Parents Guide: What you need to know about national tests and teacher assessment in 1998

National tests and teacher assessment for children aged 7, 11 and 14

	7–year–olds	11–year–olds	14–year–olds
What will the tests cover?	Reading, writing (including handwriting), spelling and maths	Reading, writing (including handwriting), spelling, maths, mental arithmetic and science	English (including reading, writing and studying a Shakespeare play), maths, mental arithmetic and science
How long are the tests?	Less than three hours altogether	Five to five and a half hours altogether	Seven to eight hours altogether
When are the tests?	The tests are spread over several days in the summer term, to fit in with other schoolwork.	The tests are on set days in the middle of May.
What will the teacher assessment cover?	English, maths and science	English, maths and science	English, maths, science, history, geography, a modern foreign language, design and technology, information technology, art, music and PE
How will I get my child’s results?	The school will send you a report telling you what National Curriculum levels your child has reached in the tests and the teacher assessment.
What National Curriculum levels should most children achieve?	At least level 2	At least level 4	At least level 5 – and many will be expected to achieve level 6. (In modern foreign languages, children are expected to achieve level 4 or 5.)

What is teacher assessment?

When children are 7, 11 and 14, teachers make formal National Curriculum assessments of their work in some subjects. This is called teacher assessment.

Of course, teachers also assess children’s work informally almost every time they teach a class. For example, they mark sums, listen to children reading, or watch how they do a scientific experiment. Knowing how children are doing in class helps teachers plan what the children should learn next.

Why are there tests as well as teacher assessment?

Tests and teacher assessment measure your child’s achievement in different ways.

The tests measure what all children can do when they are set the same questions. They help teachers identify strengths and weaknesses in children’s understanding. Teacher assessment judges your child’s performance across the whole subject over time. Tests and teacher assessment are equally important.

The results of the tests and the teacher assessment may be different. For example, a teacher may feel your child is doing better (or not so well) in a subject as a whole rather than in the parts of the subject covered in the tests.

Are the tests stressful for children?

The tests only cover what children have been learning at school. Everybody involved in the tests takes great care to make sure that they are not stressful and are as fair as possible to all children.

Teachers can arrange extra help for children who need it. For example, they can get large-print copies of tests for children who cannot see well.

What do the National Curriculum levels mean?

There are eight levels in the National Curriculum. Children are expected to work their way through one level every two years.

If a child has achieved the expected level in the National Curriculum, it means they show knowledge and skills that are the same as, or slightly better than, most children of the same age.

If your child is 7 or 11, you may also get ‘age-standardised’ test scores, which tell you how your child is doing compared with other children born in the same month.

There are also new optional national tests for 8–, 9– and 10–year–olds. Many schools use these to check children’s progress. They also give National Curriculum levels and age-standardised scores.

What else will the report tell me?

The report the school sends you will explain what the results show about your child’s progress. Your child’s teacher should arrange to discuss your child’s performance with you in more detail.

The report will also give a summary of the school’s results for your child’s age group as a whole. This summary will be published in the school’s prospectus and the governors’ annual report to parents.

How will my child’s results relate to national targets?

The results show whether or not your child has reached the expected National Curriculum levels for their year group. From September 1998, your child’s school will set targets for the percentages of its pupils achieving the expected levels in English and maths. Each school’s targets contribute to the Government’s aim that, by 2002:

80% of 11–year–olds will achieve National Curriculum level 4 in English tests (in 1997, 63% reached this level); and

75% of 11–year–olds will achieve National Curriculum level 4 in maths tests (in 1997, 62% reached this level).

In the autumn, your child’s school will be able to tell you more about its targets.

How can I help my child?

Here are 7 ways you can help your child do well at school.

Make sure you know what homework is set and encourage your child to do it thoroughly.

At home, encourage your child to read quietly for 20 minutes each day. Or, if your child is under 9, spend 20 minutes each day reading with them.

Find opportunities for your child to use numbers in everyday situations and encourage them to work out sums in their head.

Encourage your child to follow up interests and talk about them.

Try to keep up to date with what your child is learning at school and talk regularly about it.

Help your child to be ready to learn and not tired when they go to school.

Make sure your child does not miss any of the tests, unless they are ill.

More information

If you would like more information, please contact your child’s school.

For a leaflet giving this information, please phone 01787 884444, quoting reference QCA/98/130.

You can get this leaflet in Bengali, Chinese, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Punjabi, Turkish, Urdu and Vietnamese. It is also available in Braille and on cassette. Just ring the number shown above.