The standards files for reading, writing and mathematics are a central part of the assessing pupils' progress (APP) approach. Their main purpose is to exemplify standards by giving guidance accurate assessments, and acting as a resource and reference point for teachers:

• on assessing pupils' work
• on diagnosing pupils' strengths and weaknesses
• for training and professional development purposes.

Each standards file includes:

• examples of pupils' ongoing classroom work which have been assessed to exemplify the APP approach and show national standards
• commentary on the evidence at assessment focus (AF) level, which leads to a summative judgement on the pupils' work
• the assessment guidelines sheet that records both a profile of attainment across the AFs and a National Curriculum level for the attainment target (AT).

The files exemplify attainment from Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 at National Curriculum levels 2 to 5. The separate collections of work for reading and writing are provided so that the annotations and commentaries are presented as clearly as possible to focus on the evidence for each mode separately, and to help sharpen teachers' judgements accordingly. In some circumstances a collection of pupils' work could well provide evidence for the assessment of both reading and writing, but teachers will need to judge the two modes separately.