The standards files enable classroom teachers to have a common understanding of different levels, and the nature and demands of the AFs that underpin each one.

There are different ways of using the standards files:

• to standardise judgements, that is, to ensure that teachers' judgements are in line with national standards before making assessments
• as a reference when assessing your own pupils
• to support moderation activity
• to clarify what it means to make progress
• to exemplify the APP approach.

Standardisation materials

To ensure that judgements made by teachers in your school are in line with national standards, standardisation training in school could use the materials in the following ways.

• Each teacher assesses one pupil, and agrees the level judgement with a colleague by comparing and contrasting the pupil's work with that of a standards file pupil at that level.
• Teachers assess the work of one standards file pupil, using a training version of the standards files with the references to level judgements removed, and then compare their judgements with those in the full standards file.
• Teachers copy one or two collections of work from their own pupils, without any annotation or commentary, and ask colleagues to identify pupils in the standards files to which each is closest in performance.
• Using two standards files at the same level (e.g. low 3 and secure 3) with all the annotations but without the assessment summaries or assessment guidelines sheets, groups discuss and agree which is low and which is secure.
• To clarify progress, look through all standards files that cover one identified AT to track the evidence for a particular AF or group of AFs.

Reference

When assessing your own pupils you should use the standards files for reference:

• as a benchmark when making periodic assessments
• to compare the performance of your pupils at a particular level with exemplars that have been assessed against national standards
• to check what constitutes sufficient evidence of attainment in an AF at a specific level
• to refine your judgement of what is typical of performance in adjacent levels, for example comparing two collections of work in the same AT, one on either side of a level borderline
• to check what progression in a particular AF looks like.

Supporting in-school moderation

Moderation activity generally involves a group of teachers reviewing a sample of class teachers' initial assessments, reconciling any disagreements and agreeing a final judgement. The standards files are essential tools in this process of bringing differing views to agreement in an evidence-based way that is in line with national standards. Disagreement can be resolved by recourse to the question: How does the pupil under discussion compare with pupil X or Y from the standards files?

Exemplifying the APP model

Subject leaders, and others running training sessions, could use selected pupil standards files to illustrate how the principles that underpin the APP model of periodic assessment operate in practice, or to illustrate particular aspects of assessment. Discussion could be focused, for example, on:

• attainment at a particular level in different year groups, or in a particular AF at different levels
• the range of potential evidence in using and applying mathematics or reading, for example how much evidence of attainment for a particular AF is required to support a judgement
• differences between evidence gathered from oral work and from writing
• whether it is harder to find evidence for some AFs than others
• identifying the next steps in teaching and learning for a particular pupil or groups of pupils.

Available standards files

Mathematics standards files

Reading standards files

Writing standards files