[sims] Whole School Assessment Summary

[CAM]

How would you go about presenting an overall summary of each year group's assessment results to all staff on-demand by using SIMS? Currently we put all results into a very large spreadsheet but even though it can be filtered, staff complain it's too big and that filtering takes hours. (It's a drop-down box!)

 

I keep thinking of making marksheets with all results by year (and ideal for the sake of keeping data up-to-date!) but it always leads back to having to filter anyway just like the current solution, but harder to work with and find the data due to the often choppy SIMS UI.

[vikpaw]

I always made whole year group summary marksheets with every result. In my last school, this meant 3 separate marksheets, Core, Langs and DT+options etc.

Here we can fit it all on one due to only two main reporting cycles.

I think Spring takes the limit off columns.

You could create multiple clones, and filter them per clone, but then you might as well delete the extraneous columns. (Always easier to make a massive global sheet and delete columns )

[tombry]

we have marksheets that cover the whole year group, and all courses that are being taken.

 

we task our HoDs with pulling data from the marksheets so that they are aware.

 

I pull data out and populate a master spreadsheet that kicks out charts for SLT, as well as maintains our "Ofsted Ready" document.

 

ML with data responsibilities types up a word document that goes over all the key stuff and emails that around to all staff.

 

Currently I'm setting discover up so that teaching staff can quickly look at their departments and know where students are/have been during the various reporting periods - really nice things can be done when you include UDGs and such in discover - dragging my ever-6 group onto the attainment charts gives me an instant view of where they are at compared to the whole school, and saves me having to do it in AM.

 

I'm actually spending more time recently trying to get HoDs and their staff to use the data that is in SIMS so that I can get rid of some of the spreadsheets - as personally I love Excel, but as soon as data goes in, it's out of date.

[CAM]

Ditching Excel for keeping everything in AM7 is something both me and the teacher unions would love. My concern though is the spreadsheet is in a well known area of the network drive whilst AM7 will involve hunting for it in Marksheet Entry, if possible at all to see it. I'd love to make say, a Year 11 sheet but pointless if only the Y11 HOD can see it instead of everyone.

[vikpaw]

You can make marksheets favourite / categorise for easier finding, but as you say, the groups and view permissions are not easily configured.

[LosOjos]

Ditching Excel for keeping everything in AM7 is something both me and the teacher unions would love.

 

We have the same situation here but unfortunately, you just can't produce the summarised data, statistics, overviews, graphs, charts etc. that Excel is easily capable of in SIMS. That's why for the time being at least, we have a basic marksheet in AM7 with all subjects on for each year group and relevant marksheets set up within that (tutor groups, intervention groups etc.) and teach users how to use filters and pull percentages from the grade distribution option. That is OK for basic, quick peek type "analysis", but for the real useful trending and focus area things, we populate a spreadsheet from a whole year marksheet (taken from the same template) and put this on our VLE for staff to access.