Yes, this is completely normal and expected!
Understanding Progress in Doodle
Doodle provides two key ways to track a student’s progress:
✅ Progress Towards End-of-Year Objectives
This is the most accurate measure of a student’s learning in Doodle. It shows how much curriculum content a student has covered and mastered. This is the best place to look when assessing how your students are progressing academically.
🌟 DoodleAge
DoodleAge is a general indicator of progress. It reflects how a student is engaging with new learning and moving forward. If a student’s DoodleAge is increasing, it means they’re being introduced to new concepts and making progress.
If DoodleAge decreases, it may indicate that the student has gaps in understanding. Doodle will then revisit earlier topics to help fill those gaps. This is a positive step—it ensures learning is fully embedded before moving on.
Why Might a Student Have a High DoodleAge but Be Working on Lower-Year Objectives?
This is actually quite common! Doodle is designed to:
Reinforce previously learned topics
Identify and address gaps in understanding
Build a strong foundation for future learning
So, even if a student’s DoodleAge is above their chronological age, they may still be working on objectives from a previous year group to ensure full mastery.
How Accurate Is the Progress Data?
Doodle’s progress data is most accurate when students use the programme regularly. This allows the algorithm to:
Understand the student’s confidence across a wide range of topics
Adjust the difficulty level appropriately
If a student hasn’t used Doodle for a while, the programme picks up where it left off. This can sometimes make the work seem too easy until it recalibrates.
Getting the Level Right
The key is to ensure the work is appropriately challenging—not too easy, not too hard.
Go to Work programmes > View understanding on the Teacher Dashboard.
Aim for around 80% accuracy. This means the student is being challenged just enough to build confidence while still making progress.
If the work seems too easy or too difficult, consider setting a baseline assessment. More information on how to do this can be found here.
💡 Need more help?
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