APP is a structured approach to periodically assessing, reading, writing and mathematics so teachers can:

 

•      track pupils' progress through Key Stages 1 & 2
•      easily identify pupils' strengths and weaknesses
•      ensure consistency when levelling children 

 

More information on the strategy is available from - www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/primaryframework/assessment

 

Termly Tracker contains a number of useful tools to support the APP strategy. It is possible to analyse the data easily, and more thoroughly than on paper, through a powerful gap analysis review. In addition to this the software will now make suggestions as to pupil Teacher Assessment levels. (May 2010) The rules governing these suggestions are based on the guidance available on the Standards Site website and have been carefully tested to ensure accuracy. However, the suggestions may still be easily altered to take account of teacher knowledge beyond that recorded in the APP assessments.

 

The Assessing Pupil Progress grids

The grids are an alternative to the Assessing Pupil Progress A3 grids or Two Level Sheets. They provide an electronic method of recording the children's achievements that may be more durable than recording using paper and pen only.

 

The grids are accessed from the APP / Next Steps menu in Termly Tracker. Click on APP / Next Steps Wizard.

 

The grids are currently available for Reading, Writing and Maths and have statements for Level 1 to Level 8. The statements for Science will be added during Autumn 2010. The Level Descriptors tab shows level descriptors for the chosen subject. Clicking the Show Examples button provides descriptors for some of the APP statements when the mouse is hovered over the statement.

It is possible to print the APP statements by clicking on the Print 2 Level button, then selecting the subject and levels required.
 

To Record Achievements

Achievements can be recorded for individuals or groups of children by clicking on their names and moving them to the Active pupils box.

The Filter Wizard button at the top of the screen will also allow you to assess multiple children using Stored Filters e.g. Gender groups or classes or choose Stored Groups of children that you may have set up previously.

Set the statements as Working Towards or Achieved for individuals or groups of children by double clicking the statement once to turn it red, which is working towards, double clicking the statement again turns it to blue, which is achieved.

A statement with purple text means that for the selected active pupils, some may have achieved it, some may be working towards it and some may not have started it. Click once on the purple statement to see the Group Breakdown section at the top of the screen.

 

To Review Achievements for multiple children

Ensure that all pupils are in the Active Pupils box. Click the Review button at the top of the screen to see an overview of the grid for the group showing the number of pupils Achieved, Working Towards or Not Started for each individual statement. This information can also be viewed as a percentage by clicking the Show as % button at the top of the screen. This is a powerful way of identifying gaps in learning. 

To see which children have achieved the statement, which are working towards and which have not begun the statement, click on the individual statement. If the report does not appear move the scroll bar on the right of the screen up slightly.

The Filter Wizard at the top of the screen will allow you to view this grid for Stored Filters e.g. Gender groups, classes, or for Stored Groups e.g. subject ability groups that you may have set up previously. 

 

To Review Achievements for individual children

From the Review screen click the Cycle Pupils button and the Previous or Next button to view the achievements for an individual child.

It may be necessary to scroll back to the top of the report to see the child's name. Then the Previous or Next buttons to find the child required.

Hovering the mouse over a cell will show the statement it refers to. This view allows the teacher to see at a glance where there are gaps in a child's knowledge, and can assist the teacher in determining if the level for a child is Low, Secure or High.

Click Show Group to return to the group or cohort view.

 

Reviewing teacher assessments based on achievements on the APP grids

You can, if desired, adjust the teacher assessment level of each child directly from the APP grid. (May 2010)

From the Review screen click the APP to TA (Suggested Teacher Assessments) button at the top of the screen. Click the required subject. The pupils' names are listed with their current TA level and the suggested new TA level based on their APP achievements. From here it is possible to accept all of the suggested levels by clicking the green 'All' button, or select some of the levels by clicking the individual button beside each child.

It is also possible to accept the suggested levels and then edit them as required in the column headed New, which appears after a level or all levels are accepted. The assessments in the column headed New are colour coded to identify them as showing progress (Green), no progress (Yellow) or regression (Pink) compared to the current assessment.

When you are happy with the assessments in the New column click the Update New Reading (Writing or Maths) button. Then click exit and this will take you back to the Review screen, click Close then click X to close the Next Step Wizard. The new levels will now be on the Termly grid.

 

The APP to TA (Suggested Teacher Assessments) tool can also be accessed from the main menu bar in Termly Tracker (NST's to TA)

 

Creating an indivdual APP Report for one child or groups of children simultaneously

To produce a report for Reading, Writing and Maths showing the achieved and working towards statements for a child. Click on the APP / Next Steps menu. Click on Target Reports and then on Assessing Pupil Progress. The report can be created for an individual, this will be either the top child alphabetically in the file or the child whose name you have clicked on, on the Termly grid. It is also possible to run the reports for a filtered group or for the cohort.

If you choose to create the reports for more than one child the reports will be saved automatically into a folder called APP Reports which will be created in the same location as the data file was loaded from.

 

Other reports available for reporting on APP achievement

From the APP / Next Steps menu click on Targets Reports.

Pupil Target Reports - can be run per subject or for all subjects. Will also include any Next Step targets set for a child.

Group Target Reports - can be run per subject or for all subjects. Shows children grouped by the statements that they have set for them. Allows the teacher to easily access any working towards statement to review it and to print a Group Record Sheet to be used when assessing the children.

Teacher Subject - produces a 1 page report per child, per subject for teacher use.

For Parents - Produces a report in Microsoft Word showing achieved and set targets.