Introduction to CAT4 - 9 April 2014 Claire Dunn, International Manager
Aims • To provide an overview of CAT4 • To explain the benefits of using CAT4 • To provide an insight into ways the different reports can be used
GL Education: An introduction • Our assessments have been used by education, health and psychology professionals for over three decades . • Originally founded by the National Foundation of Education Research (NFER). • Today our resources are used in 100+ countries worldwide. • We lead literacy, numeracy and ability testing in the UK. • We have delivered over 7 million tests to pupils online.
PiM, PiE, NGRT CAT4 PASS
Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT) It’s impossible to compare curriculum -based tests when students enter the school from so many different countries and representing 46 different nationalities. Looking at cognitive ability levels the playing field. Glenn Hardy Head of the Primary School The British School of Manila Full case study
Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT) CAT4 can help us spot children who are not fulfilling their true potential…..once we have uncovered who they are, we can find a way to motivate and encourage them to do better Peter Spratling British International School of Cairo
What is ? • A newly standardised version of the well-established Cognitive Abilities Test • The most widely used test of reasoning ability, with over 1,000,000 students tested last academic year in the UK; • Helps you understand pupils’ developed abilities and likely academic potential • Includes indicator grades, including pointers for iGCSE and IB. • Does not rely on a pupil’s understanding of English • Instant results from the digital version help to assess immediately a new pupil’s ability and place them quickly in the correct stream.
What is the CAT philosophy? It is about….. • Basic ‘building blocks’ of learning - ability to recognise similarities, analogies, patterns and relationships; used to make sense of the world, whenever and wherever we learn ; • General, transferable skills, material is kept simple, clear and familiar with minimal specialised content or knowledge – context reduced; • Contrast with attainment tests which assess specific skills/knowledge that have been directly taught as part of the curriculum – context laden.
Why use CAT? • Reasoning scores are strongly related to success in school work and examinations and can give us a measure of ‘potential’ • People differ in their usage and preference for, reasoning with words, numbers or shapes - there will be a range in your classroom; • Reasoning ability is not fixed. Performance can, and does, change over time and it can be improved by appropriate interventions (‘Thinking Skills’ approaches, questioning, group discussion, metacognition, active learning, etc).
Non-verbal Verbal Spatial Quantitative Pure Pure Hybrid extreme extreme Verbal and Spatial are the ‘pure extremes’. 1. 2. Non-verbal and Quantitative are hybrid batteries, which use both Verbal and Spatial to some degree, with that degree depending on the student’s inclinations. 3. Verbal and Quantitative are more likely to be affected by schooling to a greater degree than Non-verbal and Spatial.
So what does CAT4 look like? Non-Verbal Reasoning Figure Classification Figure Matrices
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So what does CAT4 look like? Quantitative Reasoning Number Analogies Number Series
Quantitative Reasoning
So what does CAT4 look like? Verbal Reasoning Capability Verbal classification Verbal analogies
So what does CAT4 look like? Spatial Ability Figure Analysis Figure Recognition
Spatial Ability
The spatial learner in the classroom Traditional instruction: • Sequential • Concepts taught step-by-step • Depends to some extent on repetition to embed learning • Assessed under time conditions None of which will suit a visual-spatial learner!
The spatial learner Sequential Spatial Written or oral directions Visual directions Step-by-step learning Whole-to-part learning Benefits from repetition and Once acquired, learning revision sticks Computation Concepts Algebra Geometry Phonics Sight words May be late or later developer
Administration • Web-based • 3 x 45 minutes (2 x 50 minutes later in year) • Headphones required • Technical requirements – see sheet
Reports
CAT4 IB Diploma Programme Group report for teachers
Using the Group report for teachers to: Identify learning ‘bias’ via the spatial/verbal profiles.
Using the Individual report for teachers to: • Focus in on the extended profile description, or example with students with ‘biased’ learning profiles • Help set more challenging target levels for students, using the detailed breakdown of probabilities of future attainment indicators in national tests and exams
Using the Parent and Student reports to: Inform and encourage support for a ‘holistic’ home/school partnership approach to maximise student performance.
Using the Senior Leaders report for teachers to: Monitor intake ability against standardised data and to monitor any change over time and to set a Baseline for the ‘value added’ by the school Track and monitor special interest groups within the main cohort.
Summary of the possible uses of the CAT in school • To identify students, or groups of students, who may be underachieving and require additional support/stretching. • To inform target setting in national tests and public examinations. • To identify individual pupils’ cognitive strengths and weaknesses (Learning Profile) to inform teaching & learning. • To monitor intake ability against standardised data and to monitor any change over time and to set a Baseline for the ‘value added’ by the school.
Comparisons can also be made with other standardised tests … as they all use the same scale of standardised age scores Here are just a few examples of attainment tests: Curriculum tests - ‘Progress in Maths ’ series - ‘Progress in English’ Screening reading tests - ‘New Group Reading test’ Individual Reading tests: - ‘York Assessment of Reading for Comprehension ’
Using indicators for targets • The pupil has ‘ownership’ of their targets; • Sets high yet achievable targets (realistic expectations); • Quantifies the amount of challenge involved; • May be used strategically to identify students’ at borderline grades; • One piece of information to inform subject choice (specific aptitudes and interests can be far more important).
Contact us Customer support international@gl-education.com Claire Dunn claire.dunn@gl-education.com Katrina Carpenter (UK based) Katrina.carpenter@gl-education.com
Any questions? Thank you for listening
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