BASELINE ASSESSMENT FAQS
1. What are baseline assessments?
The Government is proposing to introduce a new baseline assessment in reception from September 2019. This assessment is intended to provide data about children’s starting point on entry so that schools can be held to account on the basis of children’s progress from the beginning of Reception to the end of Year 6. “Baseline assessment” has always gone on in a less formal way as teachers observe and assess each new cohort of children so that they can plan their teaching. But now the government has formalised this process proposing one statutory assessment to provide a single numerical score for each child and gather the data at national level. Schools will conduct these assessments with each individual child at the start of school, the DfE is suggesting that this will take place in the latter half of the first term. Baseline assessment has been met with disapproval by many educational experts and early years organisations who argue that whilst a single measure may be helpful to government, it won’t be particularly useful to parents and teachers. A number of expert bodies have also highlighted the fact that, as this is primarily being introduced as a measure of school accountability, it will be advantageous to schools to underplay the children's initial scores in order to demonstrate progress later on.
2. How will my child be assessed?
At the moment, the assessment model is not clear. The consultation text states:
it is possible to create an assessment of reception age children which is suitable for that age group, sufficiently granular and well correlated with later outcomes such that it could be used as a baseline from which to assess progress. This assessment would need to be appropriately teacher mediated, given the age of the children… we would work with teachers and unions to ensure that it would be appropriate for pupils, correlate with KS2 outcomes and does not create undue burdens
this could suggest an observation based model. However, Schoolsweek reported a DfE official as stating:
an online test would be preferred and could be designed in collaboration with preferred providers of the previous baseline tests
This sounds approach sounds more akin to the scheme CEM introduced in 2015.
However, whatever the final scheme looks like, it will have to conform to the Government’s requirement that a single score will be produced to summarise each child’s achievement. Educators believe that this approach actually gets in the way of understanding children’s development and how they can best respond to a child’s learning needs. It substitutes something very simple – a number – for something that is really very complex – a teacher’s understanding of a learner.
3. Sounds a good idea to me so what’s all the fuss? Why do all the experts think this is such a problem?
Education experts believe there are a number of problems with baseline assessment. They say that they will take up a lot of teachers’ time at a crucial point when they need to focus on helping children settle in to school. They also argue that whilst a single measure may be helpful to government, it won’t be particularly useful to parents and teachers – and most importantly, not to children. The experts also argue that the assessments focus too heavily on children’s early literacy and numeracy skills, which don’t actually provide a reliable indicator of later academic performance, instead of focusing on broader skills such as getting along with other people, perseverance and self-control, which are more reliable indicators.
Moreover, the assessments only look at narrow data about what children do in a “snap shot”. They are therefore not an effective accountability tool. Instead of introducing the new baseline assessment in addition to the assessment already in place as part of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), education experts and teachers believe that the current system – the EYFS profile, which provides a rounded assessment of a child’s development and attainment at the end reception - should be sufficient on its own. Government is proposing to keep the EYFSP in addition to a baseline assessment, which will mean children undergoing two forms of assessment during the year in which they are supposed to be settling in to the school environment.
The recent 2015 Good Childhood Report shows that children in England are among the most unhappy with their school life in the world. The experts believe that the English over-emphasis on outcomes and testing is a significant factor in this.
4. Is there anything I should be doing to prepare my child for a reception baseline assessment?
There is no need to prepare your child for this assessment. Most schools use other ways of getting to know your child so that they can plan their teaching around your child’s needs. . So don’t be overly concerned about the results. Data like this is of most useful when collected across whole schools, not as an accurate reflection of a child’s individual capabilities.
5. Will I be told the result of the test?
At the moment this is not clear. This what the DfE have said on data in the consultation:
The specific uses of the data gained from a new assessment in reception would need to be agreed. A clear message from administering optional baseline assessments in the 2015 to 2016 academic year was that we should not use the data to ‘judge’ individual pupils or schools on attainment in reception. We strongly agree with this, and we would only make use of the data collected from a new assessment in reception when the pupils reach the end of key stage 2, to create a progress measure that takes into account pupils’ starting points.
6. Will my school use this information to ‘stream’ the children in the class?
It is not expected that the assessments will be used to separate children out into ‘streams’. Instead, your child’s teacher will use the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum to tailor your child’s programme of learning to their particular needs. Teachers will use a wide range of information to help them, including talking to your child’s pre-school or childcare provider, if relevant to your child, and they will also want to talk to you. Do share any concerns you have with your child’s teacher at an early stage – arranging a time that is convenient to talk, or waiting to the end of the day is often better than at the beginning of the day which can be frantic.
7. I haven’t done much reading with my child up until now as he has not shown much of an interest and I have not wanting to put him off reading – should I be worried that he won’t do well in the test?
Don’t worry. There is no need to prepare your child for the baseline assessments. There will be a strong focus on reading and appreciating books in the first term at school, and throughout Reception. Do consider reading regularly with your child as research shows that just 10 minutes every day reading with your child can have a huge impact.
8. My daughter will be 4 and 2 days when she starts school, I am worried that she won’t do as well as her older peers at the test and this may count against her. What should I do?
The assessment framework and criteria is not yet clear for any new reception baseline assessment. In 2015 the baseline assessment scores take no account of the relative age of the child in relation to the rest of the class. Reception teachers understand the enormous difference between a child who has just turned 4 and one who is nearly 5, and recognise that all children develop at different rates and in different ways. This is integral to good teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum.
9. What can I do if I don’t want my child to be tested?
The new baseline assessments will not be introduced until September 2019. You may want to add your voice to the Better without Baseline campaign and respond to the consultation, or if you already have children at primary school, talk to the headteacher about how they might respond to the consultation. Your views and experiences could make a real difference.
Here are some suggestions of things that you can do:
1) Make contact with other parents – e.g. through the Better without Baseline campaign – to share experiences and concerns, and make your case to the Department for Education by responding to the consultation.
2) Talk with other parents and bring their attention to the arguments and evidence shown on the campaign site. Sign the petition, apply for a campaign pack and order postcards for everyone to sign and send to your local MP.
3) Approach local primary headteachers and explain your objections. Say that you are surprised that the government is introducing this measure given such widespread expert concern and opposition. Ask the head to call a meeting of parents to discuss the validity/justification for Baseline Assessment and to explore its likely impact on the children, parents, teachers and school as a whole, and encourage the school to respond to the consultation accordingly.
I want to respond to the consultation; how do I do that?
The consultation is being held here and runs until June 22nd 2017
If you choose to respond you could highlight some of the following points:
The early years sector, teaching unions and parents have consistently expressed concern at using a reception baseline as part of a high stakes school accountability measure because it:
In 2016, the government was forced to scrap its last attempt at a reception baseline due to lack of comparability between the different schemes approved, at a cost of up to £7million to the taxpayer.
At a time of scarce resources for schools we cannot afford to waste time, money and above all, children’s interests on a second misconceived attempt at introducing a policy against the best advice of early years assessment experts and early years teachers and practitioners.
A 2016 study by UCL Institute of Education revealed that schools and children had already been negatively impacted by the introduction of last year’s schemes. Only 7% of the teachers surveyed felt that Baseline Assessment was an accurate and fair way of assessing children and 85% believed that it was unnecessary and had increased their workload.
The Government is proposing to introduce a new baseline assessment in reception from September 2019. This assessment is intended to provide data about children’s starting point on entry so that schools can be held to account on the basis of children’s progress from the beginning of Reception to the end of Year 6. “Baseline assessment” has always gone on in a less formal way as teachers observe and assess each new cohort of children so that they can plan their teaching. But now the government has formalised this process proposing one statutory assessment to provide a single numerical score for each child and gather the data at national level. Schools will conduct these assessments with each individual child at the start of school, the DfE is suggesting that this will take place in the latter half of the first term. Baseline assessment has been met with disapproval by many educational experts and early years organisations who argue that whilst a single measure may be helpful to government, it won’t be particularly useful to parents and teachers. A number of expert bodies have also highlighted the fact that, as this is primarily being introduced as a measure of school accountability, it will be advantageous to schools to underplay the children's initial scores in order to demonstrate progress later on.
2. How will my child be assessed?
At the moment, the assessment model is not clear. The consultation text states:
it is possible to create an assessment of reception age children which is suitable for that age group, sufficiently granular and well correlated with later outcomes such that it could be used as a baseline from which to assess progress. This assessment would need to be appropriately teacher mediated, given the age of the children… we would work with teachers and unions to ensure that it would be appropriate for pupils, correlate with KS2 outcomes and does not create undue burdens
this could suggest an observation based model. However, Schoolsweek reported a DfE official as stating:
an online test would be preferred and could be designed in collaboration with preferred providers of the previous baseline tests
This sounds approach sounds more akin to the scheme CEM introduced in 2015.
However, whatever the final scheme looks like, it will have to conform to the Government’s requirement that a single score will be produced to summarise each child’s achievement. Educators believe that this approach actually gets in the way of understanding children’s development and how they can best respond to a child’s learning needs. It substitutes something very simple – a number – for something that is really very complex – a teacher’s understanding of a learner.
3. Sounds a good idea to me so what’s all the fuss? Why do all the experts think this is such a problem?
Education experts believe there are a number of problems with baseline assessment. They say that they will take up a lot of teachers’ time at a crucial point when they need to focus on helping children settle in to school. They also argue that whilst a single measure may be helpful to government, it won’t be particularly useful to parents and teachers – and most importantly, not to children. The experts also argue that the assessments focus too heavily on children’s early literacy and numeracy skills, which don’t actually provide a reliable indicator of later academic performance, instead of focusing on broader skills such as getting along with other people, perseverance and self-control, which are more reliable indicators.
Moreover, the assessments only look at narrow data about what children do in a “snap shot”. They are therefore not an effective accountability tool. Instead of introducing the new baseline assessment in addition to the assessment already in place as part of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), education experts and teachers believe that the current system – the EYFS profile, which provides a rounded assessment of a child’s development and attainment at the end reception - should be sufficient on its own. Government is proposing to keep the EYFSP in addition to a baseline assessment, which will mean children undergoing two forms of assessment during the year in which they are supposed to be settling in to the school environment.
The recent 2015 Good Childhood Report shows that children in England are among the most unhappy with their school life in the world. The experts believe that the English over-emphasis on outcomes and testing is a significant factor in this.
4. Is there anything I should be doing to prepare my child for a reception baseline assessment?
There is no need to prepare your child for this assessment. Most schools use other ways of getting to know your child so that they can plan their teaching around your child’s needs. . So don’t be overly concerned about the results. Data like this is of most useful when collected across whole schools, not as an accurate reflection of a child’s individual capabilities.
5. Will I be told the result of the test?
At the moment this is not clear. This what the DfE have said on data in the consultation:
The specific uses of the data gained from a new assessment in reception would need to be agreed. A clear message from administering optional baseline assessments in the 2015 to 2016 academic year was that we should not use the data to ‘judge’ individual pupils or schools on attainment in reception. We strongly agree with this, and we would only make use of the data collected from a new assessment in reception when the pupils reach the end of key stage 2, to create a progress measure that takes into account pupils’ starting points.
6. Will my school use this information to ‘stream’ the children in the class?
It is not expected that the assessments will be used to separate children out into ‘streams’. Instead, your child’s teacher will use the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum to tailor your child’s programme of learning to their particular needs. Teachers will use a wide range of information to help them, including talking to your child’s pre-school or childcare provider, if relevant to your child, and they will also want to talk to you. Do share any concerns you have with your child’s teacher at an early stage – arranging a time that is convenient to talk, or waiting to the end of the day is often better than at the beginning of the day which can be frantic.
7. I haven’t done much reading with my child up until now as he has not shown much of an interest and I have not wanting to put him off reading – should I be worried that he won’t do well in the test?
Don’t worry. There is no need to prepare your child for the baseline assessments. There will be a strong focus on reading and appreciating books in the first term at school, and throughout Reception. Do consider reading regularly with your child as research shows that just 10 minutes every day reading with your child can have a huge impact.
8. My daughter will be 4 and 2 days when she starts school, I am worried that she won’t do as well as her older peers at the test and this may count against her. What should I do?
The assessment framework and criteria is not yet clear for any new reception baseline assessment. In 2015 the baseline assessment scores take no account of the relative age of the child in relation to the rest of the class. Reception teachers understand the enormous difference between a child who has just turned 4 and one who is nearly 5, and recognise that all children develop at different rates and in different ways. This is integral to good teaching in the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum.
9. What can I do if I don’t want my child to be tested?
The new baseline assessments will not be introduced until September 2019. You may want to add your voice to the Better without Baseline campaign and respond to the consultation, or if you already have children at primary school, talk to the headteacher about how they might respond to the consultation. Your views and experiences could make a real difference.
Here are some suggestions of things that you can do:
1) Make contact with other parents – e.g. through the Better without Baseline campaign – to share experiences and concerns, and make your case to the Department for Education by responding to the consultation.
2) Talk with other parents and bring their attention to the arguments and evidence shown on the campaign site. Sign the petition, apply for a campaign pack and order postcards for everyone to sign and send to your local MP.
3) Approach local primary headteachers and explain your objections. Say that you are surprised that the government is introducing this measure given such widespread expert concern and opposition. Ask the head to call a meeting of parents to discuss the validity/justification for Baseline Assessment and to explore its likely impact on the children, parents, teachers and school as a whole, and encourage the school to respond to the consultation accordingly.
I want to respond to the consultation; how do I do that?
The consultation is being held here and runs until June 22nd 2017
If you choose to respond you could highlight some of the following points:
The early years sector, teaching unions and parents have consistently expressed concern at using a reception baseline as part of a high stakes school accountability measure because it:
- risks damaging children’s self-confidence and stigmatising parents by attaching simplistic labels to children which do not provide an accurate or useful picture of children’s current development
- is neither valid nor reliable, and does not predict their future attainment, especially in the case of a assessment focused on narrow aspects of numeracy and literacy
- cannot function effectively as both an accountability tool for school performances and an assessment which informs teachers’ planning for the learning of individual children.
- Increases teachers workload by needing to be done in addition to teachers’ own routine assessments of children’s starting points and disrupts the settling-in period
- does not reflect the reality that children may start in school at a range of points between age 2 and the start of statutory school age in the term after their fifth birthday. It therefore fails to capture the input schools have made for 2- and 3-year-olds in nursery provision, or disincentivises them from raising attainment for these younger children.
- acts a disincentive for schools to work with feeder nurseries to raise the attainment of children prior to the age of 4
- risks having a distorting effect on the reception year, which is part of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), with its own statutory assessment principles culminating in the EYFS Profile at the end of reception
- may result in a narrowed curriculum focus with potential negative effects on children’s early experiences and on parental involvement and confidence
In 2016, the government was forced to scrap its last attempt at a reception baseline due to lack of comparability between the different schemes approved, at a cost of up to £7million to the taxpayer.
At a time of scarce resources for schools we cannot afford to waste time, money and above all, children’s interests on a second misconceived attempt at introducing a policy against the best advice of early years assessment experts and early years teachers and practitioners.
A 2016 study by UCL Institute of Education revealed that schools and children had already been negatively impacted by the introduction of last year’s schemes. Only 7% of the teachers surveyed felt that Baseline Assessment was an accurate and fair way of assessing children and 85% believed that it was unnecessary and had increased their workload.