HeadStart Primary Scaled Score English Reading Comprehension Tests

Scaled Scores Year 3

Standardising the reading comprehension assessments

HeadStart Primary has conducted an extensive analysis, using a national sample of pupils for
each assessment test, in order to produce a set of scaled (standardised) scores.

Standardising test scores fulfils two primary purposes:

(1) It enables a child's performance to be compared to the performance of other children

taking the same test.

(2) It enables comparisons of performance across a range of tests, irrespective of

individual test difficulty or number of questions etc.

The standardisation process

The test raw scores have been standardised so that the mean average of the sample is 100,
with a standard deviation of 15. The standard deviation is the measure of the spread of scores
away from the mean; usually in educational assessments, this is set as 15 for one standard
deviation. Normal distribution suggests that around 68% of scores are within one standard
deviation (i.e. 85-115).

Linking the scaled scores to HeadStart tracking stages

See note on page 2 regarding
the 'standards' below.
Scaled Score Stage
0 - 75 Emerging
Working towards the
expected standard
76 - 95 Developing

96 - 100 Progressing
Working within the
expected standard
101 - 112 Secure

113 - 122 Exceeding

Working above the
expected standard
123 + Exceeding with greater depth

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Using the assessments and scaled scores to track progress

The HeadStart assessment and tracking system is intended to be used to support teacher
assessment strategies and professional judgement.

It is important to note that the HeadStart assessments and scaled scores cannot be directly
correlated to national curriculum test scaled scores, for the following reasons:

• HeadStart assessments test the objectives of the national curriculum and are intended for
diagnostic purposes as well as summative purposes.

• HeadStart assessments also test the reading skills (content domains) as listed in the
English KS1 & KS2 Reading Test Framework documents. (These documents are used by
SATs reading test designers to design the SATs tests.)

• HeadStart assessments follow the standard deviation of 15, giving a range of scores from
<70 to 120+. SATs scaled scores range from 80 - 120.

• HeadStart assessments identify a range of scaled scores within an expected band either
side of a mean score of 100. SATs scores identify the expected score of 100.

NB: The stage boundaries and 3 'standards' in the table on page 1 are intended as a
guide to children's progress. They should not be interpreted in the same way as a
scaled score of 100 is used as 'standard met' in KS1 & 2 SATs.

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2
 Year 3 - HeadStart English Reading Comprehension TEST C

Raw Score Scaled Score Raw Score Scaled Score

0 61 26 94
1 62 27 95
2 63 28 97
3 64 29 98
4 66 30 100
5 67 31 101
6 68 32 102
7 70 33 103
8 71 34 104
9 72 35 106
10 74 36 107
11 75 37 108
12 76 38 110
13 77 39 111
14 79 40 112
15 80 41 114
16 81 42 115
17 83 43 116
18 84 44 117
19 85 45 119
20 86 46 120
21 88 47 121
22 89 48 123
23 90 49 124
24 92 50 125
25 93

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