2009 Raw Scores

kentish maid · Post by **kentish maid** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 11:24 am

Our primary school does NVR VR and maths tests devised by NFER which are similar but not identical to 11+ in years 3 to 6. They do this once a year. They do them as part of their pupil target setting and tracking procedures, not primarily because of the 11+. Some schools do CATS as well for this reason. However, they do use the results (as well as optional sats and teacher assessments) to advise in year 5 on whether they think GS is a good option for your DC. They can also use the scores in these as part of their evidence of GS ability in a HT appeal. I do not know how these are standardised but I was told by our Ht that for my DC child (Sept born) to get 140 they would have to get every question correct. 1 wrong and they would likely be in the low 130's. I think in one of these NFER tests my DC got 5 wrong and this came out at 113. In the Kent test a Sept Dc can get a lot wrong and still pass!!!

Lass · Post by **Lass** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 2:16 pm

kentish maid wrote: I do not know how these are standardised but I was told by our Ht that for my DC child (Sept born) to get 140 they would have to get every question correct. 1 wrong and they would likely be in the low 130's. I think in one of these NFER tests my DC got 5 wrong and this came out at 113. In the Kent test a Sept Dc can get a lot wrong and still pass!!!

Doesn't that all depend on the paper and the scores of the other children though? If the paper were "easy" and the top scorers were achieving 100% then a score of 140 = 100%. If the top scores were 80% then likewise that score would = 140.

Our school have never given us any indication of scoring, nor have they studied or been tested on VR and NVR. So my only information has come from the internet and forums like this one. But the way I understood it was not so much how many questions an individual answers correctly, but how they compare with the other children that have sat the test.

kentsussexborder · Post by **kentsussexborder** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 2:54 pm

I have no personal experiences of NFER tests in school as my DCs attend an East Sussex primary and, as far as I'm aware, there are no CAT tests either, just mock SATs each year. So I was wondering if the standardisation would depend on sample size e.g. is it standardised against a large sample, say nationally or several 1,000 children, or just against the children in the class sitting the test at the time, in which case dropping a point or two could make huge differences.

Or, of course, I could be talking out my ear, as I'm not a statistician at all - but I'm sure someone will come along and correct me.

kentish maid · Post by **kentish maid** » Sun Nov 08, 2009 9:13 pm

I got the impression that the school NFER's were easier than the 11+ , so it is possible that silly or careless mistakes would cost a Dc more on standardisation. I think the tests are also shorter and have fewer questions, so again a few errors may have quite dramatic effects on standardisation. I have no idea how they are standardised but I got the feeling that re the comment about having to achieve 100% if you were a Sept born, that this was just a reflection on how the test was set up, before class comparisons were factored in. So there must be some element of the tests being already standardised.

I understand the schools use them to identify pupils who should be doing better than they are, and to help them in setting sat levels for each pupil to aim for each year. They are not used as practise for the 11+. The pupils never go through them or talk about them. They do not see the papers after they have done the tests, nor are they told their results. Parents in Year 5 get told what the results were when discussing secondary school options .

tigger2 · Post by **tigger2** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 6:57 pm

One point added for a January birthday !!

Twinkle · Post by **Twinkle** » Mon Nov 09, 2009 7:18 pm

Presumably that s one point per subject tested?

tigger2 · Post by **tigger2** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 9:26 pm

Sorry, yes that is one point per subject tested!!! Have to admit that I was thrown by over complicated reply from admissions and decided to phone for clarification. The example that I was given was that the points added range from 1-4...but this is not month by month. That is if you have a January born child you gain a point,somewhere between march /april another point is added and then may/june 3 points are added and so on.....I am still baffled!!! But then again it doesn't take much