National+Standards+Discussion+Page

Thoughts on the John Hattie and National Standards video I have read a few things of John Hatties lately, the AToL team keep abreast of his stuff quite well. I agree that an independent review needs to be put in place and honoured - we tell schools they need to review everything they put in place to assess it's value - this is no different. I have always been surprised that on the whole schools and principals took this big event lying down and with little resistance and wonder if it is because the INTENT - to improve learning and teaching - can't be argued with. However there needs to be a big change in thinking - that the standards are there to support areas where improvements may be needed, not to test failure nor to be a ceiling on learning. Interestingly Prof. Hattie was initially big supporter of these and also has 2 tests - one at year 7 and one at year 11 in his AsTTle programme that are set up like general benchmark assessments (reading and maths) for these levels. J9