Yellis
Help your students make good progress as they prepare for their (I)GCSEs
Quick Look
Age: 14-16 years
Sections: Vocabulary, Mathematics, Non-verbal ability
Average Duration: 50 minutes
Format: Digital (web based or download), Adaptive
Price: Click here for costs and sign up
Set realistic targets for your students for the new (I)GCSEs
Discover what your students know and can do – see where support is needed
Demonstrate progress with data that informs and supports your judgement
What is Yellis?
Yellis is an adaptive baseline assessment for students aged 14-16, that helps you understand what your students know and can highlight where they need support as they prepare for their GCSEs. Yellis also gives you value-added information to help you see the effect your teaching is having, and show the progress your students are making at school.
How it works
Yellis assesses three key areas of learning:
- Vocabulary – word fluency and understanding
- Mathematics – logical thinking, manipulating numbers and numerical concepts
- Non-verbal ability – ability to match patterns, reflections and rotations and apply visual intuition
Each student completes the assessment independently, working at a computer, meaning it can be carried out with as many students as you can cater for in one sitting.
Flexible and efficient: choose when to assess
Yellis is typically carried out at the start of the school year in September and takes approximately 50 minutes for each student to complete. Yellis can be completed by students in June/July at the end of the preceding school year to help with planning ahead of the new school year.
Easy to set-up and run
Each school has their own secure account through which they access the assessment and results. The assessment can be completed online using the secure web shortcut, or downloaded to the local network or computer. We provide step by step guidance to help you set-up and run the assessment.
Results are available to download from the secure website within 48 hours, and there is no need for teacher marking or manual data entry.
Powerful information you can act upon
Reports from the Yellis assessment are easy to understand, and can help you see where your students need support. Reports include:
- Nationally standardised scores – helping you see how your students are performing in comparison to the average performance of students across the UK
- Individual Pupil Record sheets – providing a visual breakdown of students’ relative strengths and weaknesses to help you quickly pin point which students need extra support to get them on track as they prepare for (I)GCSEs
- Predictions and chances graphs that show you how each student is likely to perform at (I)GCSE. These reports can help you develop learning plans for each student, and support target-setting.
- Value-added reports that help you see where your school is adding value – helping you demonstrate student achievement at Key Stage 4 and progress made to (I)GCSE
Optional Yellis attitudinal questionnaires are also available, helping you understand factors that may influence student progress and achievement.
Talking about Yellis
”We find CEM data incredibly valuable and the increased speed in receiving our value-added reports has enabled us to distribute this data to departments at the time when they need it most.”
”Most Head teachers and Senior Management need value-added feedback before the beginning of term, which is why I was thrilled CEM had made value-added data available on results day this year. Teachers also find it helpful to have this data at the start of the school year to help them spot anything they weren’t expecting. The change has been absolutely fantastic for our school.”
”The Yellis attitudinal survey feedback also provides information about the holistic experience of students.”
How do other schools use Yellis?
Get a reliable and independent baseline for your students
We use Yellis as it provides an objective and consistent baseline for our students. It gives us stable measures of progress through periods of exam reform. Having predictions on the 9-1 scale for all subjects has been really helpful.
Develop appropriate learning plans for each student
As our students work towards their GCSEs, Yellis helps us understand their learning needs and to develop plans to help them achieve the best they can. This helps us have positive conversations with students and their parents about areas where support may be needed, so we can manage expectations.
See things you might not pick up from observation alone
Yellis helps us to spot students who may hide their strengths in class and it also helps us identify gifted and talented students who need to be stretched and challenged.
Yellis gives us a benchmark as to see how our students compare with others of the same age nationally.
Understand what’s working
The value-added information we get from CEM helps us see what is, and isn’t working. We look at the data across the whole school and it helps us to share best practice between departments. It’s great that this information is now available on results day – it gives us chance to review the data in details with our teaching staff before the start of term.
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What’s unique about CEM assessments?
All our assessments are adaptive. The sequence of questions is tailored to each child, moving them on when they get questions wrong, and showing more challenging questions when they answer correctly. This means the assessment each child sees is neither too difficult or too easy, making it enjoyable, engaging, and efficient.
Our Assessments
