[senco-forum] Monitoring pupil progress

Thanks ruth.  You are absolutely right as usual.

  Amanda
  Secondary SENCO
  Cornwall

Ruth Newbury <rmnewbury at ntlworld.com> wrote:
  I have tried every form of recording and reporting progress known to man and 
I have yet to come up with something that will work in an appropriate way 
for a blanket approach for a school.

Following advice from "the experts" we had one year where each year nine 
student working with me had 39+ targets - three from each department - plus 
pastoral and behavioural ones - followed by a year of3 literacy - three 
numeracy - 3 behavioural etc.

I have had short term targets - ones set by the statementing officer - you 
name it - I have probably tried it.

What works best - effective planning for lessons, that takes in the time of 
day - where they have just come from - and what they will go on to later.

Few children can cope with long term targets - they look like Mount Everest 
to them.

I am very keen on very short term targets for children - written in a box at 
the top of their work - one from me - or oncfe they have got used to how 
they will work for me - and other teachers - targets that are set by them.

Students should be "trained" to set their owm targets - and both staff and 
students should be able to mutter the mantra for successful targets - that 
they should be achieveable and show continuity and progression.

I've always provided inspectors etc - with what I can only describe as a 
mountain of paper - that to be frank - they flicked through - and never 
really read them.

Any teacher is monitoring progress - just by being with them and working 
together - and at the end of a session - they can say wether or not they 
achieved their desired result.

You cannot measure confidence - smiles - whatever - with a nice graph that 
shows your value added componant.

I'm afraid that my response is rather like the Jesuits - I don't get 
children ages from 0 - 7 - but give them seven years of effective 
provision - they will invariably have swum away from you well before then - 
and be able to cope on their own with the effective tools that you have 
taught - or made sure are available for them.

I am convinced that 90% of those IEPs that are so timeconsumingly and 
lovingly written - are a waste of paper.

Any student will be able to tell you just how well they are doing - and why 
that is - if they are confident enough to tell you the truth - and not just 
what they think you want to hear.

And as for those chances graphs tht are now so often used for target 
setting - the students I had did not want to be presented with the 
information that students like them had a 2% cgance of getting an A* grade 
at GCSE! "I work my socks off - I hope that I will get a D - and you tell 
me that if I work much harder - 2 out of a hundred people like me will get 
an A*!!!! They are either lazy gits or the examiner was having a brainstorm 
when they marked the papers was a general consensus!

Students should set their targets - staff should show them the best way to 
achieve them - and the student should record them in their personal 
planners!

And OFSTED can read the planners!

Regards

Ruth 

Amanda
Secondary SENCO
Cornwall