John Slavin Faculty Leader Raising Attainment

This was a brief introduction to how the CAT data that the school has for each pupil could be used to aid teaching and learning.

Initially, I explained that there are three batteries of tests: Verbal examples, Non-Verbal examples and Quantitative examples and briefly described examples of each. Pupil profiles are generated from this data and strengths / development needs can be identified.

Data for whole classes can be graphically represented in a Scatter graph to give a powerful visual interpretation of the results. The results can be analyzed with the help of the scatter diagram.

I have produced such scattergraphs for each class in S3/4 and will do likewise for S2 in time. If anyone is interested in looking at CAT data and how it can be used to highlight achievement / underachievement, Dr. Ben Doody and myself (John Slavin) are running a workshop on 07 September 2012. This will provide teachers with an opportunity to gain further experience of using this data and can hopefully aid the identification of the pupils’ needs.