League tables and standards testing

Background

England
In September 2000, the TES reported that David Blunkett announced that value-added secondary school performance tables would be piloted from September 2001 and introduced nationally in 2002. From 2002 league tables would show which schools have given students the greatest boost in performance in the early years of secondary school and also during GCSE courses. The tables would show how pupils' results changed by comparing test results taken at the end of primary school with test scores taken by the same pupils three years later as 14-year-olds.

Beginning in winter 2007, as part of the Children's Plan, the Government is piloting a new system of testing, which could replace Sats at key stage 2 and 3. The piloted system would mean more personalisation of testing and teaching pupils at their own pace. The report of the pilot will be published in 2009.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
In February 2003, Scotland decided to replace league tables with a baseline report on the national priorities. Ministers wanted to give parents a more rounded picture of their child's and school's performance and pledged to remove the emphasis on exams.

In 2001 Northern Ireland decided to no longer publish league tables following consultation in which 75% of the 1,000 responses were opposed to them. Instead, schools supply exam results directly to parents allowing schools to set their performance in the context of information on the school. The move brings it in line with the Republic of Ireland which has banned their publication. Individual primary school results are not published in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

In 2001 Wales also decided that performance tables showing individual schools' exam results were to be abolished. Jane Davidson, the Welsh minister for education and lifelong learning said of performance tables: "They measure performance in terms of external exam results, and do not recognise year-on-year improvement in schools." In 1998, Welsh children were lagging behind English children on almost all testing and examination indicators. But by 2002 Welsh children were doing as well or better than the English without the same amount of targets, tests and league tables seen as essential to success in England. This success is being produced despite higher levels of social deprivation than England but spending, pro rata, a similar amount of money on education. The Welsh Assembly announced in July 2004 that key stage 3 tests will be replaced with teacher assessments from 2005, while key stage 2 test would be scraped immediately.

The debate surrounding league tables and standards testing

"Since their introduction in 1992, there has been debate over tests and school league tables as a measure of success. Parents are privately glad of a scale by which to judge schools, and the Government insists that they are an essential yardstick by which achievement can be measured. But teachers want them scrapped, saying that they can be manipulated, put pressure on children and distort the curriculum."
(The Times, 27 July 2004)

2008
The Guardian covered on a study by Bristol University (lead author: Dr Deborah Wilson), which says that attempts by the Government to make school league tables fairer could be misleading. The current tables take into account pupils’ socio-economic background, ethnicity, special educational needs, free school meals, income deprivation, age and gender, in what is termed ‘contextual value added’ tables. These are meant to give a fairer measure of a school’s performance, however, the researchers say nearly half of all secondary schools are judged as average in the value they add. Therefore, the scores of many schools are very similar, resulting in a very small difference in a school’s score leaving them hundreds of places apart in the tables.
(Guardian, 7 January 2008)

2007
In December 2007, the Telegraph covered a report by the National Association of Headteachers, which said that schools had been turned into "exam factories" that pile pressure on pupils but fail to raise standards. They added that pupils were being reduced to "widgets on an assembly line" and that league tables had taken precedence over genuine teaching, going on to say that Sats should be abolished altogether.

In October 2007, the TES reported on a two year pilot of a revised national testing system which began in September 2007. Critics at the Assessment Reform Group said that the system would appear to raise standards whether or not teaching improves, and that the nearly 500 schools taking part in the trial would enjoy an advantage in league tables over those not participating. The tests being trialled are for English and maths for 7 to 14-year-olds, set at a single national curriculum level and which pupils take whenever their teacher believes they are ready. Critics say that once a standard is acheived by an individual pupil it can never be taken away, despite the fact that in English, 3% of pupils regress a level from key stage 2 to 3.

2006
In November 2006, the TES reported that research, over two decades and involving more than 300 projects, by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority found that teenagers look forward to exams as a way of obtaining feedback, a source of motivation and a "passport" to the next stage of their working lives. Pupils expressed a desire for schooling with practical implications and a connection to the "real world". They wanted more and earlier careers advice.

In September 2006, research showed that a large proportion of the differences in national test results in English were due to inconsistency between examiners rather than pupil ability. An analysis using 2006's writing test for 11-year-olds reveals that on every element of the marking scheme, pupils' ability accounted for less than 70% of the variations between their scores.

FThe National Foundation for Educational Research study said: "Even closed response questions that would be expected to show complete consistency can display higher than expected levels of variation between graders. In writing, the analysis shows the difficulty in achieving objective measurements of ability." Overall, inconsistency still accounted for more than a fifth of the variation in scores.

Exploring the importance of graders in determining pupils' examination results using cross-classified multilevel modelling, Tom Benton is available at www.nfer.ac.uk/publications/other-publications/conference-papers/exploring-the-importance-of-graders.cfm

In September 2006, Steve Sinnott, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, told the TES that he believed the drop in key stage three English results could be attributed to a lack of reading at home. He said: "The impact of peer pressure, technological innovation and just being a teenager in an ever changing world is leading to pupils reading less and less. If these factors are to be countered and the reading habit, with its benefits for good English, is to be developed in our young people, it also must be part of their parents' culture."

In March 2006, the TES reported that Stephen Gorard of York University and Peter Tymms of Durham's curriculum and evaluation and management centre concluded that pupils' results have been determined by other factors, particularly wealth and prior attainment. Professor Gorard said that improvements in the results of individual secondaries, including academies, are likely to be the result of changes in their intake or the exclusion of difficult students before they sit exams. Professor Tymms found variations of less than 1% in the performance of 11-year-olds in different authorities once external factors such as prior attainment and family income were taken into account.

The report criticises value-added league tables for misleading parents about the effectiveness of schools because they fail to give enough credit to schools in poorer areas and with weaker intakes. The report concludes: "Across the whole of England it can be said that very little importance can be attached to the impact of one LEA compared to another." This contradicts Ofsted evidence and raises questions about the government's policy of privatising LEAs judged to be failing by inspectors.

2005
In February 2005, the Telegraph reported that he Statistics Commission had said that the "remarkable" rise in the national test scores of 11-year-olds in the late 1990s had been "widely publicised as evidence of a rapid rise in standards in primary schools". But the claim was untrue. Part of the rise could be explained by other factors, and it was satisfied that standards had not improved as much as the test scores suggested. The other factors included the incentive for teachers to "teach to the test", which could be expected to lead to an initial rise in test scores "even if it does nothing to raise standards".

The commission's ruling - the first official confirmation of what some educationalists have long suspected - came with a warning. "Ministers and others who may want to use the test scores in a policy context need to be made fully aware of any caveats about their interpretation," the commission said. "There are a number of qualifications that need to be made. Yet Government departments have usually failed to mention any caveats about other possible reasons for rising test scores in their public comments.... it should be recognised that part of the rapid rise in test scores from 1995 to 2000 can be explained by factors other than a rise in standards." The commission was ruling on a complaint by Prof Peter Tymms of Durham University's curriculum, evaluation and management centre.

In May 2005, the TES reported that the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) conceded that dramatic improvements in primary pupils' English scores in the late 1990s may have exaggerated the true rise in standards. The QCA made its position clear during a row between ministers and the Government's Statistics Commission. Scores for 11year-olds jumped from 48% reaching the expected level in English in 1995, to 75% in 2000. But the commission said this rise was largely down to teachers drilling pupils for the tests.

In evidence to the commission, QCA backed the findings of the largest study into national test standards-setting, carried out by Alf Massey, of the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate. It found that the pass mark for KS2 English was set five marks too low in both 1999 and 2000 because the standard of the reading test fell. Therefore the gains in reading have been to some extent "illusory".

In June 2005, the Independent reported that, from the autumn, schools would be forced to disclose their maths and English GCSE results separately in league tables. The idea was aimed at plugging a loophole that allows schools to climb to the top of the tables even if their pupils fail to obtain top A* to C-grade passes in either of the two subjects. It followed a report showing that hardly any of the schools singled out as the most improved in the country had achieved their ranking through improving results in English or maths. Almost all relied on putting pupils in for GNVQs (vocational qualification) in science, which are deemed to be worth the equivalent of four GCSE passes by the QCA.

In November 2005, the BBC reported that new assessment arrangements allowed teachers to test children at any point between January and the end of the summer term. They still sit national curriculum tests (often known as Sats) but teachers may use their own tests on which to base their assessment. Depite this the NFER found that teachers in England were still using the same testing regime for seven-year-olds, using the same tests and at the same time in the summer term.

2004
In 2004, the National Foundation for Educational Research found that primary teachers were not opposed to key stage 2 tests but resented the time they had to spend on coaching and the intense pressure to do well. The study showed that children were being coached for up to nine months before sitting the key stage 2 tests, with preparation often beginning at the start of the academic year. But the survey of 178 primary teachers' views of the KS2 reading tests said that, overall, they were happy with the exams themselves. Teachers' negative feelings about the tests stemmed from the pressure on them and their pupils, rather than the nature of the papers, said the study. "Despite the negative publicity, teachers don't seem to mind the actual tests," it concluded.

2003
School league tables of pupils' exam scores should be scrapped as they have become a "poisonous thorn" in the side of educational progress, according to Time to say Goodbye? The Future of School Performance Tables published by the Institute for Public Policy Research in December 2003. It warned that league tables had skewed schools' priorities and damaged pupils' education. Schools' attitudes to the tests "border on obsession", it concluded. Allegations of teachers who cheat in the tests and even force sick children to sit the exams so that their school will not be penalised show that league table culture has gone too far, concludes the report.

The performance of schools in some of the country's poorest area would be more accurately gauged if factors such as ethnicity of pupils and deprivation were taken into account, according to a report published in November 2003 by the National Audit Office. The NAO called for a fairer comparison for secondary schools in performance league tables, taking into account social and cultural factors that influence student achievement.

The NAO has produced its own measure for key stage 3 and GCSE performance which takes account of pupil backgrounds in 3,100 English secondaries. One in 10 of the bottom 20% in 2002 should have been rated among the top 20% it calculates. Of the 72 schools in special measures during 2001/2, 78% were ranked higher by the NAO at KS3 and 65% at GCSE. In 1996, Chris Woodhead, the then chief inspector of Ofsted, stopped inspectors taking more account of pupils' social background.Making a difference: performance of maintained secondary schools in England is available from www.tso.co.uk/bookshop £10.75.

In August 2003, the Guardian reported that since 2000 there had been little change in results (with English results stuck at 75%) indicating that the standards and effectiveness unit at the Department for Education and Skills had yet to find the tools to fix the underachievement of a stubborn but substantial minority of primary children. There was criticism of the Government, not because it has missed targets but because the targets are there at all.

In 2003, the Independent reported that head teachers would back the National Union of Teachers in a campaign to get rid of national curriculum tests for seven-year-olds. David Hart, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: "Our members are against key stage one testing. They are against public testing of children at that age. They ask quite legitimately why it is they can do without it in Northern Ireland, Scotland and now Wales."

A survey in 2003, commissioned by the Liberal Democrats, found that parents and teachers also wanted to scrap the key stage one tests. more than half of all seven-year-olds experience stress as a result of taking SATs tests. The majority of parents and teachers questioned said they were opposed to the tests, while no teacher said they believed they are good for their pupils. Common stress symptoms they reported in the children included anxiety, misbehaving, lack of interest in school, difficulty sleeping and mood swings.

The survey was sent to 147 schools in England, and teachers and parents of children in Years 2 and 3 were invited to respond. It found high incidences of stress among young children following their SATs, with 38% of parents of Year 3 children believing their child to be stressed and Year 2 children particularly stressed just before and during the summer term, when the SATs are taken. But some teachers blamed the children's stress on their parents' pressure to succeed. The survey also found that more than twice as many parents as children were anxious about the tests. In 2002 a survey carried out by the National Union of Teachers found more than nine out of ten teachers supported a boycott of SATs for seven-year-olds.

2002
In 2002 Professor Tim Brighouse, Birmingham's Chief Education Officer, called for the scrapping of primary league tables. He said they should be replaced by a ratings system, which would take account of other aspects of a primary school as well as simply the three Rs. He said that the obsession with how primary school children do in tests for 11-year-olds has had a demotivating effect on children. In addition there is a danger of schools concentrating on those pupils who can just make the required standard if they make a great deal of effort. This could happen at the expense of those who are struggling. A ratings system could take into account a school's social background - possibly be measuring the improvement in pupil performance between the baseline assessments taken on entry into schools and the national curriculum tests when they are about to leave.

The BBC news story (December 2002) Too many tests demoralise pupils reports on educational research that suggests that repeated testing may discourage some children, leading to poor motivation, reduced effort and lower results. To read the story in full, visit http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2518379.stm target=_blank See also Constant examining demotivates low-achievers (TES, June 2002) www.tes.co.uk/search/story/?story_id=365769

In the autumn of 2002, England published league tables of the results of tests for 14-year-olds for the first time. They were designed to put pressure on schools to reach targets of 75% of all youngsters reaching the required standard in English and maths (level 5) by 2004. However, Cornwall refused to set heads what they felt were unrealistic targets and NAHT members were told to ignore the controversial milestones and work to their own realistic targets.

1999
In October 1999, the TES reported that Efforts to improve standards in Britain's poorest regions were being hampered by high pupil turnover. A government study carried out by the Nuffield Foundation found that one in seven councils had schools where a third of pupils left and were replaced in a single year while one, unidentified school, lost more than 40 % of its pupils each year. A fifth of local authorities believed the constant movement of pupils damaged the work of one or more of their schools.

Pupil mobility can have a major impact on league table places. In 1999, the London Borough of Hackney suggested its high turnover of primary-aged pupils could have cost it 34 places in the table of local authority results. A study by its officers showed that settled pupils who stay at the same school from Reception to Year 6 did significantly better than the borough average.