How teachers in Labschool Cibubur benefit from PAT Matematika

Labschool group has a long history since it was established  as an exemplary school in 1968. Labschool was intended as a laboratory school for IKIP Jakarta (now the Jakarta State University or UNJ). This school became a dedicated center for teaching practice, educational research, and educational innovation. In 1972, the Exemplary School changed its name to Tempat Pembinaan Ketrampilan (TPK) Project School. Its role is to implement or trial new ideas in  education from the Ministry of Education and Culture of Indonesia.

Labschool Cibubur was founded in 2011. It covered the middle and high school years in its early years, with the elementary level added in 2017 as a response to community feedback from the Cibubur region, east of Jakarta. The school offers an alternative educational approach for parents who want their children to flourish in academic attainment and character development.

In August 2023, Labschool Cibubur began working with ACER Indonesia to use PAT Matematika to identify starting points for learning, target teaching and monitor growth. PAT is powered by the Progressive Achievement approach to learning: the idea that all learners can be helped to show progress, regardless of their starting point.

Just over 6-months into their journey, the teachers of Labschool Cibubur have shared their experiences using PAT in their daily learning.

What is the main benefit of using PAT in your class?

As teachers, we are required to create high-quality lesson plans for our class. A good lesson plan not only lies in the teaching materials but also in the assessment used to monitor the learning, be it formative or summative. These 2 assessments with their wide breadth of item varieties, both in strands and difficulties, provide us with the data on how learning goals are achieved. PAT fits nicely to help teachers in this area.

How does the PAT report support you in designing the daily lesson plan?

The data provided by the PAT assessment is especially valuable for us to help find the best materials and methods that correspond with our student’s needs and learning styles.

Do you find anything surprising from the data generated by the report? What did you do when it happened?  

A test, an assessment, is one of the ways for teachers to gain a confirmation on what we presume is happening for the duration of our students’ learning journey so far. In everyday teaching or any other school activities, the data derived from an assessment can be a great help to the teacher to describe the actual state of students’ learning.

If there’s any incongruity between the result of the assessment and what we believe the children are capable to do, then we will try to reconfirm and speak directly with the students.

Steps that we suggest would be to 1) check and analyse the questionable data/items 2) check the condition of the student, as there could be some external problems affecting their ability to perform as predicted 3) decide and execute the probable solution 4) see the results; if the problem reoccurs, seek other support from another teacher who might have a more suitable learning style to the student or even counselling teacher.

How do you use the PAT data in identifying gaps or monitoring progress in learning?

PAT report data allows teachers to see the real progress in our students’ math learning. PAT enables teachers to analyse each item of the test and through it, to know exactly what types of learning materials are already mastered and which are not, so that teachers can prepare well in providing a special course and activity to suit their needs.

How does PAT contribute in the teachers’ development in Labschool Cibubur?

As a maths teacher myself, PAT helps me develop my skills in creating test items relevant to the learning achievement indicators required by the school and the curriculum. Through PAT, I am also reminded that each answer choice is not only a matter of correct or incorrect, but actually has the power to identify and improve students’ thinking ability.

Find out how PAT can help your school.

Join thousands of schools who are already using the Progressive Achievement approach to improve the quality of teaching and learning. Visit the PAT Matematika website for further information.