Deputy Headteacher Update
The national average is the average score determined from all children in schools in the country who administered the test. A score or percentage is then usually used to represent this average. This year for Norwegian (Lesing) and maths the National average is skalapoeng 48 and for English it is skalapoeng 50. Please note this can change annually.
Skalapoeng 50 = National Average for English
Skalapoeng 48 = National Average for Norwegian (Lesing)
Skalapoeng 48 = National Average for Maths
This means that there are a range of schools across the country who performed lower than the national average, and a range of schools who performed higher. So any score above skalapoeng 48 or 50 (depending on which test) is higher than the national average, and any score below 48 or 50 is lower than the national average.
A quick guide to understanding the AIS Grade 5 National Test information
(06th March 2019)
The national average is the average score determined from all children in schools in the country who administered the test. A score or percentage is then usually used to represent this average. This year for Norwegian (Lesing) and maths the National average is skalapoeng 48 and for English it is skalapoeng 50. Please note this can change annually.
Skalapoeng 50 = National Average for English
Skalapoeng 48 = National Average for Norwegian (Lesing)
Skalapoeng 48 = National Average for Maths
This means that there are a range of schools across the country who performed lower than the national average, and a range of schools who performed higher. So any score above skalapoeng 48 or 50 (depending on which test) is higher than the national average, and any score below 48 or 50 is lower than the national average.
So with regards to an international school with English as the language of instruction you should expect to see the English result significantly above the national average and significantly above Norwegian schools. Norwegian schools teach English only 8-10% of the weekly timetable whereas it will be approx 90% of the timetable in an international school.
An opposite picture should emerge with regards to Norwegian. In an international school perhaps 8-10% of the weekly curriculum is taught in Norwegian as opposed to 90% of the curriculum in Norwegian schools. You should therefore expect an international school to perform significantly lower in Norwegian than Norwegian schools and struggle to match the national average of 48 skalapoeng.
The maths national test is also conducted in Norwegian and is just as much about Norwegian reading comprehension as it is about numeracy.
It is also important to consider how many students in a school year group take the national test. At AIS 40/40 students completed the English test and 39/40 completed Maths and Norwegian test. If you hover over a school's results on the skoleporten website you can find out how many students took the test for each school- it will say Antall followed by a number. For example, Antall:11. In such cases there are couple of scenarios to consider: i) there are only 11 students in the class; ii) only 11 students were selected to take the test.
Asker International School’s 2018 results are:
English AIS had 66 skalapoeng - 16 points higher than the national average.
Norwegian AIS had 49 skalapoeng - 1 point higher than the national average
Maths AIS had 56 skalapoeng - 8 points higher than the national average
A number of factors could impact on single year results. It is often advisable to read these with an understanding of a school’s context. Below are just a few of the factors that could influence a school’s single year performance in the national tests:
number of students with special needs in the year. Imagine an assumption that a school with a significantly high number of students with reading difficulties is judged on the national average despite their students scoring above expectation..
a year group which has received a number of new students that don’t understand English and/or Norwegian.
many students in the year group have a home language that is not Norwegian and/or English.
a number of students are from a background that home learning support is difficult
the majority of students in the class were born in the last few months of the academic year.
Therefore, three to five year trends are perhaps a better way to understand a school performance in the national tests.
Asker International School’s 3 year trend results against the national average are:
Even with 3-5 year trends - context is still important. Below are two possible school contexts:
School A serves a community where the majority of students home language is that of the country; many students have one or two parents educated to degree level with space in the home to learn and who provide their children with cultural capital. Parents can also afford to support their children by sending them to extra curricular activities in the evening and at weekends: music, skiing, or chess. The family are aspirant in their mindset. The children expect to go to university.
School B serves a community where the majority of the students have a home language different to the language of the country. Many students have never had a university graduate in the family. Many parents try to avoid engaging in home learning from fear of exposing their own inadequacies. Many parents can’t afford to provide extra curricular support for their children or lack access to it.
School B faces a much more challenging education context year on year simply due to the community it serves.
I hope this has been of some help in understanding the published National Test data.
An opposite picture should emerge with regards to Norwegian. In an international school perhaps 8-10% of the weekly curriculum is taught in Norwegian as opposed to 90% of the curriculum in Norwegian schools. You should therefore expect an international school to perform significantly lower in Norwegian than Norwegian schools and struggle to match the national average of 48 skalapoeng.
The maths national test is also conducted in Norwegian and is just as much about Norwegian reading comprehension as it is about numeracy.
It is also important to consider how many students in a school year group take the national test. At AIS 40/40 students completed the English test and 39/40 completed Maths and Norwegian test. If you hover over a school's results on the skoleporten website you can find out how many students took the test for each school- it will say Antall followed by a number. For example, Antall:11. In such cases there are couple of scenarios to consider: i) there are only 11 students in the class; ii) only 11 students were selected to take the test.
Asker International School’s 2018 results are:
English AIS had 66 skalapoeng - 16 points higher than the national average.
Norwegian AIS had 49 skalapoeng - 1 point higher than the national average
Maths AIS had 56 skalapoeng - 8 points higher than the national average
A number of factors could impact on single year results. It is often advisable to read these with an understanding of a school’s context. Below are just a few of the factors that could influence a school’s single year performance in the national tests:
number of students with special needs in the year. Imagine an assumption that a school with a significantly high number of students with reading difficulties is judged on the national average despite their students scoring above expectation..
a year group which has received a number of new students that don’t understand English and/or Norwegian.
many students in the year group have a home language that is not Norwegian and/or English.
a number of students are from a background that home learning support is difficult
the majority of students in the class were born in the last few months of the academic year.
Therefore, three to five year trends are perhaps a better way to understand a school performance in the national tests.
Asker International School’s 3 year trend results against the national average are:
English
|
Norwegian
|
Maths
| |
2016
|
17 points above
|
No official data
|
5 points above
|
2017
|
17 points above
|
1 point below
|
10 points above
|
2018
|
16 points above
|
1 point above
|
8 points above
|
Source: https://skoleporten.udir.no
School A serves a community where the majority of students home language is that of the country; many students have one or two parents educated to degree level with space in the home to learn and who provide their children with cultural capital. Parents can also afford to support their children by sending them to extra curricular activities in the evening and at weekends: music, skiing, or chess. The family are aspirant in their mindset. The children expect to go to university.
School B serves a community where the majority of the students have a home language different to the language of the country. Many students have never had a university graduate in the family. Many parents try to avoid engaging in home learning from fear of exposing their own inadequacies. Many parents can’t afford to provide extra curricular support for their children or lack access to it.
School B faces a much more challenging education context year on year simply due to the community it serves.
I hope this has been of some help in understanding the published National Test data.
You may also wish to read the following in connection with this document:
http://teachingpundit.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-benefits-of-serving-two-masters.html
https://skoleporten.udir.no/rapportvisning/grunnskole/laeringsresultater/nasjonale-proever-5-trinn/stiftelsen-asker-international-school?orgaggr=p&kjonn=a&sammenstilling=1&fordeling=2
Should you have an queries regarding the national tests please do not hesitate to request a face to face chat.
Kind regards,
Mark Cringle
Service & Action MYP
(Jan 2019)
(Jan 2019)
As an IB school, AIS emphasises the importance of responsible, thoughtful attitudes towards our local, national and global communities. AIS aims to offer all students the opportunity and the power to choose their actions, and to reflect on them in order to make a difference to themselves, and the world.
Every student in the MYP is required to complete service and action in each year of the IB programme. The requirements also change each year - with an increase in expectation as students advance through the school.
To help students navigate through this component of the programme students in Grades 8-10 are allocated a mentor at the beginning of each year. The role of the mentor is to offer support and guidance to students, and to monitor student progress.
Grade 6
Students must engage in curriculum based service learning (teacher driven) 3 times throughout the year. Example: Under 8’s Day; Peacelympics; Chinese New Year.
Grade 7
Students must engage in:
1 curriculum based service learning (teacher driven) 3 times throughout the year, and: 1 Community based form of service learning. 5 hours min (student driven)
or
2 School community based forms of service learning: 2 and a half hours min (student driven)
Grade 8
1 curriculum based form of service learning (teacher driven) 3 hrs min
1 school community based form of service learning (student driven) 5 hrs min
1 community based form of service learning (student driven) 5 hrs min
Grade 9 & Grades 10
1 curriculum based form of service learning (student driven) 3 hrs min
1 community based form of service learning (student driven) 5 hrs min
1 school community based form of service learning (student driven) 5 hrs min
As a consequence, the students are making a massive difference to the organisation and running of the school, and hopefully to the lives of others outside of the school. This year's in school service has included:
- Maintaining the first aid kits
- Waste Paper collection
- SFO sports activities
- Lunch time games for PYP students
- Counting the house points each week
- Disseminating the fruit and milk
- Road safety stewards at the end of the school
- Community based service has included:
- Visiting homes for the elderly to provide conversation
- Publication of exercise and dietary plans
- Work for a local charity
- Organising games days for different sectors of the local community
- Performances at a local school
- Additional report courtesy of Mr Andrew
Friday 9th November 2018 stands as an important milestone in the school's journey. A journey that is as much about developing caring and compassionate humans as it is about academic progression. On this day, the Grade 8 students showed just how amazing young people can be.
To start with, the students were introduced to a service based PE unit focused on active participation for everybody. Students looked at keywords such as modified, motivation, differentiation and inclusion when unpacking the unit. Grade 8 then contacted a local organisation with a cohort of adults with special needs. Mr Andrew initially met with the organisation (on the students behalf) to begin the collaboration process of building relationships and breaking down barriers. Students began researching the different forms of special needs that some of the adults have, and began to consider suitable games. Once the games were chosen, the students trialled their games with one another; offering peer feedback as a means of improving the output.
Closer to the event the students visited the organisation to meet the participants. Some students were quite nervous and scared due to their lack of contact with adults with special needs. Their initial thoughts soon disappeared as they were met with gentle hearts and huge smiles. Grade 8 learnt that the adults in the centre produce a variety of goods that are sold in a local boutique. Some of the areas that the adults worked in were centred around ceramics, woodwork and even a fabric section. The day finally came for the students to run their games stations. They met the adults with a firm handshake and a big smile before introducing themselves and explaining the instructions. This was also a great opportunity for the students to practice their Norwegian as this was the language of instruction.
The participants enjoyed a range of activities such as ten pin bowling, tic tac toe and marco polo.
A great day was had by all and the participants request to return again next year is a credit to the efforts of the Grade 8 students.
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