Assessment and accountability
The Government has made significant reforms to assessment
and accountability at early years,
primary,
secondary and
16-19 learners.
Baseline assessment

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ACME has questioned the
usefulness of a baseline assessment in mathematics, whether at Key
Stage 1 or reception.The Committee has highlighted issues
with new baseline assessments for reception, such as:
- Very young children will be assessed but scores will not
take account of whether children are born in the
summer.
- Children will have varied pre-school backgrounds, in
terms of cultures, experience of settings and knowledge of
English.
- Schools will have an undesirable incentive to depress
scores in order to increase measured progress, especially if this
means attaining extra funding.
- What is considered key or informative in testing may also
vary across schools.
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Primary accountability and performance
descriptors

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ACME has used the following key principles to inform its advice
on primary accountability:
- national standards over time should be monitored
- schools should to be held to account for learner progress
- school accountability should be based on a rounded view of
pupil progress and rely on a wide range of indicators
- appropriate information on individual pupil progress should be
reported to parents.
National Curriculum tests are used for four purposes: monitoring
national standards over time, holding schools to account, reporting
to parents and optimising the effectiveness of learning for pupils.
These diverse purposes cannot all be satisfied using end of Key
Stage 2 tests as a single measuring tool. In reforming
accountability, there is a need to look at the education system as
a whole. Many learners of mathematics are not making enough
progress between Key Stages 1 and 4.
Performance descriptors
ACME responded to the Department
for Education consultation on performance descriptors for use in
Key Stage 1 and 2 statutory teacher assessment for 2015/2016. ACME
outlines the following principles for performance descriptors in
the response:
- Performance descriptors should support assessment for learning
mathematics in the classroom as a key lever to raising standards.
They should reflect the National Curriculum aims, thus encouraging
connections between topics and the development of reasoning. They
should identify the key ideas in that stage of learning, which
enable students to progress to the next key stage.
- Performance indicators should help teachers to fine-tune their
understanding of learners' needs and tailor their planning and
teaching accordingly. Performance descriptors should not encourage
teaching to the test or put undue pressure on learners.
- The purpose of performance descriptors is not only for
summative assessment but also to inform teachers at the next key
stage of students' readiness for the next key stage. Performance
descriptors for mathematics should not restate the programme of
study, but rather should summarise what needs to be tested at the
end of a key stage.
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Secondary accountability

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Given the value of mathematics education to young people, at all
attainment levels, and its unique importance for future economic
prosperity, any new accountability model should support the
following goals. All students should:
- experience mathematics teaching that engenders the development
of mathematical problem solving, reasoning, conceptual
understanding and fluency for longer term progression
- continue with mathematics to the end of Year 11
- progress to an appropriate post 16 mathematics course.
Key points for ACME include:
- Threshold measures encourage counterproductive practices in
schools.
- Accountability measures should not encourage curriculum
acceleration.
- GCSE assessments should encourage and reward deep mathematical
learning. Accountability measures should not counteract this goal
and should be a secondary consideration.
- Changes to accountability measures at 16 should take into
consideration wider changes in assessment and education. These
should include raising of the school leaving age and changes to Key
Stage 2 assessment, which will affect the construction of value
added measures from Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 4.
- Accountability measures should also be broadened to reflect
other outcomes we value, such as attitudes, quality of learning
pre-16, participation and progression post-16 and transferability
of learning to other contexts
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16-19 accountability

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ACME supports the aim for 16-19 accountability to include
participation and attainment in mathematics. It is important to
hold schools and colleges to account for providing mathematics
study opportunities across all levels for all 16-19 students, as
well as holding them to account for the attainment of these
students. In addition, introducing new accountability measures
should not unintentionally restrict students' access to key
qualifications for progression to Higher Education such as AS and A
level Further Mathematics.
In order to hold schools to account both for provision and
attainment, accountability measures should enable an assessment
of:
- the proportion of students studying mathematics 16 -19
- the level of mathematics being studied by students 16 -19
- the attainment of students studying mathematics 16 -19.
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