The Performance Indicators in Primary Schools (PIPS) Project provides a suite of assessment materials designed to monitor pupil achievement and progress throughout the primary phase. From Year 1 onwards these take the form computerised assessment which are quick and easy to administer, and yet provide extremely reliable measures. Each assessment covers aspects of academic attainment, developed abilities and attitudes. In all year groups the measures of academic attainment take the form of a reading quiz and maths quiz. Developed abilities are ascertained using assessments of picture vocabulary and non-verbal ability.

Comparison of developed abilities with academic attainment provides a measure of a pupil’s concurrent value-added. Essentially this means how well is the child achieving compared to others of similar ability. This allows teachers to identify children that may well be underachieving in spite of relatively good attainment. Similarly it allows you to recognise achievements of low attaining pupils. In this way each PIPS test can be used as a stand-alone assessment. However, if the children are assessed annually or biannually their results can be linked together to provide a measure of progress over time. This is called prior value-added. Taken together concurrent and prior value-added provides a powerful record of individual achievement over time.

From the teacher’s perspective the assessments are straightforward to use. The feedback itself includes standardised scores for all the cognitive measures and grades for academic attainment, value-added and attitudes. These are presented in the form of charts and tables. In addition a range of services are provided via a secure web site including electronic feedback and data analysis software. Altogether PIPS provides a comprehensive summative assessment package with a variety of formative applications.