Sonar Tracker

It’s important to avoid the trap of collecting data for the sake of it, just because you feel that you should. Any practice taking place in school needs to have a definable positive impact on the learners. The most useful data is that which can be used multiple times – reporting and tracking, as well as teaching and learning.
Schools and educational establishments hold a wealth of data in a multitude of places. Taking that data to a single repository, with analysis tools that understand how to present it can enable significant impact.

The DfE recommendation is to consider, “What data will be useful and for what purpose, and then collect the minimum amount required.” If it doesn’t add any value to teaching, or give you useful insight, then don’t collect it. Also, the balance between formative and summative assessment recording should be determined by what works for you – there’s no ‘correct’ way of doing it.

Pupil progress and attainment may be measured in several ways and expressed even more. Statutory assessments include descriptions of the learning that is required to achieve a pass grade. This is further described through curriculum content for each year group. An understanding of where a pupil is at within that content is the best measure of attainment. Commonly expressed as ‘Just At’ or ‘Securely At’ the expected standard for that point in time.

Ofsted makes the point that they don’t expect to see anything beyond the data used to support teaching within your school. You have the freedom to collect the information you need in the format that works best for your teachers, SLT and governors. Ofsted states that “Such information should be provided to inspectors in the format that the school would ordinarily use to monitor the progress of pupils in that school.”
Everything in the Juniper assessment tracker is designed to support schools to maximise pupil outcomes and give school leaders the information they need to be in touch with pupil attainment and performance throughout the school. Through this, schools will be able to spot where to deploy their finite resources to deliver the most effective results. And these are exactly the things Ofsted want to see.

The frequency depends on the type of data. Adopting a ‘little and often’ approach to gathering formative assessment will enable a timely impact on learning. Summative assessments will be used less frequently to compare against a standard, typically at the end of a unit or term. Also, consider the level of detail needed. Only collect data that could have an impact, and crucially, collect that data once, then use it many times.
Formative assessment tools, such as those in the Juniper assessment tracker, are designed to enable teachers to gather a wider range and number of learning objective assessments that would be impossible through physical recording. These tools are also far better suited to rapid analysis of the data to inform teaching and learning decisions.

In a primary setting, it is easy for the management of assessment data to become a disproportionate drain on an assessment coordinator who almost certainly has a full-time teaching responsibility. Trying to manage this data in spreadsheets and documents can be a full-time task in itself. A high-quality assessment tracker, such as Juniper’s, is designed to support the collection of consistent assessment data and provide clear analysis tools to draw impactful conclusions.

Teacher summative assessments (an overall description of attainment. e.g., Working At Expected in Reading) are essential when making predictions for pupil outcomes and smart deployment of resources to impact those outcomes. Formative assessments (achievements against curriculum objectives) should be used to inform summative judgements and for informing planning for teachers where gaps in learning are identified.

Yes. Although this may take different forms. National data exists for the statutory end of key stage assessments and tools are provided to compare. Juniper Education also offers a Juniper Benchmark for schools. This is an aggregated teacher assessment, created termly, taken from roughly 5000 schools using one of the Juniper assessment tracking solutions.

We know that teachers work hard and are always looking to be more efficient and effective; Sonar Tracker helps teachers and schools get the most value from their assessment effort. At its heart, the system encourages assessment to support the teacher, with data for tracking and reporting seamlessly building upon that. Being fully customisable provides you with a solution that perfectly supports your assessment framework.