Before we begin, it is worth noting that regardless of which EYFS curriculum you follow, the data entry method is the same. However, if you are using a third party (e.g. Birth-5) and your areas of learning do not align with the Early Learning Goal, there is a separate method for entering this at the end of the year. You will fill instructions for this in the bottom section of these instructions.
In order to enter your summative data for EYFS, simply go to the Summative Assessment page in the 'Data Entry' section under the 'Foundation Stage' header of the left-hand menu, and fill out the following criteria:
- Year Group: Select the cohort of children you wish to enter data for.
- Academic Year: Select the year of information you wish to view. This is especially useful for viewing historic data. Eg. If you select Year Group: Reception and Academic Year: Nursery, you will see your Reception cohort’s Nursery data. When entering data, please make sure that the Year Group and Academic Year are the same.
- Assessment No: Select the term you wish to enter, this is dependent on the school preferences. Please note that ‘First Assessment’ is a normal baseline, and ‘Reception Baseline’ is for entering numerical data like standardised/scaled scores.
- Last Assessment: This option will only appear when entering data for ‘Assessment 1’. It allows you to select which assessment point you would like to use when comparing with previous data.
- Library: This option will only appear for year groups assessed on the old EYFS framework. Please select the appropriate library for the data you wish to enter.
- Area of Learning: Pick the area of learning you wish to enter. You can select any area individually, or select overall for the most efficient data entry method and have all 17 areas on one page.
- Go: Press 'go' to get your Data Entry table.
Colour Coding
Due to the number of assessment standards/bands in Early Years, and the different curriculums currently in use, iTRACK has a broad array of colours to help differentiate the attainment data. Please see the colour coding example of our default setup below (although yours may vary depending on your preferences/setup):
How to Input Data
There are various ways to enter data, using the following options:
- Quick Assign allows you to quickly assign a band only.
- Band Assign allows you to assign a band with a sub-score.
- Full Assign allows you to view and tick off individual statements/objectives for each of the development bands.
- Flood-filling allows you to enter data really quickly for numerous children/areas of learning at the same time, and can be used across a number of the assign modes above.
Quick Assign
Step 1: When the QUICK ASSIGN option is selected at the top, simply click on the cell corresponding to the pupil and area of learning you wish to enter. See the below example:
Step 2: Select the band you wish to enter from the pop up.
Step 3: Your data has now been entered, repeat this process for all pupils/components.
Band Assign
Step 1: When the BAND ASSIGN option is selected at the top, simply click on the cell corresponding to the pupil and area of learning you wish to enter. All the bands will pop up along with all the sub-scores.
Step 2: Hover over the appropriate band, and then select the sub-score you wish to enter. Please note that by default, the 3 sub-levels in iTRACK are named ‘some/most/all’. These can easily be changed by an administrator to meet the school requirements using the ‘School Settings’ page in the 'Administration' section of the left-hand menu;
Step 3: Your data has now been entered, repeat this process for all pupils/components.
Full Assign
The Statutory Framework makes it quite clear that:
“Practitioners must consider the entirety of each ELG and avoid splitting the descriptor into sections and ticking them off when making the decision. To create the most accurate picture of the child's overall embedded learning a holistic view of the descriptor should be taken.”
Whilst that is the case, it is recognised that some schools may wish to refer to some form of progress record for individual statements of the curriculum. Full assign is one way to do this, although the Formative Assessment page below this one is much more efficient.
Step 1: When the FULL ASSIGN option is selected at the top, simply click on the cell corresponding to the pupil and area of learning you wish to look at the objectives/statements for.
Step 2: Hover over the age band to locate the appropriate curriculum, then click on the objective(s) your pupil has completed. The tick is a ‘yes/no’ option, and therefore recording the tick implies that the child has met that objective.
Step 3: Ticking an objective will not automatically apply the band score, there are no calculations in the background. They are there to record your objectives and help you make a judgement, not to make them on your behalf. So if you require it, the next step is to select the appropriate band from above the objective grid.
Step 4: Once you select the band, your objectives have been recorded and your data has been entered. Repeat this process for all pupils/components.
Flood-Filling
This is the quickest way to input data. Examples of when this may be useful is if you have a pupil who is ‘expected across the board’, or when a group of children are ‘all working at expected’.
Vertical Flood-Filling (numerous children at the same time)
You can use the ‘allocate selected pupils’ boxes to select which children you would like to enter data for. If you have a number of pupils working at the same standard, simply tick the children you would like to input for and then enter data for one of those pupils. That piece of data will be duplicated for all the children you had ticked, and works for quick, band and full assign methods.
It is imperative that you unselect the children afterwards, using the ‘Select All Pupils’ tick box at the top in the grey header.
Horizontal Flood-Filling (numerous areas of learning at the same time)
You can use the ‘apply select assessment to all components’ tick box at the top right hand side if you have a pupil working at the same standard in all the areas of learning. Once that box is ticked, simply enter a piece of data for your pupil in one of the areas, and it will be duplicated into all the areas of learning. This will only work for the quick and band assign options.
Again, it is imperative that you untick this box afterwards if you no longer wish to flood-fill.
Vertical and Horizontal Flood-Filling (numerous areas for numerous children)
Both of the above steps can be completed at the same time. If you have a number of children who are all working at the same standard in all areas of learning, tick the ‘apply selected assessment to all components’ box and use the ‘allocate selected pupils’ column to tick the children. When you enter a piece of data, it will be duplicated both horizontally and vertically. This option will only work for the quick and band assign options.
You MUST remember to de-select both options afterwards. If you are acting fast, please be sure to act carefully.
Made a Mistake?
iTRACK saves lives as you go, so every click and every tick will automatically be saved. This is to prevent data being lost. Therefore, if you make a mistake and enter the wrong data you can do either of the following:
- Follow the same procedures above, but select 'no result'. This will remove the data from that cell.
- Follow the procedures above on any cell that includes wrong data, and simply select the correct information. This will overwrite the wrong data with the correct one.
Getting the Most Out of the Page
You can use the following key which help you understand how to utilise all iTRACK's main features, to help you get the most out of the page:
If this image appears too small, you can find a downloadable version attached at the bottom of this article.
1) Open Filters
This enables users to select sub-groups of children using Attributes (e.g. Gender, Pupil Premium, SEND, Autumn/Spring/Summer born etc.) These are available to be in the Manage Attributes section if you wish to add any of your own groups.
2) Hide Last Assessment
By ticking this box, your previous term’s data will appear in the table. This is great for a quick progress check at a glance. If you are entering data for Assessment 1, you can edit which term of data pops up here using the dropdown box at the top of the page called ‘Last Assessment’.
3) Apply Selected Assessment to all Components
As discussed above, when the tick is displayed blue you can 'flood-fill horizontally'. Selecting the cross will remove this function.
4) Input Mode Selector
As discussed above, here are your 'Quick, Band and Full' method selection buttons. Whichever options appears in white is the one currently in use.
5) Select Pupils Tick-boxes
This column is for flood-filling entering data vertically. The box at the very top is the 'select/deselect all pupils' box.
6) Free Form Column
Here you have the option to add a multi-purpose, customisable column for recording additional information. This must be enabled in your 'School Settings', and can be renamed for any purpose. In the case below, I have opted to give a quick behaviour grade/comment:
7) Sort Arrows
By clicking the arrow, it will sort your pupils into ascending order and then descending order if you click again. This is great for getting your intervention groups and higher attainers at either end of the table. In the above table, the heading above the pupil names is blue, because iTRACK’s default is to be organised into alphabetical order by pupil name. This button works the same for every column header.
8) Notes
If you click the little 'speech bubble' icon then an unlimited character textbox will pop up. This will stay with the pupil all the way through school, and can be used for any purpose the school sees fit. Documents can be uploaded using the ‘Upload notes files’ link (Word/Excel/PDF/Images), with a maximum of 20 files per child. Once you have made your notes, click the save button and the green tick will appear in the icon, indicating that the child has notes.
9) Percentages
All of your percentages are at the bottom of the page, and they calculate live as you enter data so they are always up-to-date. You may need to scroll to find this.
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How to Enter ELG Data Separately
If you want/need to enter the Early Learning Goal seperately from the rest of your internal data, you can do this at the end of the year. When you select 'end of year' as your 'Assessment No.', you will notice an additional dropdown appear called 'ELG Assessment'.
- Standard is your usual iTRACK data entry, with the areas of learning matching the curriculum you teach.
- ELG Assessment is a pre-set data entry point for the 17 Areas of Learning you need to record against for the Early Learning Goal.
Simply fill out the criteria as usual, select ELG Assessment and press 'go'. You will then see the table above, allowing you to enter a 'met/not met' value for each area per pupil. All the same rules apply as entering data on your standard library, including flood-filling. The key difference is there is no 'full assign' option, as this is simply for recording the official EYFS Outcome.
If your standard library lines up with the ELG, with the same 17 Areas of Learning, then you can fill this page out by simply running a conversion from your standard library (instructions for this can be found here). This data will then pull through into the 'EYFS Outcome' column in the later Key Stages as shown below: