Pathways

How is reading comprehension assessed in Scotland?

Teachers use the Curriculum for Excellence as the basis for supporting a child’s development of their early literacy skills.

'As part of ongoing assessment, when a child is moving to P1, early years practitioners will provide information to the school on the child’s progress in learning, including their literacy. This will help the school assess the child’s progress and identify and address any additional support needs. Practitioners will be supported in their judgements of expectations and standards through moderation, and quality assured materials on the National Assessment Resource.'

In an inclusive environment, there is an expectation for 'all educational practitioners to be able to use appropriate assessment approaches in order to recognise then assist pupils with a range of literacy support needs.'

Scottish Government (2010) Literacy Action Plan: An Action Plan to Improve Literacy in Scotland. Edinburgh: Scottish Government, © Crown Copyright 2010.
https://www.gov.scot/publications/literacy-action-plan-action-plan-improve-literacy-scotland/pages/5/

The assessment is based on observations, evaluations, the child’s voice, professional dialogue with parents/carers and other professionals, and professional judgement. Judgement is based on knowledge of the child in a range of situations, including observations, interactions, guided group work, and what a child can consistently and independently do in a range of everyday situations.

Self and peer assessment are also important features. Education Scotland notes that in most primary schools:

'Self and peer-assessment are well established in most literacy and English language lessons. Where the skills involved in effective assessment have been modelled for children and they are given opportunities to practise and refine these skills, they have a much clearer picture of their progress.'

Education Scotland (2015) 3–18 Literacy and English Review. Edinburgh: Education Scotland, © Crown Copyright 2015. p19
https://education.gov.scot/improvement/self-evaluation/literacy-and-english-3-18-curriculum-review-impact-report

In June 2017, the Scottish Government published what it referred to as ‘benchmarks’ to ‘provide clarity on the national standards expected within each curriculum area at each level’ and to support consistent professional judgements.

The benchmarks set out progression from Early to Fourth Levels, showing what learners need to know and be able to do to progress through the levels. They are designed to be sufficiently detailed to communicate the standards expected for each level. The document advises that ‘They [the benchmarks] should not be ticked off individually for assessment purposes’. The benchmarks for literacy and English are here.

The evidence for judgements about progress and achievement is likely to come from:

• 'observing day-to-day learning within the classroom, playroom or working area;
• observation and feedback from learning activities that takes place in other environments, for example, or on work placements;
• coursework, including tests;
• learning conversations;
• planned periodic holistic assessment; and
• information from standardised assessment.'

Schools have to report on the achievement of curriculum levels for literacy (and numeracy) for national reporting. At the moment, they are not expected to report on CfE levels for any other areas of the curriculum for national purposes.

The government then reports on the CfE levels children have achieved in reading, writing, listening and talking (as well as numeracy), based on all P1, P4, P7 and S3 pupils.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/achievement-curriculum-excellence-cfe-levels-2018-19/

Useful link:

The Scottish National Standardised Assessments website provides a range of materials to support assessment of the Curriculum for Excellence.

https://standardisedassessment.gov.scot/