Key Stage 2 testing, assessment and accountability review: Final report published
- More trust in teachers
- Fair balance between teacher assessment and tests
- Greater emphasis on progress of pupils
- New rolling averages for schools
The panel reviewing the testing, assessment and accountability system at the end of primary school today published its final report.
Lord Bew, the cross-bench peer who chaired the panel, and the headteachers and education experts represented on it, said their recommendations would make the system fairer for schools, teachers and pupils, and would help raise attainment.
They said they hoped the system they had devised would achieve a stable consensus among teachers and the Government.
Education Secretary Michael Gove set up the review last year. He said external accountability at Key Stage 2 was vital because it was shown to drive up standards but agreed the current system was flawed and could be improved.
More than 4,000 schools boycotted the tests in 2010 (26 per cent of the 15,515 maintained schools expected to administer them). Heads at those schools, and others, argued the test results led to unfair league table rankings and meant children were drilled for the tests rather than given a broad education.
The panel today says that there must be external school-level accountability in the system but that more trust should be placed in teachers, with a greater weight given to their assessment of pupils. A wider range of data – including new progress and attainment measures, and rolling averages – should be taken into account to give a less arbitrary and fairer picture of a school’s performance. Read more... (DfE - 23 June)