Interim Assessments – where’s the evidence?

Earwig Academic

Earwig Academic Timelines is a fresh and unique approach to bridge the gap between parents, teachers, students and OFSTED by creating timelines of achievement for every student.

Website: www.earwigacademic.com/ Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Images courtesy of author. Images courtesy of author.

A review of Earwig Academic by Umesh Patel, ICT education consultant.


This year, the Department of Education once again decreed that Interim Assessments for KS1 and KS2 had to be supported by teaching evidence: “To show that pupils have met the standard, teachers will need to have evidence that a pupil demonstrates consistent attainment of all the statements within the standard.” (Source: Interim frameworks 2017, www.gov.uk)

 Of course, the first question is ‘how much more work will this be?’ Well, there is an app that might prevent this from taking over your evenings. Earwig Academic lets you record the teaching evidence and then link it directly to your pupil assessments. No cutting and sticking, or even printing if you don’t want to.


So how does it work? Teaching staff capture teaching evidence using the Earwig app on a phone or a tablet (you can even use your own as no evidence is held on the device itself – eliminating safeguarding issues), and that evidence can be videos, photos, documents (just think how much more illustrative a recorded music recital is than a report on the recital). Then when you come to assess the pupil – far quicker than conventional paper assessments as it’s mostly box checking - you can link saved evidence to any topic within their assessment, and include as much or as little of it as you want.


For Interim Assessments this means all you have to do is copy the assessment figures for your school into RAISEonline. And the evidence, linked to the assessments themselves, will be there forever, ready for your next Ofsted inspection.


If you continue to record evidence and assess your pupils in this way, it could get rid of the void that levels left behind. For most of us it’s a lot easier when you can see all of the data laid out in front of you, and Earwig really does this beautifully - and you’ll save a fortune on highlighter pens.


It can be loaded with any framework your school uses, and all of the evidence is held securely in the cloud. So it won’t get lost or trigger emails from your ICT manager asking you to clear out your photos as the school server is creaking from the weight.


Their assessment tool is fairly new, and in my opinion, something really worth looking at. Alex Rayner, headteacher at Gibside School, Gateshead said:


“We have found Earwig’s impact on teachers’ workload huge, the benefits for showing progress for children monumental and it meets our needs brilliantly. The assessment framework has been modified to suit our children's individual needs, and we are confident using this as part of our daily practice. A marvellous tool that not only benefits teachers but impacts on children's learning - SUPERB!”


Now, Earwig can’t be used by individual teachers - it has to be the school’s decision to implement the software. But you could offer to trial the system in your classroom for Interim Assessments and see how you get on. It may just make your free time your free time again.


Visit www.earwigacademic.com or contact [email protected] for more information.

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