Year 6 pupil performance in writing is expected to improve, according to assessment organisation No More Marking.

Sats results will be published on 10 July. Last year saw an improvement in performance compared to the previous year. According to a year-on-year writing comparison, using comparative judgement to measure the improvement between Year 6 writing in 2017 and 2018, the organisation found there was a “statistically significant, but small” improvement.

“On average, pupils in Year 6 in 2018 have done better in writing than those in 2017,” said a spokesperson. “The improvement is statistically significant, but small - about 0.1 of an effect size. This translates to the following improvements in national standards: One percentage point more pupils achieving the expected standard, four percentage points more achieving greater depth.”

If the prediction is correct, than the percentage of pupils achieving the expected standard will increase from 76 per cent in 2017 to 77 per cent in 2018, and the percentage achieving greater depth will increase from 18 per cent last year to 22 per cent this year.

Comparative judgement

The results are based on the comparative judgement, which works by getting teachers to compare two pieces of writing, of over 5,000 portfolios of writing from 2017 and 2018 Year 6 pupils in 57 schools in England.  No More Marking compared the portfolios of writing of 2,646 Year 6 students in 2017 with 2,657 from this year.