National Curriculum assessment

National Curriculum assessments are a series of educational assessments, colloquially known as Sats^[1] or SATs (see Terminology section),^[2] used to assess the attainment of children attending maintained schools in England. They comprise a mixture of teacher-led and test-based assessment depending on the age of the pupils.

The tests were introduced for 7-year-olds for the academic year ending July 1991, and for 11-year-olds in the academic year ending July 1995.^[3]

Similar tests were introduced for 14-year-olds for the academic year ending July 1998 but were scrapped at the end of the academic year ending July 2009.^[4]

In 2012, L6 National Curriculum maths tests were introduced for the exceptionally more able. They were not mandatory, and teachers had to apply to give their pupils the test. There were L6 maths SATs in 2002, but were scrapped by the Labour party after being deemed 'too hard'. The tests are 30mins long. There are 2: 'Test A' and 'Test B', but no 'Mental' maths tests, unlike the standard Level 3-5 tests.

The assessments are completed at the end of each Key Stage and record attainment in terms of National Curriculum attainment levels, numbered between 1 and 8. The expectations for each stage are set out as follows:

Terminology

The terminology used for the assessments varies both in type and context. Where assessments are made in-school by class teachers, these are referred to as Teacher Assessments. These assessments make up part of the final assessment at the end of all Key Stages.^[6]

Where assessment is completed through testing, these assessments are known as National Curriculum Tests.^[7]

Colloquially the assessments—particularly in the test form—are referred to as SATs. This terminology is rooted in the original intention to introduce Standard Assessment Tasks when the assessments were first introduced.^[8] The term is variously believed to stand for Statutory Assessment Tests,^[9] Standard Attainment Tests,^[10] Standardised Achievement Tests and Standard Assessment Tests.^[2] "SATs" is pronounced as one word, rather than the American SATs (where the letters "S-A-T" are pronounced individually).

Data

In England, data collected from the assessments at all three key stages are published nationally in performance tables produced by the Department for Children, Schools and Families^[11] alongside data for secondary schools relating to performance at Key Stage 4.

Key Stage 1

During Year 2, teacher assessment is carried out in the core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science. In English, teachers are required to record a level in the three strands of Reading, Writing, and Speaking & Listening.^[6] To assist teachers in arriving at an assessed level, tests and tasks can be completed in reading, writing and mathematics. These are normally taken during May.^[9]

Key Stage 2

During May in the final year of Key Stage 2, children undertake National Curriculum Tests (commonly known as SATs) in English and Mathematics. Science tests have been discontinued, with new arrangements taking over from 2014. These provide records of attainment in the subjects, including separate levels for reading and writing as part of the overall English grade. In addition, teachers are required to provide teacher assessments in the same subjects.^[6]

L6 tests were added in 2012. In May 2013, children will be graded on a separate grammar, spelling and punctuation test, called S.P.A.G, standing for Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar.

Key Stage 3

Until 2008, in May during the final year of Key Stage 3, all pupils were required to undertake National Curriculum Tests in the three core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science. These provided records of attainment in the subjects, including separate levels for reading and writing as part of the overall English grade. The English assessments also included the study of a Shakespeare play.^[6]

Previous plans to introduce a test for Information and Communication Technology were dropped in 2007 in favour of a bank of formative assessment materials.^[12]

Following a series of issues regarding the marking of National Curriculum Tests in 2008, the national tests were abolished for Key Stage 3.^[13] Teacher assessments are still required in all the subjects of the National Curriculum and in Religious Education.^[6]

Optional tests

In addition to the statutory assessments at the end of each key stage, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority produces suites of tests for the assessment of English and Mathematics in Years 3, 4 and 5 during Key Stage 2,^[14] and in Years 7 and 8 during Key Stage 3.^[14] These tests are not statutory, hence their titling as Optional Tests. Although no longer compulsory, assessment materials are also still available for Year 9.

National Pupil Database and information privacy

The results of the assessments are among data stored in the National Pupil Database, which Education Secretary Michael Gove described in 2012 as a "rich dataset" whose value could be "maximised" by making it more openly accessible, including to private companies. Under the plans for opening up access to the information, third-party organisations would be responsible for anonymising any publications themselves, rather than the data being anonymised by the government before being handed over. The Register said this means that "sensitive information held about children across Blighty could soon be in the hands of marketeers".^[15]

Criticisms

Like many tests of this nature, the assessments have been subject to a variety of criticism. Two of the main points of concern are that they place children under constant stress for their whole academic lives, and that the principal purpose of national curriculum testing is for school league tables.^[16][17]

In its 2008 report into National Testing, the House of Commons, the Select Committee on Children, Schools and Families registered its concern with the current testing arrangements in state schools. It raised concerns that the "professional abilities of teachers" were under-used and that the high-stakes nature of the tests led to "phenomena such as teaching to the test, narrowing the curriculum and focusing disproportionate resources on borderline pupils." They further recommended that the multiple uses of National Curriculum assessment - for local accountability, national monitoring, and individual progress measurement - be separated into different forms of assessment.^[18]

In April 2009, the National Union of Teachers voted to ballot members on boycotting SATs tests for the following year.^[19]

References

External links

• SATs Papers