STANDARDISED ASSESSMENTS

At Peak School, like any high performing school, we use a range of assessments to ensure we clearly understand where our children are at and where they need to go.

We “triangulate” this information from teacher observations, pre/post assessments as well as standardised assessments.

 

What are standardised assessments?

In a standardised assessment, the content is set, the directions are prescribed and the scoring procedure is completely specified. There are norms against which you can compare the scores of the students being assessed. Standardised assessment tools enable the result for any student to be compared with the results for a normal sample of students.

 

What standardised assessments do we use?

We use PIPs with Year 1 and 2

We use InCAS with Year 3, 4, 5 and 6

We use ISA with Year 4, 5 and 6

 

What is PIPS and when does it get administered?

PIPS stands for Performance Indicators in Primary Schools.

The PIPs assessment is administered by the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM) at Durham University and was taken by all ESF students at the start of Year 1 and Year 2. Over 2,000 schools (most of whom are in the U.K.) use CEM’s primary assessments. The assessment compares each student’s performance in Mathematics and Reading with that of the average child in the whole PIPs cohort worldwide.

We administer the assessment at the start of Year 1 and again at the start of Year 2.

 

What is InCAS and when does it get administered?

InCAS stands for Interactive Computerised Assessment System.

The InCAS assessment is also administered by the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring at Durham University and was taken by students at the start of Year 3 and at the end of Year 6. The assessment compares each student’s performance in Mathematics and Reading with that of an average child of the same age.

Our Year 3, 4 and 5 children will be completing this assessment in September.  Year 6 will complete it in May/June.  This is the first year we have administered it in Year 4 and 5.  Usually we only administer it in Year 3 and Year 6 but this year we have made the decision to do it across the 4 year groups.

 

What is ISA and when is it administered?

The International Schools’ Assessment (ISA) is administered by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) and is designed for students in international schools. The assessment measures student performance in Mathematical Literacy, Reading and Writing (both narrative and expository writing).  The assessment is criteria referenced with students moving up the ISA scale as they progress.

ISA has to be administered within a 2 week period usually in September/October.  These dates are set by ACER and we have to complete the assessments within this 2 week block.  This year the dates are from September 23 to October 4.

 

Do we get to see the results?

Yes and no!

We share the InCAS and ISA results via Gateway but we do not share the Year 1 and 2 PIPS data.  The main reason is that INCAS and ISA are set up to share with parents but PIPS is not.  We have our own benchmark assessments that we use with Year 1 and 2 that we find much more relevant and useful in terms of planning learning engagements.

 

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