Standardised Assessments Update

Overview

• Scottish National Standardised Assessments (SNSA)
• Assessment contract with Australian Council for Education Research (ACER)
• Funded by the Scottish Government
• To be taken at P1, P4, P7 and S3
• Trial involved 9,000 assessments in 66 schools in 5 local authorities
• To replace current Local Authority assessments
• Aligned to CfE and Bench Marks
• To assess skills in Reading, Writing and Numeracy
• A diagnostic report will be produced that will contribute to the professional judgement of the teacher
• An online adaptive assessment
• Inclusive for all pupils
• A one-off assessment
• Assessments are flexible and can be undertaken at any point in year and can be conducted by class or by an individual pupil
• Timing of the assessment can be determined by Local Authority

Training

• Training to be provided by Scholar
• Training and professional development for teachers at P1, P4, P7 and S3
• Training in the use of the ACER system and professional development in interpreting standardised assessment data
• On-line and help desk support provided by TWIG
• Information accessed through SEEMIS or Glow
• Due to go live on 21 August 2017

Issues

• Some Local Authorities are replacing existing assessment regimes with the SNSA but some are intending to continue current arrangements
• It may be possible to translate existing data into the new SNSA system
• Assessments at other ages are being considered by Local Authorities

SSTA concerns

• All others assessments will need to be funded by Local Authorities in preference to other education priorities (i.e. funding to schools)
• Teacher Workload - adequate time for training and implementation needs to be included in the schools Working Time Agreement