PATs: What are they and how can you use them?

Progressive Achievement TestsDesigned for the assessment of students in Years 4

to 10.English Department administers three tests: Reading

Comprehension, Reading Vocabulary, and ListeningScores from the comprehension and vocabulary tests

can be located on measurement scales. These scales allow progress to be measured from Year 4 to Year 10.

Scale scores can be converted into stanines, which compares student achievement to a national reference group.

But I don’t teach English or Social Studies… so why should I care?We need to know how our students will cope

with different texts.Comprehension: assesses a student’s ability

to construct meaning from text.Vocabulary – assesses a student’s ability to

understand the words they read.Listening – assesses recall and inference.

Ever wondered why a particular student never follows instructions? The PAT listening results might give you an idea why.

How have they been used at HHS lately?Results have been used for:

Identifying students who require learning support

Identifying students who could benefit from the peer reading programme

Diagnostic information by English teachers.Also……..????The goal is for all teachers to be comfortable

to access and use data to help with their knowledge of students.

A reading comp answer sheet looks like…

Understanding test resultsStaninesA stanine score shows the position of a

student’s achievement in relation to a representative sample of students in that year level.

Stanine 9 represents the top 4% of students in that year level.

Stanine 1 represents the bottom 4% of students in that year level.

StaninesStanine Percentile rank

range9 >96 Outstanding8 89-95 Above average7 77-88 Above average6 60-76 Average5 40-59 Average4 23-39 Average3 11-22 Below average2 4-10 Below average1 <4 Low

9CK 2009 PAT resultsListening Reading comp Vocab

Nick 8 7 8Matiu 5 3 3Jessie 8 9 7Scott 5 7 5Emily 9 9 9Tajuana 2 3 3Bevan 2 4 4Mac 4 5 5Danielle 3 4 4Taylor 6 5 5Bomy 4 6 5

Listening Reading comp VocabMonica 7 9 7Hannah 6 6 7Jacinta 3 4 4Elyse 4 5 6Jack 4 5 5Jon 8 8 6William 3 5 5Yuhao 4 5 3

Using the stanine resultsUseful when used in conjunction with other assessment data

and observations (eg class observations, previous reports…)

Grouping students with similar needs and abilities.

Identifying readers requiring support:Students who score stanine 3 and below for their year level require closer attention.

Selecting able readers for enrichment programmes:Stanines help us identify students whose scale scores indicate high achievement for their class level. (Stanine 8 and 9)

We can analyse test results in greater depth…The PATC scale or PATV scaleStudents comprehension and vocabulary raw

test scores are converted to a scale score. The score provides measurement on a scale that represent increasing sophistication in reading comprehension and reading vocabulary.

This allows us to see if students have improved from Year 9 to Year 10.

Sample of Reading Comprehension student report

What this report means…The student scored 92.5 on the scale. Constructing meaning: She can construct meaning from a

wide range of longer texts that involve unfamiliar topics and ideas, more complex grammatical structures and vocabulary.

Abstract information: She can unpack abstract information eg metaphorical language and rely much less on concrete examples in the text to support her understanding.

Inferences: She can link multiple pieces of information that may be far apart in a text to make inferences eg inferring character traits or themes implied by the author. When making inferences she is able to identify and reject competing information.

Stanine 9

This means she is in the top 4% of students in year 9.Easily copes with texts with a reading level of 15+.

Scale score 69Constructing meaning: She does this from a range of texts that involve less familiar topics, ideas, grammatical structures and vocabulary.Abstract information: She requires fewer concrete examples in the text to support her understanding.Inferences: She can link several pieces of information together that are separated in a text to make inferences.

Stanine 5This report shows the student is in the 40-59 percentile of Year 9 students. She could struggle with some reading tasks, especially those with a reading level of 15+. The amount of incorrect answers in the last three texts could indicate a reading speed issue.

Broad diagnostic usesPerformance on different types of texts

eg poem, narrative, explanation, recount, persuasive

Performance on different types of comprehension questions eg global inferences, finding information.

Rate of reading ie students who do not finish the test paper or

who performed consistently, then have most of the last few questions incorrect.

So is such in-depth analysis worth it?Cons:

Time and moneyPros:

In-depth information on a student’s ability to infer and find informationStudent’s ability to complete tasks on time

Give me your feedback over the next few weeks

So what next?Results will be in KAMAR around week 6.

Have a look, record the marks. Remember: At the most basic level, you are

dealing with numbers 1-9. 9 outstanding. 1 low.

Reading comp : how well they can understand what they read.

Vocab: How well they understand meaning of words.

Listening: How well they can listen.

Progressive Achievement TestsDesigned for the assessment of students in Years 4

to 10.English Department administers three tests: Reading

Comprehension, Reading Vocabulary, and ListeningScores from the comprehension and vocabulary tests

can be located on measurement scales. These scales allow progress to be measured from Year 4 to Year 10.

Scale scores can be converted into stanines, which compares student achievement to a national reference group.

But I don’t teach English or Social Studies… so why should I care?We need to know how our students will cope

with different texts.Comprehension: assesses a student’s ability

to construct meaning from text.Vocabulary – assesses a student’s ability to

understand the words they read.Listening – assesses recall and inference.

Ever wondered why a particular student never follows instructions? The PAT listening results might give you an idea why.

How have they been used at HHS lately?Results have been used for:

Identifying students who require learning support

Identifying students who could benefit from the peer reading programme

Diagnostic information by English teachers.Also……..????The goal is for all teachers to be comfortable

to access and use data to help with their knowledge of students.

A reading comp answer sheet looks like…

Understanding test resultsStaninesA stanine score shows the position of a

student’s achievement in relation to a representative sample of students in that year level.

Stanine 9 represents the top 4% of students in that year level.

Stanine 1 represents the bottom 4% of students in that year level.

StaninesStanine Percentile rank

range9 >96 Outstanding8 89-95 Above average7 77-88 Above average6 60-76 Average5 40-59 Average4 23-39 Average3 11-22 Below average2 4-10 Below average1 <4 Low

9CK 2009 PAT resultsListening Reading comp Vocab

Nick 8 7 8Matiu 5 3 3Jessie 8 9 7Scott 5 7 5Emily 9 9 9Tajuana 2 3 3Bevan 2 4 4Mac 4 5 5Danielle 3 4 4Taylor 6 5 5Bomy 4 6 5

Listening Reading comp VocabMonica 7 9 7Hannah 6 6 7Jacinta 3 4 4Elyse 4 5 6Jack 4 5 5Jon 8 8 6William 3 5 5Yuhao 4 5 3

Using the stanine resultsUseful when used in conjunction with other assessment data

and observations (eg class observations, previous reports…)

Grouping students with similar needs and abilities.

Identifying readers requiring support:Students who score stanine 3 and below for their year level require closer attention.

Selecting able readers for enrichment programmes:Stanines help us identify students whose scale scores indicate high achievement for their class level. (Stanine 8 and 9)

We can analyse test results in greater depth…The PATC scale or PATV scaleStudents comprehension and vocabulary raw

test scores are converted to a scale score. The score provides measurement on a scale that represent increasing sophistication in reading comprehension and reading vocabulary.

This allows us to see if students have improved from Year 9 to Year 10.

Sample of Reading Comprehension student report

What this report means…The student scored 92.5 on the scale. Constructing meaning: She can construct meaning from a

wide range of longer texts that involve unfamiliar topics and ideas, more complex grammatical structures and vocabulary.

Abstract information: She can unpack abstract information eg metaphorical language and rely much less on concrete examples in the text to support her understanding.

Inferences: She can link multiple pieces of information that may be far apart in a text to make inferences eg inferring character traits or themes implied by the author. When making inferences she is able to identify and reject competing information.

Stanine 9

This means she is in the top 4% of students in year 9.Easily copes with texts with a reading level of 15+.

Scale score 69Constructing meaning: She does this from a range of texts that involve less familiar topics, ideas, grammatical structures and vocabulary.Abstract information: She requires fewer concrete examples in the text to support her understanding.Inferences: She can link several pieces of information together that are separated in a text to make inferences.

Stanine 5This report shows the student is in the 40-59 percentile of Year 9 students. She could struggle with some reading tasks, especially those with a reading level of 15+. The amount of incorrect answers in the last three texts could indicate a reading speed issue.

Broad diagnostic usesPerformance on different types of texts

eg poem, narrative, explanation, recount, persuasive

Performance on different types of comprehension questions eg global inferences, finding information.

Rate of reading ie students who do not finish the test paper or

who performed consistently, then have most of the last few questions incorrect.

So is such in-depth analysis worth it?Cons:

Time and moneyPros:

In-depth information on a student’s ability to infer and find informationStudent’s ability to complete tasks on time

Give me your feedback over the next few weeks

So what next?Results will be in KAMAR around week 6.

Have a look, record the marks. Remember: At the most basic level, you are

dealing with numbers 1-9. 9 outstanding. 1 low.

Reading comp : how well they can understand what they read.

Vocab: How well they understand meaning of words.

Listening: How well they can listen.