The first article was on another BLOG called Tutors International where they commented on how it would be impossible for any council to make something 'un-tutorable', something I have been saying all along.
The next came in a report found on the KCC website; KCC announces contractor to run Kent Test
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The important sentence here is as follows; There will be two main tests, one assessing reasoning ability and one assessing pupils’ attainment in literacy and numeracy.
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What this will mean is the non-verbal reasoning paper will be dropped in favour of the verbal reasoning and the maths and English (new to Kent) will be incorporated into one exam. There will also be a timed essay and the whole test will be done in one day.
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In some ways this is returning to how it was many years ago but the maths and English were separate exams then. Now, with the exams combined it means the whole test will be dealt with quickly and the children will get one sleepless night rather than two!
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The other thing which is interesting is the contractor - GL Assessment, the very people who have been producing the test papers up until now. This does give us some idea, therefore of the way in which the questions will be asked and the language the children sitting the exam will be expected to understand. A leap of faith then takes us closer to the way the test papers will be structured and people like me begin to sense what is expected even more than before.
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What do I expect looking into the crystal ball?
.I will expect maths up to and including level 5 with a lot of Problem Solving type questions which will be aimed at determining how the child thinks, creates strategies, organises the processes and then completes the arithmetic involved.
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There will be algebra involved so as to determine whether the child has the ability to think abstractly and perform tasks in the language of mathematics. There will also be the standard decimals, percentages, fractions, ratio, shapes, triangles, perimeter, area, co-ordinates, graphs, averages etc..
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The English is going to want to be able to extract information from a written piece, know what are various forms of language such as pronouns, adverbs, statements, clauses, verbs, nouns (and the various types) etc as well as being able to create a story or factual passage which has a start a middle and an end, has good use of punctuation, uses languages to a high level, knows how to use the various skills such as paragraphing, speech, inference etc..
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What does that mean for my child?
.The work usually completed here at jobelltutoring will to a large extent remain the same with as strong emphasis on the mathematics through instruction, play and puzzles as well as raising the standards of the English through the Verbal Reasoning Manual AND, and this is a change already in force, an introduction of a stronger English/literacy element which will hopefully support what is being done in schools to raise the standards in this particular area. As you will see from some of the work created by students from last year, standards are high and the use of language, grammar and punctuation very important too.
.If you are worried about your child's standards in English, there are a few very good books around which can support them. A very good one is by Bond and it is the 10 Minute tests in English. I like this one because it is just 10 minutes and then they are free of it. They could do one every alternate day and 10 minutes wouldn't make a very big hole in their time; I am aware of how hard it is to get children to do these tests especially English when they feel they aren't very good at it, but find a way even if to start with you do it together........some of it will be going in as long as you resist the temptation to do it all. There is a saying,
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"salience times repetition equals learning"
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Sadly when the salience is low, the repetition has to be high and when it comes to English, this is often the case.
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