RS Assessment has recently launched a 3 step programme called ‘Shine’, which enables schools to assess students, identify those who need support and deliver effective interventions. I have been looking at feedback from schools using Shine, and have put together the top five benefits of using RS Assessment’s tests together with the Shine reports and interventions in place of other forms of assessment and intervention.
1. Saves time and workload
The first step is to assess your students. The digital versions of PiRA, PUMA, and GAPS are quick to administer and are auto-marked. Next, with regard to analysis of the results, the reports appear in MARK, MARK Plus and Shine almost immediately, and are easy to access and interpret for staff of all levels. Lastly, Shine saves time planning interventions. Let’s have a look at each step in more detail.
2. Identifies students with particular weaknesses or learning gaps
Firstly, the MARK Plus interactive reports give a quick and easy overview of which subjects the cohort or group is weakest in and which may need investigating first. You can also view and export the pupils who have not attained the expected standard in a given subject or strand.
Alternatively, you can launch the MARK report selector directly from the page, and quickly access the group intervention reports next to see further detail. Students are grouped according to their areas of weakness and their actual score is shown for the particular area of learning referenced.
For more in-depth information on each student, the next step is to view the individual intervention report for each one. This gives their scores for each content domain within the area of learning, as well as their overall standardised scores. Of course, you can also check the question level scores available in the gap analysis report in MARK for even more detail.
3. Supports teachers with targeted interventions
So, you’ve identified the students with learning gaps and what the gaps are. What next? Both the group and individual intervention reports link directly to relevant, targeted intervention resources, or ‘learning sequences’ presented in an easy to follow ‘Prepare, Do, Review’ format.
Having all this at their fingertips saves teachers and teaching assistants huge amounts of time, and ensures that all interventions are appropriately and specifically targeted. Have a look at an example here.
4. Enables easy tracking of intervention impact
Once an intervention has been undertaken, the MARK, MARK Plus and Shine reports make it very easy to establish the effectiveness, both for the group overall and the individual students. In MARK, progress reports can be exported for an intervention group, to see at a glance whether the group’s scores have improved.
In addition, the latest individual intervention report shows the scores for a student across the last three papers taken, making it very easy to see if an intervention is working for a particular student.
5. Children enjoy the interventions and engage with them
Lastly, I’d like to mention a benefit that isn’t related to the reports, but is a really important one; the feedback is that the children really enjoy the learning sequences! They include activities, games and quizzes that keep them interested and engaged. Children who are not usually confident to speak out can’t wait to join in. And all without any planning time required!
To read for yourself how real schools have found using Shine, have a look at these case studies or the Shine Impact in Schools study
Rebecca St John is a school assessment and performance data specialist and trainer passionate about helping schools and multi academy trusts use data effectively to improve outcomes.
Read her other two blogs about MARK and MARK Plus:
5 ways that MARK and MARK Plus can help your MAT
5 ways MARK and MARK Plus can help your school when there aren't any National Tests
Find out more about MARK and MARK Plus
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