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The scheme of assessment provides the aims and learning outcomes in GCSE maths. It’s a guide to the teachers about what to focus on when teaching. The scheme of assessment focuses on the students’ development of mathematical confidence, positive attitudes towards maths and to recognise the importance and its application in their own lives and to society. The students should be aware that mathematics can be used to develop models of real life situations and that these models may be more or less effective depending on how the situation has been simplified and the assumptions that have been made. Students should also be able to recall, select and apply mathematical formulae. It’s important for students to know why they’re learning, what there are learning and more importantly how they will be assessed. The scheme does not however tell teachers how to do that, so each teacher must make efforts to monitor and reflect on their own practise in meeting the scheme.

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A critical evaluation and judgement of assessment records at Leicester College-Maths

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A critical evaluation and judgement of assessment records at Leicester College-Maths

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We have both internal and external records

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Subject content

Students can be said to have confidence and competence with mathematical content when they can apply it flexibly to solve problems. AQA provides information about the composition of the assessment material. The subject content of the AQA specification matches that set out in the Department for Education’s Mathematics GCSE subject content and assessment objectives document.  This content is common to all exam boards and has been organised into broad topic areas as listed below:

1)      Numbers

2)      Ratio, proportion and rates of change

3)      Algebra

4)      Geometry and measures

5)      Probability

6)      Statistics

All content can be assessed on any of the three question papers. The weighting of    the topic areas has been prescribed by Ofqual and is the same to all exam boards. At the bottom  is a table that shows the approximate weightings of the topic areas for the overall assessment, not for each individual question paper.
As a teacher I am required s to know how marks are going to be awarded in each section. It’s very important for me as a teacher to know this information and share with my students so that they understand how they will be assessed externally. Teachers have a duty of sharing grading information with their students as this makes a difference in students’ learning when they know how they will be assessed.

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At the moment Leicester College is registered with AQA as an external summative exam board for Maths and English.
The exams  take place between May-June each year and those who have do not pass the May-June exam are entered for re-sits in November.
The current grading system starts at 0-9 whereby a student will have failed if they score in the range 0-3 and passed if they score between 4-9.
Level 4 = the old C-grade
Level 5= C+ or B- depending on where a student is on the spectrum.
Level 6=the old B grade
Level 7=A
Level 8= A+
Level 9= A**
There is no student in the current group that I teach who is predicted to get above level 7 and it is understandable, these being students who failed last year. Whichever level they get as long as they pass, that will be enough for them since they are doing different courses.

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The bksb Initial Assessment (English and Maths) tracks the Functional Skills Standards and satisfies the updated core curriculum for English and Maths from Pre-entry level to level 2. The bskb is used by Leicester college for diagnostic at the start of learning and for continuous assessments to monitor students’ progress.  The bksb Initial Assessment tool is dynamic and adjusts the level according to the answers given allowing the learner to see what level they are currently working at. The initial Assessment provides valuable tracking and reports for tutors and managers. This data is extremely perceptive and assists greatly with lesson planning and learner management. It enables learners to find out their current level in English and maths and informs them which Diagnostic Assessments to take. The diagnostic will then identify their strengths and weaknesses and signpost the learner to specific learning resources they require. The teachers can then put in place all the necessary learning and specific learning support needed for each student.  Bksb can be accessed from home, college and from any connected device, it is user friendly and straight forward to understand.

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End of module tests form one of the assessment methods. At the end of the following modules, numbers, ratio, proportion and rates of change, algebra, geometry and measures, probability and statistics tests are given to students to assess whether learning has taken place.  Each of the above modules has in it a series of topics at the end of each topic, students are given worksheets to complete and it is from those worksheets that end of module tests are set and marked against the criterial for final exams.  These tests act as mini-summative and give an indication both to the student and teacher of where loose ends are and therefore, give ground for tightening  them through revision and revisiting of the topic. For example the assessment record below, shows all students in one group who are entered for the May -June Maths exam.

The last column show which exam level (Foundation, Higher or not entered status) and the second last column shows the predicated grade.
Students in green are predicated to pass, while those in red unless they put more effort between now and the exam date, they are predicated to fail. Those in yellow their exam outcome can go either way, pass or fail. You can however, see that there is one students in green with Personal code 887423 who is predicated to be on level 6 (B-Grade) whose assessment record has been consistently increasing in each of the min assessments

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MathsWatch is one of the online resources used at Leicester college by the maths department not only for teaching maths but also for assessment. MathsWatch has interactive lessons, worksheets and games that are linked to a powerful Assessment Manager System that enables me as a teacher to teach in a fun and lively way while tracking and monitoring progress effectively.

The advantages of using MathsWatch for homework are; students get instant feedback, can quickly learn from their mistakes, opportunity to do homework again to improve the score, MathsWatch automatically keeps a record of the best score. This is important as it helps in improving students’ learning. One of important things about this kind of assessment with MathsWatch is that it has video clips organised with topics to help students understand maths concepts. Much as MathsWatch is appreciated for it interactive nature, video clips, worksheets and answers, it cannot substitute teachers’ assessment as it lacks that human element of clarifying things which a teacher would provide if a student needed more explanation to understand. A teacher has a capacity to explain differently in more depth and can use different approaches. Below is a screen shot showing a record of daily usage of MathsWatch for the month of March 2018. and

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(1) AQA GCSE Exams
(2) External Assessment Objectives
(3) Subject Content
(4) Weighting Objectives
(5) Scheme of Assessment

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The AQA assessment objectives provide information to teachers about the skills that the external assessor will be looking for in the final assessment. These skills embedded in the curriculum and tests include applying standard technics, reasoning, interpreting and communicating mathematically, as well as problem solving skills. I could argue that teachers share this helpful information with their students, but not all teachers do it. I believe teachers who share the assessment objectives contribute positively to their students’ learning experience. Students must know the composition of the assessment they will be undertaking, the content and the expectations. The table below shows the AQA assessment objectives set out by Ofqual.

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AQA provides records on how learning objectives will be assessed and weighed in accordance with the office of Qualifications (Ofqual) requirements. They provide information of each paper. There are three objectives being assessed in each of the three papers.

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(a) MathsWatch and Homework
(b) bksb -initial assessment
(c) Tests