Age Standardisation - is it fair?

[NanoNano]

I agree Mike - it was a very simplistic approach and I admit I was only seeing it in black and white, which is why I wanted my thoughts to be challenged I thoroughly agree with all that has been said and stand corrected

It has never worried me as I know the adjustments are tiny and I wasn't challenging the system, it was just, well... let's call it a senior moment shall we?

[Tolstoy]

To be honest NanoNano I think most of us have that moment. My biggest concern with the system since CEM is not the test itself but the appeal system that is supposed to mop up those who do fall through the net of a one off exam.

How can appeal panels objectively judge academic evidence like SATs results when some DC will have been tutored for two or three years pre -test. At least with the old VR test it didn't cover the same work so Y5 optional SATs were fairly representative. All the DC who aren't tutored will only have CATs scores to look at if their school does them, their SATs scores won't begin to compete unless they are super bright and Grammars are not just for the super bright.

[Guest55]

It's not the appeal system it the Bucks review that isn't fair ... off topic though!

[jabba7]

Having had DC go through the old and new test for me the biggest change that is now a disadvantage to a nervous, tired, stressed child is having two tests on one day. I really think results would look different if the tests were still taken on two separate days but I don't think that's going to happen.

[Tinkers]

Just saw this on my Twitter feed so thought I'd link it here.
http://schoolsimprovement.net/parents-c ... orn-babies" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mike1880]

I'm sure it's well meant but clearly utterly stupid. It will just (1) make things even worse for those summer-born children whose parents don't hold them back (an even bigger age gap between oldest and youngest) and (2) transfer the remainder of the problem onto the July-born children. (And it's very depressing to see that 16yo August-born are still 20% more likely to be identified as SEN.)

The solution is probably an education system with less of a pig-headed obsession with attainment and academic progress at a ridiculously young age but that's not going to happen unfortunately.

[Tolstoy]

The problem is there has to be a cut off somewhere so if summer borns stay back a year then it just make's spring babies the youngest. We could be going round and round in circles. What they need is general flexibility. If for any reason a parent wants the DC to stay back a year and after sensible dialogue with the school they agree it would be for the best then why not let DC stay back.

Also if a school themselves feel a DC might benefit from staying back they should also be able to instigate a similar dialogue with parents.

Clashed with Mike's post but totally agree with your last statement.

[southbucks3]

When my great great father in law was little they all started the same infant school my son's go to, but only the week they turned five and left the quarter they turned 12, either for academic or apprenticeship purposes, so caught up at big school level if they stayed or at work if not. The teachers at the school kept a diary for fifty years, they had passing over days every few months with certificates to take to their new situation.
Things do seem to be going forward in a peculiarly pushy way for our tiniest kids.

Not suggesting we send them to Labour on farms at twelve again btw!

[Lillie]

That is a shocking statistic shown in the link - August born children 50% more likely to be labelled SEN at 11 years old, compared with their September born peers. And the difference persists, though diminishes, up to GCSE age.

As has been said, there needs to be a cut off point somewhere, so just allowing children to delay starting school will push the problem back to the next youngest age group. Also, going back to the original theme of the thread, how would you deal with standardisation in a class where there could be up to a 2 year age difference between children (assuming some of the younger children do start at the current "normal" time)?

There is clearly something wrong with the way children are being assessed, if such anomalies as this are happening.......

[Rags]

This discussion reminded me of a TED talk I saw a while back:
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_c ... _paradigms
Of specific relevance is the bit starting at 06:55, but I think all of it is of interest.