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Framework for teaching mathematics

Medium-term assessments

The purposes of medium-term assessments are different. Their focus should be on what you are unsure about, not on what you already know. They are mainly to:

• review and record the progress children are making over time in relation to the key objectives, what they know and can do, whether they can apply their skills in a new context, and whether any weaknesses remain;
• identify children's progress against specific individual targets, including those in IEPs, so you can give them and their parents feedback and set new targets;
• help you to plan work over the next half term;
• provide you with information to feed into end-of-year assessments.

It is not necessary or even feasible to check and record each pupil's individual progress against every single teaching objective in mathematics. Most children should be living up to expectations for their age group; what they know, understand and can do in general is already recorded as a class record of progress when you evaluate your medium-term teaching plan.

Your medium-term assessments should centre on the most important aspects of mathematics and help you to identify children's particular strengths and weaknesses. They should relate to the key objectives that you have included in the half term's work. These objectives are central to all children's progress in relation to the National Curriculum level descriptions, and hence to their performance in tests and teacher assessments.

Medium-term assessments should be timed to influence planning. For example, on two days in each half term you could plan group and individual assessment activities and written tasks. These might involve several different ideas and skills linked to one or more of the key objectives. You should tell the class the particular focus of your assessment: for example, accuracy, working shown clearly for written calculations, clear and concise explanations of the methods used to solve problems... When you plan 'assess and review' days, try to choose activities and tasks that children can largely tackle independently so that you can concentrate on observing how they set about their work as well as its quality. For example, in Year 4, you could make use of the Assessment Units published by the QCA.

As you assess the work and review progress, bear in mind your planned expectations for what pupils should be achieving in relation to the key objectives. Refer to the QCA exemplification of children's work which accompanies this Framework, and to the Framework's supplements of examples. Aim to judge how well your pupils can use and apply what they know, understand and can do, and what difficulties remain. Try to rectify any difficulties as soon as possible and take account of them in your next phase of medium-term planning.

You will need to mark any written task that is part of medium-term assessment to give feedback to children on what they have achieved and how to improve. You will probably want children to make corrections to their work, so constructive written comments are more helpful than mere ticks and crosses, or scores 'out of 10'. The marking, feedback and corrections should be done as soon as possible while children can still remember how they approached the task.

Children's progress towards the key objectives needs to be recorded. Since there are relatively few key objectives for each year, records will not be too onerous to maintain. To update them every six weeks or so after your 'assess and review' days is sufficient. If you have kept any personal jottings on your short-term assessments you can use these to help you.

The easiest system to use is a class record of the key objectives: a summary sheet for the whole class, with the key objectives appropriate for the class down one side and children's names across the top. For example:

Key objectives: Year 4
Use symbols correctly, including <, >, =
Round any positive integer less than 1000 to the nearest 10 or 100
Recognise simple fractions that are several parts of a whole, and mixed numbers; recognise the equivalence of simple fractions
Use known number facts and place value to add or subtract mentally, including any pair of two-digit whole numbers
Carry out column addition and subtraction of two integers less than 1000, and column addition of more than two such integers
Know by heart facts for the 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 multiplication tables
Derive quickly division facts corresponding to the 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 multiplication tables
Find remainders after division
Know and use the relationships between familiar units of length, mass and capacity
Classify polygons, using criteria such as number of right angles, whether or not they are regular, symmetry properties
Choose and use appropriate number operations and ways of calculating (mental, mental with jottings, pencil and paper) to solve problems
Other

Your class record can be dated when you feel confident that a child has achieved a key objective. This is a sufficient record of most children's progress but you will need some supplementary notes for the few individual pupils whose progress towards the key objectives differs markedly from the majority of the class. Your notes should give the reasons for the difference, perhaps referring to a sample of work that you decide to retain.

Your class record can be kept in a folder with your supplementary notes. You will need to pass your folder to the next teacher at the end of the year.

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Individual targets for pupils

Setting individual targets for pupils is another way in which you can help children to achieve the key objectives over the medium term.

Try to have a discussion of 5 to 10 minutes with each pupil during the course of each term to set his or her personal targets. Although you may want to arrange your discussion with some pupils on an individual basis - for example, pupils with special needs whose IEPs need updating, or pupils who would benefit from a degree of privacy - for other pupils you can organise the discussion in small groups. For example, on one of your 'assess and review' days you could use group time to circulate and ask pupils to name two or three simple improvements to work on over the next term. You could also use registration time to talk to three or so pupils each week, either individually or as a small group.

The aim is to discuss each pupil's individual progress in meeting their targets and praise success, then set a couple of new or amended targets for the pupil to aim for. You could also offer children and their parents some practical advice on the steps they might take to achieve their targets.

The targets will usually be linked to those key objectives that you will focus your teaching on over the next few weeks. They may be very specific: for example, to learn by heart multiplication facts in the 3 and 4 times-tables, or to become accurate at subtracting a pair of four-digit numbers using a pencil and paper method. For some pupils a target may need to be broken down into stages: for example, to learn by heart the 3 times-table up to 5 × 3. For others, it may be appropriate to choose a target linked to the key objectives for the year group below or above. Whatever the targets, they need to be straightforward and not too many at one time so that everyone understands them. You can then readily monitor and discuss them with children during mathematics lessons.

You need to note the targets you set so that you can refer to them in subsequent discussions with the children or their parents. In most cases you could highlight boxes on your class record of key objectives to indicate which of them have been given to children as targets. Exceptionally, there may be some pupils whose personal targets need to be recorded in your supplementary notes or IEP.

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Keeping parents informed and involved

Your class record of key objectives and your supplementary notes will help you to keep parents informed and involved in their child's progress. When opportunities occur, use the record and notes as a point of discussion at a meeting with parents, emphasising what their child has already achieved as well as what she or he needs to work towards next. Try to gain parents' active support for helping their children to achieve the targets. For example, you could give parents a copy of their child's targets, with some suggestions for how families can help. You could also include work related to the targets in the homework activities you give your class to do.

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