Objectives:

When TiLA approached Smartgrade they were looking for assessments that were standardised, aligned with their curriculum, and which had a large and up-to-date standardisation sample. They had found that the other options they'd tried were limited by at least one of these factors.

"We tried PUMA and NFER assessments across our MAT but we weren’t happy with assessing topics we hadn’t covered in the classroom. We even had discussions about trying to create our own tests, but we don't have the capacity, the expertise, or a large enough sample for standardisation. It was at that point we discovered Smartgrade.”

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Solution:

The fact that Smartgrade offers standardised White Rose Maths assessments was a big attraction for TiLA, as was the 10,000+ student sample size. Because the standardisation is up-to-date and in real-time, TiLA were confident that Smartgrade was the right assessment platform for their MAT.

“The standardisation of White Rose assessments fitted with exactly what we wanted, the alignment of curriculum and assessments. So we switched to using their termly assessments alongside HeadStart Reading and it’s worked really well! It's given our senior leaders, our maths leads and our teachers a clear understanding of a) what children have been taught and b) what they've understood and retained, which is an unarguable strength of this approach.”

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Benefits:

1. Clear idea of student progression

“We are now able to look at standardised scores from the end of year one, all the way up to year six. And so we've got a really clear idea of the progression children are making.”

2. Predicted Attainment at KS2

“We love that Smartgrade now provides performance indicators - we use these to map attainment at a given point in time. This gives us a prediction of what the child should achieve at the end of KS2 assuming teaching remains consistent.”

3. Evidencing good practice

“Soon we will have two years of data in Smartgrade so we can show the positive impact and the quality of teaching and learning in our schools. We can see that the standardised scores for particular groups/cohorts are improving. One of the key areas is children with SEND. Smartgrade supports us with their assessment and in tracking their progress; this is very useful.”

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