The Prim-Ed books, Maths Assessments, is a series of books which are loaded with focused one page assessments, relating to the specific learning outcomes for each class level (1st to 6th Class).
Each book is very comprehensively planned out with levelled assessments for the strands of Number, Algebra, Shape and Space, Measures and Data, relating to the specific class. This series of books directly links to the Irish primary school curriculum strands and objectives. The assessments are grouped into each strand and are organised in a spiral approach. There is a blank proforma assessment grid on which the teacher can record the learning progress of the class.
In the 3rd Class book, there are twenty-four assessments for Number alone, with additional assessments for Algebra, Measures, Data, Shape and Space. Each assessment builds on the previous objective/skill and further develops the concepts. The assessments are very simply administered and just one page long, each with a corresponding page of teacher guidance and answer sheet. The assessment itself is easily administered and very self-explanatory for all children. Many of the tasks are very visual and children could complete the tasks independently. Each page has a lovely self-assessment section at the bottom on which the child records how they rate their progress along with space for the teacher observations. Teacher correction is also extremely straightforward and provides great opportunities for teacher conferencing with the pupils about their progress. The assessment sheet fits well into a maths portfolio and allows for focused and direct planning of more targeted lessons to meet objectives. In addition to this, the assessments for each topic are very easily used as a basis for parent teacher conferences.
This is a fantastic scheme, packed with useful assessments and progression logs. There are so many ways a school could use the scheme, and it would be most effectively used as a whole-school approach and in conjunction with the SET team. We plan to dissect the books and pull all the assessments together based on strand (i.e. put all the number assessments together, measures assessments etc). These assessments will then be used to support the grouping of children based on their skill level and the areas which require additional opportunities for learning experiences. It is often difficult to identify the exact stage at which a child struggles with a topic, and using these assessments will provide a great tool for teachers to spot the bottleneck and then provide teaching experiences to move the child along their learning trajectory.
I would recommend a school to consider adding this scheme to their maths assessment resources and to carefully plan on how best to use the assessments to meet the needs of the children in their school. The scheme would really be beneficial to SET especially for setting up small groups based on levelled and similar needs.
Review by Joanna Culleton. You can buy Prim-Ed’s Maths Assessments here: https://www.prim-ed.ie/series/maths-assessment/