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