Ecclesbury Posted June 10, 2013 Posted June 10, 2013 Afternoon all. I have always (probably foolishly) used FFTLive as my source of all KS2 data, including decimalised scores and data for students who join us mid-year. However, SLT have pulled the rug from under my feet and cancelled their subscription to FFT! Before I go trawling the web can anyone advise on the best place to source KS2 data for our secondary students? Where does everyone else get it from? NCA Tools? Key to Success? To clarify I am after individual test and TA levels for English/Maths and Science including decimalised scores for our current KS3 cohorts (and if it updates at census time with any new students this would be ideal! Thanks all.
BKGarry Posted June 11, 2013 Posted June 11, 2013 We are quite lucky, we have a devision within our LEA which we can contact for this breakdown for a student, and they usually find it within 2 weeks (unless its census time, then it takes a bit longer)
LosOjos Posted June 11, 2013 Posted June 11, 2013 I'm not sure the level of detail you get as it's been a long time since I've used it (like you, I use FFT) but you can get KS2 results from the Key to Success website - the link for your school will be on the portal page of the DfEs new "Secure Access" website (secure by giving you access to 3 separate systems with one password that previously required 3... makes sense!). Once there, there's a link in the menu for "Searchable Data", where you'll be able to paste a list of UPN's for students whom you wish to obtain results for - I think the limit is 200 at a time. It'll provide you with a CTF for any pupils in your list it finds. Out of curiosity, what will your school be using for target setting if not FFT?
number34 Posted June 11, 2013 Posted June 11, 2013 Like LosOjos, I use K2S to find all KS2 (and 3) data for all of the pupils in the school. When we get new pupils it is done as soon as we have their UPN. If there is no data there then that is it, although I do regularly check whole year groups throughout the year. (This is a lot quicker than waiting 2 weeks like BK) We never used FFT for KS3 target setting and our SLT have now decided to focus on the 3 and 4 levels of progress from KS2. To this end targets for KS3 are +2 levels on KS2 and target levels for KS4 are +4 levels. Where no KS2 data is available we will use their maths and English class memberships (they are sets) to determine appropriate targets based on the modal targets in the class.
Ecclesbury Posted June 12, 2013 Posted June 12, 2013 Thanks all, I had a feeling K2S would be the answer, but didn't realise quite the level of detail you could get there! At KS4 we use the JESSON framework which assigns group level floor targets rather than individual floor targets This gives teaching staff greater flexibility in setting their own targets. It has it's flaws, like any system, but it suits me (less work for me!) At KS3 we used to use FFT...so I have no idea what we'll be doing next year! (I only discovered we had cancelled our FFT subscription when I suddenly couldn't log in!) Typical. My guess is that we will do something based around 2 levels progress. However, I'm a little dubious about setting straight +2 level targets since the national and local picture shows that in many (most?) subjects this leads to unrealistic targets. In my experience if floor targets are unrealistic they become pointless since teaching staff have no faith in them and tend to ignore them. I'd be interested on others thoughts...I know this has been discussed to death. I'd be most interested to hear from those schools who set +2 level targets...what do you progress figures look like year on year? For example...we are a pretty high performing school and in English our 2 Level progress from KS2 - KS3 was 67% last year...an all time high! You see why I'm dubious about setting a floor target of 100% 2 levels progress?
number34 Posted June 12, 2013 Posted June 12, 2013 As a statistician and former teacher I agree with Ecclesbury's sentiments with regards to targets. Here the rationale is that unless the majority of pupils make at least 3 levels of progress from KS2 to 3 then our VA scores on RAISE will be unacceptably low (<980). As OFSTED also expect targets to be 'challenging' they have decided that the targets will be KS2 + 4 levels. No discussion or moderation is possible. As to making my job easier that depends, at the end of the day I advise but implement whatever they want, whether I agree or not. As the Data Manager it is not up to me to decide the policy.
tombry Posted June 19, 2013 Posted June 19, 2013 we use 3 levels targets for our low/middle attainers, and 4 levels for our high attainers - my biggest issue is giving students non-C targets, but not for me to determine, I just think I'd feel worthless if my targets were all Gs. we give all our incoming Y9s (three tier school system) tests in the second week of school which determines their targets - core are based off the core subject's result, while all the others are based of the APS of the core. and yes, this means a really intelligent student will have an A* target in Drama, Music, Art, and PE, even if there is no shot of them even getting a D. it leads to some Y9 reports looking like they're bleeding.
SouthCoastSaint Posted June 19, 2013 Posted June 19, 2013 We too use the KS2 + 4 levels for KS4 targets, but interested to know if anyone using KS2 + 2 levels has a condensed KS3. Our end of KS3 is end of Year 8 and two whole levels seems to make the KS3 line too steep and the KS4 line a little shallow. On top of all this, with KS levels going, I have no idea what the school will come up with as an alternative.
timetableman Posted June 20, 2013 Posted June 20, 2013 We use K2S for KS2 data when it isnt' transferred to us from the CTF, primaries and other schools sometimes forget to include Assessment data in their CTF. This year we are using FFT, however from September we are switching to 3/4/5 levels of progress for our L3/L4/L5 students. i.e. L2/L3 at KS2 are targetted for 3 levels, and L5 students targetted for 5 levels. When we trailled this against current Yr11 it was one of the few ways to gain VA >1000.
CAM Posted June 20, 2013 Posted June 20, 2013 Does anyone know where to obtain numerical KS2 Test Results? We can get sublevels but our head thinks that the gap of two points between each sublevel is altering the data slightly and he wants to refine it further.
timetableman Posted June 21, 2013 Posted June 21, 2013 Hi CAM, the easiest source of this "4.2123342" type grades is FFT. Whilst the DFE hold this information somewhere we can't find it, we only seem to be able to get whole levels from K2S.
NormalDistribution Posted June 21, 2013 Author Posted June 21, 2013 @CAM Keytosuccess? EDIT - to refine this answer you can pull your students down from K2S, then use the marks to look up the fine APS from the DfE ready reckoners. So students at a 4B instead of all being 27, will have points ranging from 26.00 to 27.99 depending on what marks they got on the paper.
Recommended Posts