England: Ministers consider national tests for 7 yr olds
Posted: Sun Nov 01, 2015 11:58 pm
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... ol-england
Ministers consider national tests for seven-year-olds
Education secretary Nicky Morgan expected to announce review of primary school assessment in England
...Standardised tests for pupils in year two were dropped in 2004, but the new review of assessment could put national tests back on the agenda.
The Department for Education (DfE) wants the new review to ensure that assessments for pupils in reception and year two classes can be used to reliably gauge progress to year six, the final year of primary schooling.
In particular, previous research suggests that teacher-led assessment can be vulnerable to favouritism and stereotypes, leading in some cases to girls being given lower assessments for subjects such as maths, as well as concerns that some schools may depress KS1 assessments to boost the progress shown in key stage two (KS2) exams...