Teachers are being advised by the government to use “targeted assessments” to “quickly gauge gaps in learning” in the wake of the school shutdown.
Assessment is an “important tool” to spot “knowledge gaps” borne out of the Covid-19 lockdown, according to the Standards and Testing Agency (STA), which is overseen by the Department for Education (DfE).
In its latest update, the STA said assessments may be used by teachers to “effectively target interventions” following school closures.
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The STA said: “Assessment is an important tool to identify knowledge gaps because of school closures and to assist schools with their forward planning. It will also enable teachers to understand what pupils have learned and what additional support is needed.
“Targeted assessments, such as a focus on reading skills, may be used by teachers to quickly gauge gaps in learning, so that they can effectively target interventions.”
For further guidance, the STA recommended:
Last week, the government announced it had commissioned an independent assessment to determine the scale of catch-up required across the school system in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdown.
But the DfE said that the research would use data from assessments that schools were already running at regular intervals throughout the year.
Pupils would not have to sit any additional tests as part of the research, no additional burdens would be placed on schools, the research would not be used for accountability purposes, and it would not identify individual schools or pupils, the department said.
