In December 2014 the Minister for Education and Child Development announced a number of new moves to strengthen student performance in our schools. One of these strategies is the Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT). There are two tests: PAT–R (Reading) and PAT–M (Numeracy).
Every student from Year 3 to Year 10 undertakes two of these tests, one in Numeracy and the other in Literacy. These tests are very different to the NAPLAN tests.
The main aim of PAT is to provide information to teachers on the strengths and needs of their students. PAT tests will provide teachers with objective information for setting realistic learning goals and planning effective programs. They will also provide students with information to inform their learning and goal setting, as well as providing our school with information to measure improvement during each year of schooling and over a number of years.
The key feature of the PAT Tests is that there is a common scale for comparison covering the range of year levels that allows progress to be tracked from year to year.
The PAT Tests are actually an assessment for learning. The results of the PAT tests are used by teachers for learning design.
The tests will indicate what skills students have mastered, what skills they are consolidating and even more importantly what skills they need to be educationally stretched.
At Golden Grove High School each Year 8 - 10 student will complete the test during an allocated class at some stage over the next few weeks.
The tests are online, multiple choice and each test will take approximately 40 minutes.
PAT M is being conducted in Mathematics classes for Years 8 - 10.
Pat R is being conducted in Humanities for Year 8, Science for Year 9 and English for Year 10.
The really important thing is that all students in Years 8, 9 and 10 must bring their laptops to school, fully charged every day to ensure that they will be able to access the PAT tests during the designated class. If parents could encourage students to bring their laptops to class, fully charged every day, that would be great.
Regards, Mike Meredith
Assistant Principal
