents

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Reporting InCAS Outcomes to Parents 2010/11

• Schools are required to provide age-equivalent InCAS outcomes for Reading and General Maths to parents in writing during the autumn term for the 2010/11 school year only.

• This information may be presented in either tabular or graphical format, depending on which presentation schools consider is most accessible to parents.

• Schools are required to offer parents a meeting to discuss outcomes by the end of the autumn term.

• Schools should ensure that parents are aware of the primary purpose of InCAS… contributes to diagnostic support for pupils’ learning – not to compare pupils.

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Reporting InCAS Outcomes to Parents 2010/11

• Schools are not required to provide parents with outcomes for years before 2010-11, but may choose to do so.

• Schools are advised not to present any longitudinal information in graphical format.

• Schools who choose to provide outcomes for years before 2010-11 would need to explain the impact of

the restandardisation to parents.

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A Parent’s Guide to InCAS - 2010

Insert a screen grab of

the parent leaflet

For more information:

www.nicurriculum.org.uk

During the autumn term

• Year 4-7 complete InCAS Reading and General Maths;

• Reading and General Maths Ages for this year given to parents in writing; and

• An opportunity to discuss outcomes at a parent meeting.

InCAS:

• Focuses on a pupil’s performance on one particular day;

• Is not designed to compare pupils with each other;

• Is intended to encourage you and your child’s teacher to work together to support their learning as effectively as possible;

• Is not for any purpose related to the transfer of pupils from primary to post-primary school.

Other information includes:

• Where a parent can view the Inky Pupil Demo;

• An explanation of InCAS Reading and General Maths; and

• An example of how InCAS might assess one pupil’s General Maths.

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InCAS and Your ChildParent Presentation

Where can I find it?

www.nicurriculum.org.uk

What is this?

This short video with animation was designed to explain InCAS assessments to parents and is presented by Christine Merrell and Stephen Albone (CEM).

How will I use it?

Show it at a group parent meeting.

Suggest parents watch it at home if they need more information about InCAS.

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Session 5

CCEA Support and

Evaluation

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New CCEA Support & Resources

• Parent Leaflet (2010)• InCAS - Practical guidance for teachers • InCAS Preparation and Support Booklet (2010) • Case study on ‘Using InCAS Data’ • Inky Demos for all InCAS assessments• CCEA Definitions Leaflet of the InCAS General Maths

Modules • Revised InCAS and Annual Report online training

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InCAS home page

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CCEA’s Response to Years 4 - 7 Evaluation

RECOMMENDATIONS from Years 4 to 7 evaluation:

1. Should continue to provide schools with guidance on the ways in which schools can best manage the administration of InCAS.

2. Should continue to empower schools to embrace InCAS and develop expertise and confidence in administering, analysing and making use of the outcomes produced from InCAS.

3. Should continue to work in partnership with C2k and CEM to prevent technical difficulties occurring during the administration of InCAS.

4. Classroom assistants should receive training on the administration of InCAS.

5. In partnership with other educational bodies should put a communication strategy in place at the start of the autumn term to rebuild confidence throughout the primary sector on the reliability of InCAS.

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CCEA’s Response to Years 4 - 7 Evaluation

6. Should liaise with schools to ensure that the purpose of the InCAS assessments is clear to pupils.

7. Should encourage teachers to share outcomes from the InCAS assessments with pupils and set targets with them for the year ahead.

8. A review of ICT resources for the administration of InCAS should be carried out to identity schools with inadequate ICT provision.

9. Should continue to communicate with parents on the InCAS assessments.

10. Teachers should receive further advice on the meaning of the * or # symbols allocated to some pupils’ outcomes.

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Session 6

Annual Report &

Transitional Assessment Arrangements

www.nicurriculum.org.uk

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Annual Report

• DE Circular Number: 2009/15 (Pupil Reporting Regulations) on the DE website www.deni.gov.uk

Reminder:• Other Skills (TSPC are referred to as ‘Other Skills’)• Pupil Accreditation (inclusion of information re:

achievement of a qualification, award or certificate, including a credit towards a qualification)

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Transitional AssessmentArrangements

• DE Circular Number: 2010/06 (Transitional Assessment Arrangements) issued 29th April 2010

• Available on DE website www.deni.gov.uk

• Latest information, guidance & resources regarding Annual Report and the Transitional Assessment Arrangements available on www.nicurriculum.org.uk

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End of Key Stage assessment & reporting to parents

Present assessment arrangements at end of Key Stage 1 and 2 continue against the existing levels in Language and Literacy (English and /or Irish as appropriate) and Mathematics and Numeracy (Para 1).

Schools report to parents for each pupil the:• level achieved and the expected level;• % of pupils in the final year of that Key Stage in the school attaining:

– each level; – expected level or above; – working towards the level; and, – exempted from assessment in that cross-curricular skill.

Where a child has been exempted from any part of the assessment arrangements this information must be provided to parents (Para 12).

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New Levels of Progression

The Department of Education states that they will not introduce the new Levels of Progression until schools are provided with the training, support and guidance which they need.

Therefore schools should use the existing levels until further notice.

For more information www.nicurriculum.org.uk

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Latest Annual Report Evaluation

Majority of Annual Reports:• Were completed electronically with:

– Over 60% using Microsoft Word; and– Remainder using Profile 7 Report Writing Software or Assessment

Manager;• Did not include any additional report headings;• Included a separate Other Skills report box;• Reported on Religious Education;• Included other assessment outcomes in their Annual Reports.

Comment banks• Majority of Principals (90.9%, n=80) felt their teachers would find it useful if

CCEA produced comment banks based on the draft Levels of Progression; and

• Majority of Principals (79.5%, n=70) indicated that their teachers used the CCEA comment banks.

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Evaluation

Please complete the evaluation.

This is important as your comments are valued

and will inform future improvements.