New to Tapestry tracking and summative assesments query

[Gill_Oliver]

Hi,

Just a query as this is all new to me and the staff are asking lots of questions.

 

A member of staff today did a PD ob and ticked one of the statements that she had observed. She is aware that her Key child has already acheived the other statements yet she doesn't have a formal observation to link to these. How do people approach this? I am sure everyone does it differently but it would be good to know so we can work out our best approach.

 

Also would be interested to know how others set up their summative assessment's. Our settings ares set at using age bands, refinements and statements and to it doesn't look like we are showing progress. A little bit confused with this area so any advice appreciated.

 

Thanks

Gill

[FSFRebecca]

Good morning Gill,

Sorry for the delay in replying - you slipped between some Tapestry strands, apologies

 

Now, to help you, you asked:

"A member of staff today did a PD ob and ticked one of the statements that she had observed. She is aware that her Key child has already achieved the other statements yet she doesn't have a formal observation to link to these. How do people approach this? I am sure everyone does it differently but it would be good to know so we can work out our best approach."

It isn't necessary to tick all the statements within an age band to be 'secure' in that age band. If you see a statement that does 'fit' then go ahead and tick it. However, if there is no matching statement you don't need to tick any and you can use your professional judgement to assess which age band and refinement is the most appropriate one to assign to the observation. There is no requirement to tick any statements. So, in the case of your practitioner's PD observation I would recommend the following: If there is a statement that 'matches' the observation then tick it and select the appropriate age band. If the child is 'secure' across all the descriptors in one age band I would be looking to see if they are 'emerging' at the next age band. I have linked (below) to an article I have written about making observations on Tapestry, your staff might find it helpful.

Observing and assessing extended tutorial for Tapestry users

 

To answer your second question, we recommend setting your analysis calculations to look at age bands and refinements only. This is because (as I said above) it is not necessary to 'tick off' all the statements in an age band for a child to be secure (or half of them to be developing etc). The Development Matters statements are for guidance and are to give practitioners 'a sense' of what they might be seeing with children in any particular age band. They are not definitive. As you said, your practitioner knew where the child was and knew what they could do - from her professional knowledge and this is the most important assessment tool you can use.

If you analyse data using age bands and refinements, when you look at your summative snapshot screen at the end of each assessment period you can manually adjust any that don't look right or that have no assessment for that particular period and then you can be sure that children are exactly where you know they actually are - then as you move into the next assessment period your progress data will start to build.

I hope that helps, sorry again for the delay :1b