Information for Parents
Please note: If your child is in Year 4, 5, 6 or 7 then you should receive a leaflet of information from their school at some stage during Autumn 2010. This will be either A Parents’ Guide to InCAS – 2010 or Treoir do Thuismitheoirí ar InCAS - 2010 for those whose children are being educated through the medium of Irish.
Assessing your child with InCAS in Years 4 to 7
As your child develops and moves up through primary school teachers regularly monitor their strengths, progress and areas for improvement to ensure that they learn as effectively as possible. This monitoring can take many forms, including teacher observation, marking class work and home work as well as a wide variety of more specific assessments.
Some of the assessments that pupils across Northern Ireland, who are in Year 4, 5, 6 or 7, will be expected to complete this year are InCAS Reading and General Maths. InCAS stands for Interactive Computerised Assessment System and was designed by the Centre for Evaluation and Monitoring (CEM) at Durham University.
InCAS assessments are carried out in the autumn term (September to December). They focus on Reading and General Maths as good progress in these areas is key to helping your child make progress generally.
Before they sit the InCAS assessments the children are given instructions by the teacher and also provided with some sample questions within the computer programme. In addition, an animated character called Inky is available to explain what they need to do. You can view these Inky Pupil Demos yourself for more information if you would find it useful.
What information will I be given about my child’s InCAS assessments?
Your child’s teacher will give you their InCAS Reading and General Maths Age for this year in writing.
The InCAS Reading and General Maths outcomes are not intended to be used to compare children with each other but to encourage you and your child’s teacher to work together to support their learning as effectively as possible.
Remember that in addition to the areas assessed by InCAS, your child’s other skills, experiences and even their attitude contributes to their overall reading and mathematical performance. You may find it useful to discuss these with your child’s teacher.
You will have an opportunity to discuss your child’s InCAS outcomes as well as other aspects of their progress with their teacher at a parent meeting, which will happen during the autumn term.
InCAS assessments are not for any purpose related to the transfer of pupils from primary to post-primary school.