Primary Progress Toolkit

classroom use

Assessment and pupil tracking opportunities

The Primary Progress Toolkit (PPT) is designed to support school management in twelve identified ways. These will be familiar to all school managers and are as follows:

1. Tracking pupil progress

2. Tracking class progress

3. Targets [targets, termly or yearly, can be set for all years from Year 1]

4. The setting of pupils’ targets [targets, termly or yearly, can be set for all years from Year 1]

5. The setting of school targets

6.The comparison of targets, forecasts including Fischer Family trust estimates and test results

7.The analysis of pupils’ results using Contextual Value Added scores(CVA) and group analysis foci

8.The comparison of a school’s attainment with national results

9.The review of a school’s progress in EY to KS1 to KS2 conversions

10.The review of a school’s progress using value added measures

11.The comparison of a school’s results with other local schools

12.The production of lists and management reports

The instructions for installing the Toolkit are comprehensive and easy to follow. (Excel must be installed on the host machine.) The data entered into the PPT can include all data from statutory and non statutory tests and we also entered our Fisher Family Trust data and information on teacher assessments. It is also possible, using the updated version, to enter Foundation Stage Profile data effectively allowing one to track pupil progress from point of entry through to Y6.

For the purposes of this evaluation, as suggested, we designated one version of the Toolkit as the main version. I was identified as the person who would have the password giving access to the editing facilities and found no difficulties in adding and modifying data. The members of the senior management team were all given the installation CD so that they could put the Toolkit on their separate laptops although it is possible to install and run it on a laptop directly from a USB stick. Passwords can be reset for providing access to the Toolkit and to the editing facilities – we did this successfully.

Backup copies of data can be made by clicking the relevant button on the menu page and following the on-screen instructions. We experienced no difficulties with the current files we used but in the event of such difficulties it is possible to use the restore function to utilise a backup copy made at an earlier date. These backup and restore features can also be utilised to transfer altered or additional data from the main computer to the other computers. Security and shared continuity can therefore be maintained well - we had no problems in this area.

The booklet accompanying the Toolkit is very well set out and also very useful, particularly for those managers who may be inexperienced in knowing how to use their school’s data and unfamiliar with the possibilities that exist.

I was able to show the Toolkit to our middle leaders in school and they were very grateful for the twelve sections mentioned above and the way these sections are explained both in the accompanying file and on the screen as one investigates and interrogates the pages. This was not only because of the ease of access and clarity of the information available but also because of the comprehensive insight given into what is possible and necessary for data management in primary schools.

The twelve identified ways in which the PPT can support school management are supported by the screens accessed on the main menu page. Each of these screens contains a ‘How to use?’ button which identifies very clearly what that particular screen can be used to investigate and analyse. Also, when certain choices are made; for example, when one chooses a ‘year group’ on the school progress page, as the charts are populated a popup appears with useful information on understanding the charts and group options that can be used to investigate different sections of the chosen populations. We found this feature of the software particularly useful with regard to those members of staff who were new to this kind and degree of analysis. This is a feature standard to all pages.

Targets for individual pupils can be entered termly, yearly, long term and short term at KS 1 and KS2 in core subjects and what are defined as extra subjects and now, the six Foundation Stage areas of learning and their subdivisions. These can be entered on an individual pupil form or on a charted form allowing one to see the entries for all the pupils at once. We found this form more useful particularly for less experienced staff. Agreed targets and forecasts can be entered for the school and for individual pupils. We found this ability to keep all targets digitally and centrally very useful indeed.

When one opts to look at the charts of pupil details one is able to look at individual pupils and also to group pupils according to single or combined criteria. As we investigated, all tabled data can be graphed and printed and/or included as a report. These reports are saveable within the program. This facility for combining or refining through criteria choice makes the software very versatile and it is this versatility which allows the PPT to easily deliver the twelve identified areas of support for school management and more.

Perhaps the most important and useful new features in the updated Toolkit are the Tracking Grid options/capabilities. The grids work with termly and yearly data, and can be customised to reflect one’s school’s own standards and expectations.

These grids are accessed through the pupil progress section and show termly targets and results as levels and, where there is a difference, identify this in terms of (+ or - ) NC points.

The drop down lists are, as is usual, placed in the top left hand corner of the window and allow selection of year /class, results year and subject (both core and foundation). The grids thus displayed show the level achieved by each pupil, with columns displayed for each set of termly targets and results. The pupils’ names are displayed in the grid cells. The different buttons which allow different groupings to be displayed will prove particularly useful for highlighting certain pupils in our ever widening search for signifiers for intervention. The extent or focus of a grid display can be varied using the ‘Display’ tick boxes to alter the resolution of the view. Results are typically and very usefully colour coded. Once again, the ‘How to use?’ button is particularly useful. I would suggest that the completion of the SEF would be well informed by clicking on this button to support the depth and breadth of an Senior Management Team’s understanding of implications of their schools ‘Outcomes’ as seen from all perspectives. The pupil information button at the top of the window displays details and results for individual pupils. I found this useful to refer to, when anomalous results or trends are identified, as a check for possible contributory factors such as unexplained absence.

These grids, based on ISP tracking grid formats, provide us very effectively with the answers to the three questions on pupil progress in which we are most interested:

• are pupils on track for level 4 or 5?

• are they making progress?

• are they achieving the targets you’ve set?

Foundation stage progress grids are extremely useful in a similar manner to the above; also very effectively overcoming the problem of comparing Foundation Stage Profile and National Curriculum levels and allowing primary schools to track pupil progress from point of entry through to Y6.

It would be absurd to simply reproduce the manual by explaining all that the program is capable of in this evaluation. I should instead, merely state that I found it impossible to fault the software with regard to its ability to enable a school to manage its data in the way it claims to do.

Updates for the software can be installed by way of a button on the menu page. (Subscribers to Primary Progress Toolkit will have the Infant Progress Toolkit integrated with their existing toolkit at no extra cost.)