Editor's view - All about the baseline!
Monday, February 23, 2015
I attended the debate on baseline assessment at the BECERA conference last week - very timely with the approved suppliers just confirmed and the race on to sign up enough schools to remain on the list.
Whatever the relative merits of the six schemes, the more fundamental questions are about, first, whether the implementation should be run in this way, and second, whether there should be a baseline check at all.
The competitive process, where each scheme has to sign up 10 per cent of schools by April, is putting huge pressure on suppliers, schools and local authorities. Heads report being swamped by lobbying from suppliers; schools and LAs are being told to choose now or risk their preferred scheme being knocked out. A vital decision is in danger of being rushed through without sufficient knowledge or evidence of what works best.
Schools are at liberty to pick any scheme, which could lead to a confusing mix across a local authority and surely won't be good for robust data. The proposed 'comparability' study, where some schools will try two schemes, is meant to screen out huge differences, but it is a depressing thought that those young children will be guinea pigs in this way.
There is an increasingly strong lobby against having a baseline at all. For the early years sector, one fear is that Reception will be annexed from the Early Years Foundation Stage. Then there is the interest of schools in having low baseline scores to make adding value easier (something openly alluded to by some heads).
As the baseline doesn't look back to earlier assessment, this could well be used as a stick to beat early years providers for 'failing' to do a good job.
