Midpoint calculation on Summative Assessments

[CawthorneChildrensCentre]

Hello, We are new to Tapestry and trying to work out the most accurate way that we can collect accurate upto date attainment data at the end of each term. Previously we have assessed children based upon professional judgements from evidence i.e Observations etc. What i am getting confused with is, when it comes to the end of a term, the Summative assessments are based on a child's Midpoint of their age in that given period for example If a child is 46 months at the start and 50 months at the end the assessment is based on a child at 48 months. Is it not a more accurate judgement if they were assessed at their actual age at the end point? i.e. 50 months or doesn't it matter?  

 

Thank you for your help. 

Sarah 

[Lauren]

Hi Sarah, 

Great! I hope you're getting on well with it all so far! 

The reason we compare their assessed age to their midpoint age for the term is that the assessed age is also the average for the term; so, the idea is that the assessed age will be the midpoint too. Does that make sense? 

Best wishes,
Lauren

[CawthorneChildrensCentre]

Thank you Lauren, I am still confused as to why the assessed age is not at the end of the term/period rather than the midpoint? As this can be up to a month and a half more (between midpoint and endpoint).   

Thank you again for your help

Sarah 

 

[Helen]

Hi Sarah,

The differences clearly get greater, the longer the assessment period is- ie the difference between the average midpoint and the end point. We felt at the time, as Lauren says, that if the assessments are averaged, then it makes sense to average the child's age too. You might think of it in terms of the child being at a disadvantage if you use the age at the end of the assessment period- ie at the beginning of the assessment period, you could be making assessments that are actually in line with expectations at that point, but if they're being compared with the child's age at the end of the assessment period, the child looks like they are behind. In this respect it seems fairer to use the midpoint age.

Talking to our lead developers in-house- it has been suggested that we could offer additional colour-coding to address this issue. We'll give this some more thought but I'm afraid we couldn't implement anything else for some time!