KS2 Agreement trialling meetings show improvements in quality of writing and teacher knowledge

Warwickshire's Assessment Team recently ran a series of Agreement Trialling meetings for Key Stage 2 writing assessments for teachers in Year 3 and Year 4. 

The aim of the sessions were to ensure teachers:

• were up-to-date with the latest assessment information and documentation
• understood their role in helping children to secure the writing skills (compositional and transcriptional) that underpin statutory end of Key Stage 2 assessment – and in-school, consortia
  moderation
• had an opportunity to present and discuss their evidence trails for writing at this point, during the school year
• could accurately moderate their judgements with colleagues from other schools, outside their consortia
• could share and evaluate good practice, processes and systems, compare their body of evidence with others and identify their own next-steps

Evaluation

Over the four half-day sessions, approximately 85 teachers attended from a mixture of Years 3 and 4. Teachers from the same school were encouraged to sit separately unless they were current job-shares.

After sharing and clarifying expectations around the statutory knowledge and skills outlined in the national curriculum programmes of study; the end of KS1 and KS2 Teacher Assessment Frameworks and the corresponding recording grids, a considerable proportion of time was scheduled for collective discussion and moderation around the given standards (age-related expected standard or age-related greater-depth standard) using a clear set of criteria.

All attendees brought and presented a range of writing evidence, working either as a group or in pairs to discuss and agree their teacher assessment judgements. Teachers engaged enthusiastically and were openly encouraged to reflect upon, and evaluate, the quality and quantity of their evidence at this point in the year, consider how it compared with others in the group, the accuracy and robustness of their assessments, and to identify next step actions to move their practice on.

Since the initial core offer of professional development in 2015, the subsequent ATMs, and the roll out of consortia moderation for the whole of KS2, there have been significant improvements to the quality and quantity of writing in Years 3 and 4, as well as in teacher knowledge and expertise.

Teachers in lower KS2 now have a far greater understanding of the statements within the national standards, and their engagement in the process of moderation has improved tenfold. Increased accountability across both year groups is clearly evident, as teachers demonstrate a greater understanding of the important role they play in statutory end of KS2 assessment. They are far more confident and willing to present and discuss both their own and each others’ writing trails; are increasingly adept at identifying their own strengths, gaps in skills coverage and balance of genres and text types; are much more willing to share good practice such as, curriculum themes and texts that excite and engage children, as well as effective systems and processes for editing and proof reading the compositional and transcriptional elements of writing.

These meetings have a ‘buzz’ and evaluative feedback confirms all the above.

For further information about these meetings please contact edassessment@warwickshire.gov.uk