“What is more important? How well they do, or how far they’ve come?”
Ritu Bhathal
Thank you, Spidey, for handing the mic over to me, today, since the above quote is something that is weighing heavily on my mind right now.
It is this time of year that all teachers or at least teachers of some year groups are under a different set of pressure than the usual.
Assessment time.
Data time.
Report time.
I know secondary schools are awaiting the GCSEs and A-Level Exams to finish, they they have to wait for the grades to be announced in August, but in Primary schools it is the time for the Key Stage One and Key Stage Two attainment data to be submitted (our school’s was just the other week) and this coming week, I have to, with my colleagues, submit the first data in two years to our Local Authority, for the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile.
We have to report on Attainment, which is whether a child has reached a particular level within many areas, or GLD, a Good Level of Development. Now, after a disrupted couple of years, this cohort included, data may look lower, across the board. This class managed a whole year in school but suffered lockdowns last year in their preschool year, and some didn’t even attend a nursery, because parental fear of Covid was, naturally, high. So there are still gaps in some children’s experiences meaning we have been trying to patch holes in their development, physically, as well as emotionally, before we could really see the difference in more academic subjects.
When we first inputted the data I felt deflated. We have worked so hard with these children, and I know they have worked tremendously hard, too. I spoke with our data guru, the Deputy Head, about my disappointment.
He pointed the obvious out, with regards to what we started with, compared to where we are now. And compared to the same official data of last year’s cohort, where they experienced two lockdowns. We are definitely on an upwards trajectory, however, I hate how this could reflect on the kids and us as a whole, because, as I said, everyone has worked their behinds off to support the children, school staff, and parents alike, as well as those little mites, themselves.
Then he said, (I am ad-libbing here, but it was the jist of the conversation!) “But, what about the progress? That’s the most important thing. And remember, just because we are submitting data now, it doesn’t mean they stop learning now. They still have over four weeks with you. More progress will be made in that time, too.”
And he is right.
The difference between Attainment data and Progress data is that while Attainment looks at whether children have met expected goals, Progress sees where they started and charts the steps they have made over the year, themselves. So a child who is at expected levels may have made the age-related expected steps of progress, (in our tracking system, five steps) but a child who doesn’t appear to have met these goals, may have started considerably lower, and still made five, or even six or seven steps of progress bringing them that much closer to the expected goal.
This is why I truly despise Assessment-based judgements, as we aren’t looking at an individual child and what their unique progress is. Instead, we have to judge on these sometimes unrealistic scales, which in the Reception year, assume that all children are at the tail end of their fifth year when some of my children aren’t even five yet.
Now, I am so proud of all these children who have, as all my pupils do, wormed their way into a permanent place in my heart. Those who have hit their targets deserve a big well done, but those who haven’t, have pushed themselves, and the progress data shows how far they have come, and that almost makes me even prouder of their achievements.
So, as. I step off my soap box, what do you think is more important – how well they do or how far they’ve come?
Wishing you a wonderfully peaceful Sunday, Peeps!
But I Smile Anyway... 
Jun 28, 2022 @ 19:03:39
HI Ritu, this is an interesting question, isn’t it? I am with you that how far a child has progressed in an academic year is important. However, it is a fact the the school system measures kids on the attainment of certain levels of competence and if you don’t achieve them in one year you will struggle to cope the following year. It is difficult to get it right and balanced for all.
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Jun 28, 2022 @ 19:43:43
It is, which is why sometimes the attainment levels need to be looked at at the lower ends, to ensure the onus is on the appropriate factors of a child’s development, before pushing academia. 😊
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 21:56:45
I agree with you, Ritu – we are all a work in progress even when we get out of school and if we can’t recognize these advancements too, then we’re doing kids a disservice. Not a fan of assessments. Now that my kids are grown, guess what? They all learned to read, learned math, etc.
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 22:02:03
We all get where we need to be, with the right encouragement! 💛🙏🏼
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 20:53:52
Oh, that looks like a lot of work, and also responsibility to open much of them the way to other schools. In our egoistic world i think the “how far they’ve come” is much more important these days, Sis! Best wishes, Michael
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 20:56:28
Thank you for agreeing, Bro!! It is more important, absolutely!
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 20:52:12
Reblogged this on NEW BLOG HERE >> https:/BOOKS.ESLARN-NET.DE.
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 19:06:31
I am totally with you on this
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 19:07:09
Thank you Beth. Educators all are xx
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 18:53:14
It’s a combination of both, especially if they are signs of progress. 🙏🏽💛
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 19:06:51
Absolutely it is, but it’s hard when official figure only take one, attainment, into account… 💛🙏🏼
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 14:04:02
I am so with you on this, Ritu. Tests and standards don’t measure how far a child has come. Progress is what matters.
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 15:20:11
I knew this would ring a bell with you, Jennie. Especially at this young, tender age!
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Jun 27, 2022 @ 01:06:06
Yes!!
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 13:34:21
Ritu, I do think we must help the child make progress. But, we also need to be mindful that we know where they need to get closer to in terms of performance. With that said, I think we often teach the wrong things – I would much rather we teach kids how to think and understand. In my country, we have fallen in the ranks of math and science in the world rankings. That is not exceptionalism. We don’t read as much as we should and we certainly don’t write what we think. Keith
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 13:53:41
Absolutely, Keith, but sometimes these expectations are almost deemed set in concrete from.a very young age, and can dog a child through their life. I love Finland, where the earliest formal exam is at 16.
And the formal, academics start at 7.
I think sometimes we expect too much at too young an age, and that helps no one. Parent, teacher, or, more importantly, the child.
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 22:18:12
Thanks Ritu. Good points.
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 13:21:38
Every child is different and special, they saying goes give me a child until they are seven and I will give you the man. That is so true, it just goes to show how important example is. Your charges are lucky to have such a wonderful example
💜💜
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 13:33:19
Thank you, Sis. It us so important to foster a sense of independence, as well as faith in themselves, and individuality. I hope this is what we do. 💛💛
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 14:04:06
I have every confidence that you do Sis 💜
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 15:20:16
🤗🤗🤗
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 12:04:09
It may be more about how we do what we do rather than what it is we do! The bread maker presents their loaves with love, so is their contribution lesser than that of the Doctor?
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 12:20:02
Absolutely right, Sis. Each and every one of us has a skill to be developed that is just as important as a Mother’s. They’re just different. Like we all are.
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 10:47:10
It is so difficult to judge a kid with school grades and classifications while you see the kid itself. The potential is in each of them but not all of them unfold it at the time the school system wants it. Each kid is individual in its development as it is in the path it takes to develop. So, yes, I think, the progress of a kid should be compared not with other kids but only with the progress of the kid itself. That means, that each kid should receive the support that is tailored to it and not the other way around. But that may not be what the system is interested in. That would need a flexible not a rigid school system. Much love, Sis💖
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 10:49:03
Absolutely correct, Sis! It’s a chance the powers that be don’t see this, though!
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 11:13:04
There lie so many possibilities in a kid that would be such great benefit for everyone if only it would be supported the way it needs it. Looks like there is still a very long way to go.
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 11:14:32
We’re not all academic, and the world doesn’t need purely academic people. It’s that rainbow of differences that makes the world a better, more colourful place 🥰
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 12:25:20
I couldn’t agree more. Everyone has their place and there is a place for everyone that needs to be filled. The adults have to support the kids to find theirs or to simply stay on their road.
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 13:10:32
Yes, Sis. Exactly this!
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 09:40:24
Oh so true. That’s why I think the not yet philosophy is so important in education. We each are on unique paths.
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 09:53:04
Absolutely. It was all about The Unique Child, a while ago, and now we seem to be back to the rock box approach, but it’s being camouflaged under “new and improved” goals fir our children to reach.
But all set, pre pandemic, with no allowance for the damage that time in lockdown did to some children across the educational spectrum…
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 09:21:39
Is the purpose of it to pick up children with special needs?
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 09:28:30
Not at all, no. That would show and as professionals, we would report and instigate investigations as soon as we felt and saw indicators.
Attainment is almost like having a check list of things an average child of a certain age is supposedly able to do by a particular age. But as the younger end of the scale, development can vary hugely, so some children could be the brightest, highest achievers at GCSE but they may just have been slow getting into the groove, at a younger age. But that attainment goal not being met at that age can mean some people look at them as underachievers, and they don’t celebrate the progress from that child’s starting point.
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 06:38:15
Assessments, especially the ones issued by the state, were my least favorite part of teaching.
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 06:40:15
And I think that is echoed around the world, Pete!
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 06:05:42
” thak youRitu Bhathal” ??
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 06:28:45
Thank you, proof reader! 😜
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 08:25:05
😂😂How are you Ritu?
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Jun 26, 2022 @ 09:14:50
I’m good, Pranab! How are you? 😊
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Jun 27, 2022 @ 21:56:42
OK otherwise except that for the first time after 2000 I had three bouts of flu till now from April ( third one is still ongoing). Every time fear is it’s COVID but home test kit tests are all negative . Seems like flu also is mutating along with COVID. I always take flu vaccine but don’t think it’s done much good.
Other than that, trying to finish my first novel in my mother tongue Axomiya (Assamese). Finished sixty six episodes (about seventy thousand words) that I post on my Facebook timeline regularly. Unfortunately it’s impacting my blogging.
That’s all.
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Jun 27, 2022 @ 22:03:38
Wow! You are busy!!
But I hope you are taking care of yourself, too! Good luck!
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