Key Stage tests should be scrapped and primary school pupils should have '3Rs guarantee'

Too many children are leaving primary school without the necessary skills in reading, writing and mathematics, and the current national tests are part of the problem, according to new analysis from the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr).
The report says that the current ‘Key Stage’ tests encourage teachers to ‘teach to the test’ rather than equipping children with the reading, writing and mathematics skills they need to succeed at secondary school. It argues that using the same test to assess both child development and school performance means that the tests end up doing neither effectively.
The report recommends a system of reformed testing and moderated teacher assessment where:
• Every child should be assessed throughout each key stage by their teachers
• Every child should sit a small number of national tests at the end of each key stage, but not in every area of every subject. The results of these should be used to measure overall school performance, but not the individual pupil’s attainment
• The school’s performance, as measured by these tests, should be used to moderate the teacher assessments, producing detailed nationally comparable data for each pupil.

ippr’s report says such an approach would stop the negative effects of the current testing regime, which include:
• Narrow learning. Because all pupils take the same test, and because each test covers a relatively large subject area, it is possible to predict with reasonable accuracy what will be tested – the most prominent elements of the curriculum. This enables teachers to concentrate on those aspects of the curriculum which are most likely to come up in the tests
• Shallow learning. Because all pupils take the same kind of test, it is possible to predict with reasonable accuracy how each component of the curriculum will be tested
• Question spotting
• Risk-averse teaching.

ippr’s report shows that the proportion of pupils who achieve the target levels of reading, writing and mathematics has risen significantly over the past ten years, and the number of schools where unacceptably low proportions of pupils do so has fallen significantly. However;
• Improvements in standards of reading, writing and maths in primary schools have now slowed down dramatically
• Forty per cent of boys finished primary school with writing skills below the target level in 2006, as did 25 per cent of girls
• Of the children who missed the target level in reading, writing and maths at the end of primary school, just seven per cent achieved five A*-C grade GCSEs in 2005
• Around one in ten pupils leaves secondary school with very low qualifications (less than five GCSEs at G grade or better), a figure which has remained almost constant since 2000.

Richard Brooks, ippr Associate Director, said:
“Every pupil needs a solid foundation of reading, writing and mathematics at the end of primary school so that they can make a success of their secondary schooling. But for that to happen, there needs to be accurate assessment and a special focus on identifying pupils at risk of low attainment.
“Many pupils currently get stuck at the beginning of secondary school, even in some cases after they made good progress at primary school. If secondary schools had a progress target for all pupils, they would have to focus on the needs of each pupil, even where average attainment in the school was good.
“An end to national Key Stage testing should make space for better teaching and learning, but it would also mean new assessment responsibilities for teachers. We need a ‘new deal’ where teachers and heads are respected and held accountable as professionals.”
The report recommends:
A ‘three Rs guarantee’ that would require schools to identify pupils at risk of failing to achieve the necessary level of ability in reading, writing, and mathematics at the end of primary school, and then to take early action to address their specific needs:
• The Department for Education and Skills should have an objective, enshrined as a public service agreement, to reduce the attainment gaps between average pupil attainment at the end of the key stages and attainment by disadvantaged groups including children in receipt of free school meals, looked after children, and children from low-attaining ethnic groups.
• Children below the expected level of attainment in literacy and numeracy in their first year of primary school should be entitled to an appropriate programme of structured support from their school, such as an intensive one-two-one reading recovery programme.
• The same should apply at the beginning of Key Stage two for all those children who were below the expected level of attainment in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Key Stage one.
• How these entitlement are fulfilled should be down to the individual school, but they should give an account of what they are doing to the parents of the affected children, and each school’s arrangements should be inspected by Ofsted.
• The existing national attainment targets for 14 year olds should be replaced with a progress target that all pupils should make at least one level of progress between the end of Key Stages two and three.

The two papers: Pupil Attainment: time for a three Rs guarantee (Richard Brooks & Sarah Tough) http://www.ippr.org/members/download.asp?f=%2Fecomm%2Ffiles%2FPUPIL%5FATTAINMENT%2Epdf
and Assessment and testing: making space for teaching and learning (Richard Brooks & Sarah Tough) http://www.ippr.org/members/download.asp?f=%2Fecomm%2Ffiles%2FASSESSMENT%2Epdf
are available to download from the links above.

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