Schools in the UK and around the world have introduced the CAT4 test, which measures the four main types of student skills known to influence learning and achievement. CAT4 provides an independent perspective on students’ potential outcomes that can be used to identify and uncover a child’s true hidden potential. But what to do next once the assessment is complete? What do all of these numbers mean and how can we analyze them further to truly understand our
children better?And how do we know if we need to do something differently in class?
What does CAT4 do?
CAT4 provides a comprehensive profile of students’ abilities, allowing you to provide targeted support, provide the right level of challenge and make informed decisions about students’ progress and achievement goals. Provides detailed information on strengths and weaknesses in four main areas:
Verbal Reasoning – The ability to express ideas and arguments using words is essential in language-intensive subjects and is the most common skill most clearly reflected in traditional assessment .
Nonverbal Reasoning: Solve problems using pictures and diagrams; important skills in many school subjects, including math and science.
Spatial Reasoning: The ability to think in three dimensions and draw conclusions is necessary in many STEM disciplines, but is not easily measured using other data sets.
Quantitative Reasoning: The ability to use numerical skills to solve problems, with applications that extend well beyond mathematics.
Example
Name:
Ben
Verbal:
94
Nonverbal:
110
Spatial:
108
Quantitative:
98
Average Average:
103
As above, each child is given an age standard score (like the SATS) to determine their current ability in four areas: The average is 100.
By comparing these areas you can begin to assess each child differentiate your child and how you can adapt your lessons. To facilitate this, I have used various CAT4 trends to identify different “types” of children and identify simple teaching strategies that I can combine with them.
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Children with verbal deficit
How is it calculated?
Compare the verbal assessment with the non-verbal assessment. Look for a much lower verbal score (10 or higher).
Implications
These children have more potential than they can reveal due to the barrier to language comprehension. (Children with verbal deficits are students whose nonverbal level is higher than their verbal level – a significant difference of 10 indicates intervention or support.)
For example, a child with a verbal score of 90 and a nonverbal score of 110 has a verbal deficit of 20, meaning they may have difficulty communicating something they actually understand. English can be an additional language for this child.
However, if a child has a verbal score of 110 and a nonverbal score of 130, the deficit is still 20 but suggests otherwise. This child has above average verbal scores but is behind in cognitive thinking. They may simply have difficulty expressing their talent.
Adaptations
Both examples require linguistic support, but at very different levels. People with below average verbal skills need English support and development.Vocabulary cards, comprehension pictures and hands-on activities help your child show their true potential.
The second child, with a high verbal level but an even higher nonverbal level, has no problems understanding language, but his language level still falls short of his extremely high cognitive abilities. By developing thinking skills through justification and explanation, your child will be able to put what he or she understands into words. Asking teachers questions advances their understanding and helps them structure their answers. The question matrix will help you with this.
Masked Children
How is it calculated?
They are the opposite of children with verbal deficits. Compare your verbal score with your nonverbal score. Instead, look for a much lower nonverbal value!
Implications
They have high verbal scores but low nonverbal scores, meaning they can speak better than they might understand.Some politicians fall into this category. However, in the classroom, masked children are able to hide misunderstandings because their verbal skills mask their lack of understanding. In other words, they may not understand it, but they are good at pretending to understand it!
adaptations
This is less an intervention and more about raising awareness of children who exhibit this imbalance. As with all children, asking questions as a teacher will help you really find out if your masked children truly understand what you are teaching. Asking them why and letting them explain what they understand will make it easier for you to see where the misunderstandings lie.
Potential and Performance
How is it calculated?
Comparing your overall quantitative and verbal scores (performance) with your overall nonverbal and spatial scores (potential) will help you see how far your child is from reaching or exceeding his or her potential.They may still have barriers to learning. However, as a teacher, I need to know that once these barriers are removed, these children will be fully capable of achieving extremely high standards!
children with fuel and flight.
How is it calculated?
These children have a verbal score of 120 or more and a nonverbal score of 120 or more.
Implications
These children are expected to be high achievers and need challenge and motivation in the classroom. You have a high verbal and non-verbal level. These are children who generally acquire new knowledge very quickly. You have the linguistic and cognitive skills to achieve excellent performance very quickly. They are generally able to justify, explain and reason because their speech corresponds to a logical understanding of various concepts.
Adjustments
These children need challenges. As a teacher, you can easily plan for these students by asking yourself, “If they are successful in this activity, what will they do next?” » Masterclasses in which the children struggle are probably best suited for these students have to solve, explain and justify. Developing self- and peer-assessment skills also ensures that they are continually asked about how they can develop and improve. If you give the Fuel and Fly children
leadership roles, they can also teach the other children in the class.
How is it calculated?
Compare the child’s quantitative score with the spatial score. It is ideal that the child is balanced. However, some children have an imbalance between their understanding of numbers and shape/space.
Implications
Low quantitative and high spatial suggest that the child learns best when using specific resources to understand mathematical concepts.However, a high quantitative value and a low spatial value mean that the child will have an easier time learning abstract concepts (e.g. adding columns) but will have a harder time applying them to specific resources (e.g. base 10).
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Adjustments
This has a direct impact on teaching and learning. You can use your child’s strengths to develop their weaknesses. If your child prefers abstract (highly quantitative) math, teach him the abstract method and ask him to apply it using concrete pictures and materials such as counters.
Provide students with spatial biases with specific resources for learning new mathematical methods before asking them to apply them to abstract approaches.
When it comes to fractions, a child with a quantitative disposition will be more confident adding fractions through calculations, while a child with a spatial disposition will be much more confident in solving the problem using fake pizza slices or shapes cut into fractions.
Conclusion CAT4
tests can be very useful in identifying potential or gaps in a child’s understanding that might otherwise go undiscovered. The above child types are just some of the ways to analyze and check your CAT4 results. A combination of nonverbal and spatial cues can indicate how well a child understands scientific concepts such as light and sound, while quantitative and nonverbal data can also indicate how easily a child will interpret data and graphics.
It is also useful to discuss the results with your children and ask them whether they think they would prefer other learning methods.Do I agree with the results or not? Including children in the results can help differentiate results because children can make their own decisions about what they learn. Additionally, they can be informed that their CAT4 scores can improve so they can practice developing the weaker areas of their CAT4 scores! Unleash your growth mindset! No judgment should limit your child or tell them they can’t achieve something!