Teacher assessment and National Curriculum levels

Linking ongoing teacher assessments and feedback to pupils with NC levels and applying consistent national standards at Key Stage 3

As with reading and writing, it is essential to develop a secure grasp of national standards and consistency across the English department and between schools in applying national curriculum levels and GCSE grade criteria to pupils' work.

Because the assessment of speaking and listening is a formal part of the assessment process at GCSE, most English departments have experience in the process of moderating and standardisation of speaking and listening assessment at Key Stage 4. For Key Stage 3, however, it may be useful to review with colleagues some of the level-related judgements currently being made to record and report on pupils' attainment in your department, and the range of evidence you currently have available to make the assessments.

This process will be supported in due course by the introduction of APP assessment guidelines and related materials for speaking and listening. In the meantime, you could try the following:

Activities

  • Work with a colleague to identify three pairs of pupils, one from each of your classes, whom you consider to be working at level 4, level 5 and level 6. For each pair, compare each other's range of evidence (where necessary describing examples of the pupils' classwork if no other form of evidence is available) in relation to specific AFs and discuss the level judgements you have made.
  • Compare some of your evidence for a particular level with the exemplification material for speaking and listening on the national curriculum in action web-pages:

htm filehttp://www.ncaction.org.uk/subjects/english/levels.htm
Use especially the examples which relate closely to the AFs you have been discussing in the first activity.