The optional scoring system was introduced to provide a means to assess smaller increments of progress for specific pupils particularly where from one assessment to the next, the pupil may have made progress but not yet moved up a whole level.

The scoring itself is unlikely to have any impact on the children however, it may provide a means of evaluating an intervention (keep in mind the points about performance and learning from earlier though).  For example, if you are using the assessments to identify gaps in a group of pupils' learning then planning an intervention to address these gaps, you could use the assessments at the start, mid-point and end of the intervention to inform next steps and monitor improvements.  The smaller scale scoring will mean that even if a pupil has not made a whole level of improvement e.g. F* to F** you should be able to evaluate smaller changes within the level. 
Information relating specifically to delivering an intervention is beyond the scope of this module however suggested 'next steps' are included in the training videos.  These just capture the main objectives that might be useful for the pupil being assessed rather than providing detailed descriptions of specific activities. 

It is important to note, specifically for the strategy assessments (including addition and subtraction), a pupil's 'score' may actually go down from one assessment to the next if they have moved up a level but they are still getting to grips with their new strategies - they may be more likely to be hesitant or self-correct.
For the knowledge assessments, this is less likely to happen due to the difference in how the overall level is decided upon (they are levelled at the first point where gaps were evident, even if they could solve other more complex problems at a higher level).  As the pupil improves, both their overall score and overall level will improve.

Strategy Assessment Scoring:

• For each question award a maximum of 2 points.
• Supplementary questions are not given a score.

0 = Could not attempt the question or attempted but was incorrect.

1 = Correct answer but lacked confidence, was hesitant, got muddled etc. (If a pupil uses materials for Task 2 - 4) or answers incompletely for Task 9 (i.e. 1/8 and 1/4) give a score of 1.

2 = Correct with confidence.  The pupil could clearly explain their thinking.  (If a pupil confidently answers quite quickly but subsequently has difficulty explaining, give a score of 2.)