What is APP?
Assessing pupils’ progress (APP) is a national approach to assessment that equips teachers to make judgements on pupils’ progress. Developed by QCDA in partnership with the National Strategies, APP helps teachers to fine-tune their understanding of pupils’ needs and tailor their planning and teaching accordingly, by enabling them to:
track pupils’ progress
use diagnostic information about pupils’ strengths and weaknesses to improve teaching, learning and pupils’ progress
make reliable judgements related to national standards drawing on a wide range of evidence.
The APP subject materials for teachers include:
the APP handbook – a guide to using the materials and implementing the approach
assessment guidelines – for assessing pupils' work in relation to national curriculum levels. These provide a simple recording format providing assessment criteria for each of the assessment focuses in the subject
standards files – annotated collections of pupils’ day-to-day work that exemplify national standards at different levels. These help teachers reach consistent and reliable judgements about national curriculum levels.
APP has been greeted enthusiastically by teachers piloting the approach. They say it provides them with a more rounded profile of pupils’ achievements and that it has given them the confidence and ability to recognise how and when pupils are learning in a variety of classroom contexts.
APP materials are currently available for reading, writing and mathematics at key stages 1, 2 and 3 and for science and ICT at key stage 3. Materials are being developed for speaking and listening and primary science which will be published in 2010. APP for foundation subjects at key stage 3 will follow in due course.
