Have reading standards declined?

NFER Reading Performance at Nine (1996) 

The average reading ability of nine year olds has remained much the same since 1948. Between 1987 and 1991 there was a small decline in reading standards. But by 1995, standards had returned to the 1987 level. The report compares the performance in reading of 2,000 nine-year-olds in England and Wales with pupils of the same age in 27 other countries. England and Wales came 21st, towards the bottom of a middle group of countries. They were well behind the top group, which included the United States, Finland, Sweden, Italy and France, but were only just below Germany, Canada and Hungary. 

The NFER researchers found a 'long tail' of underachieving pupils. Pupils tested in 1995 and 1996 made slower progress between the ages of eight and nine than they did in 1987. 
(The Independent 16 August 1996) 

Standards of English and maths in primary schools have not risen for half a century according to a CBI report of reading and writing skills among 11 year olds.(From NFER survey). Estimated cost to industry: £10 billion a year.   

Boys are getting better…but so are girls

Concerns about boys' exam results might create the impression that they have been lagging further behind girls. But the gender gap between the two groups has remained stable over the past decade as both boys and girls have seen their results improve steadily. The Raising Boys' Achievement report highlights the rising trajectory of achievement for both genders, noting that this good news has been "relatively unrecognised and uncelebrated by most commentators".

In English tests for 11-year-olds, for instance, the proportion of boys getting a level 4 pass or better has gone up from 50% in 1996 to 72% in 2004. However, the same gender gap remains because the rise has been matched by the girls . The proportion of them passing increased from 65% to 83%. Boys and girls of the same age have been closely matched in science and maths with boys regularly outshining their female classmates.

The difference between the sexes' test scores becomes sharper in secondary school. But the gap between boys' and girls' GCSE results has also remained consistent over the past decade, around 10%. Indeed, it can be argued that boys are steadily catching up with girls at GCSE. This is because the percentage point difference becomes less significant as both genders do better. The gap between boys and girls was the same last year as it was in 1995, at 10 percentage points. But because both genders' passes have increased, the proportion of girls to boys passing has shrunk. In 1995 a quarter more girls made the grade, while in 2004 it was a fifth.

So should we be worried about boys' grades? If both groups are doing better, does it matter so much that there's a gender gap? The researchers behind the Raising Boys' Achievement project say they are not "unduly concerned" if girls' achievements continue to outshine boys' as no school would want to make its female pupils perform worse. But they conclude that the fact that only 80% of 11-year-old boys perform at the same level as girls in writing tests shows that a stubborn problem remains to be tackled.

The worrying performance of many black boys also gives reason to be concerned. In 2004's GCSEs, only 27% of African-Caribbean boys gained five or more A* to C grades, compared to 47% of white boys. But 44% of African-Caribbean girls (and 61% of black African girls) got the grades.

(TES, 17 June 2005)

Standards in schools higher than ever

Standards in English primary schools have never been higher. All the evidence - national test results, international comparisons and Ofsted reports - make this clear. In English 78% of 11-year-olds reached the expected level for their age in the 2004 tests. This represents an increase of 15 percentage points since 1997.

In the PIRLS international study published in 2003, England's 10-year-olds achieved the third highest scores in reading literacy out of the 35 countries that took part. The TIMMS study published in 2004 found that the mathematics performance of England's 10-year-olds had increased more since 1995 than any other country taking part in the survey.

During 2003/4, Ofsted inspectors found that around three-quarters of primary teaching in English and mathematics was excellent or good, whereas in 1997/8 just over half of teaching overall was judged excellent or good.

(DfES press release, 3 June 2005)