Abstract:
The timing may not have been great–just as half a million 11 year olds were about to pick up their pencils and embark on this year’s national tests – but the latest announcements on Key Stage testing and assessment bring to a head a pretty difficult year for one of our national obsessions. The DCSF Select Committee Inquiry last May, the Secretary of State’s announcement last October scrapping Key Stage 3 tests, the Sutherland Report in December, the consultation on the School Report Card this spring, the recent rose Report on the primary curriculum and now this Report from the Secretary of State’s appointed Expert Advisory Group, it’s been another year on the high wire. Even now, this might not be the end of it. An important White Paper on School Accountability is due out shortly, the threat of a boycott looms over next year’s tests and as the Expert Advisory Group themselves recognised, “we are aware that further developments could mean that further changes need to be implemented.”
Full Policy Watch:
[2009/25] Latest advice on testing
Useful Links:
A DCSF Select Committee Inquiry from May 08 entitled: Testing and Assessment
Link to PDF
The Sutherland Inquiry: An independent Inquiry into the delivery of National Curriculum tests in 2008
Link to PDF
DCSF consultation on the School Report Card
Link to PDF
The Rose Report an Independent Review of the Primary Curriculum: Final Report
Link to PDF
Report of the Expert Group on Assessment
Link to PDF