SATs results - what do they mean?

[Katy May]

My daughter is 10 and in school yr 5. They have what she calls 'pretend SATs' and gets given a mark. This year she got a 4c grade in maths. I'm pretty sure that last year, in yr4, she got a 4b in maths. Does this mean her performance in maths has dropped over the year? And what should I do about it if that's the case?

[bird_81]

4C is lower than a 4b. There could be loads of reasons why her mark is lower then the previous year, was she nervous, unwell, or just out of sorts on the day? Talk to her teacher who will be able to tell you what sort of questions she struggled with and how to help her get better at them.

[kags]

A 4B in year 4 would be exceptionally good, are you sure this is what she achieved last year?
A 4B is what the Government expects an average child to achieve at the end of year 6, so it doesn't sound as if you have anything to worry about.
As bird_81 suggests, talk to the teacher who can reassure you.

[antiguru]

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearni ng/Schools/ExamsTestsAndTheCurriculum/DG_10013 041

I found this for you, which might help.

[Dinosaur2]

Quite frankly SATs are an unreliable method of assessing individual children's mathematical ability (they may say something about general trends in attainment but even this is doubtful). The tests are manipulated for political purposes and some teachers teach more closely to the tests than others (nothing to do with being good teachers or not). As a rule of thumb your daughter sounds as if she copes well. The most important question is whether she enjoys mathematics. Does she do mathematical puzzles for fun ? How is she on functional maths e.g. does she cope well with money, measurements, etc.? The worse thing that parents can do is get hung up on SATs.