The middle of May sees the start of SATs testing. The SATs (‘Statutory Assessment Tests’) assess the performance of students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on certain National Curriculum benchmark ‘Levels’.
Children are tested at ages 7, 11 and 14 (equivalent to the final years of Key Stages 1, 2 and 3) and the results help decide everything from where students will be placed in later years to the schools league tables, those long charts that eager parents study every year.
As the Office of National Statistics puts it, SATs tests are:
…a measurement of achievement against the precise attainment targets of the National Curriculum rather than any generalised concept of ability in any of the subject areas. The National Curriculum standards have been designed so that most pupils will progress by approximately one level every two years. This means that by the end of KS2, pupils are expected to achieve Level 4.
The core of the SATs tests are the ‘Three Rs’ – reading, writing and maths – and these are the subjects 7 year-olds are initially tested on. 11 year-olds are also tested on science subjects and English, and 14 year-olds will be tested on IT literacy from this year (the exams are being piloted in some parts of the country).
In addition to the exams, which take about 5 hours to complete, teachers make personal assessments of the students on those subjects, plus some additional ones at Key Stage 3.
The SATs tests and teacher evaluations help schools plan for and track individual students and give valuable feedback to parents. Here’s an example of a preliminary report on the results of the Key Stage 2 SATs from last year.
The league tables that follow the SATs test scores are now an annual fixture and the BBC has devoted a comprehensive website to the league tables . (We’ve put together a neat way of searching for league table scores from BBC and government sites at the same time (see below)).
The National Curriculum levels on which students are assessed describe performance irrespective of age or school year, in major topic areas. The levels range from Level 1 to Level 8, with something called ‘Exceptional performance’ beyond that.
We’re concerned, of course, with the maths levels. By way of example, Level 1 attainment in ‘Number and Algebra’ is fairly basic – counting to ten, reading and writing single-digit numbers, and so forth. Level 8 requires an ability to calculate with powers and roots, work out proportional change, manipulate algebraic formulae, and ‘sketch and interpret graphs of linear, quadratic, cubic and reciprocal functions…’!
As we come into Spring, a lot of parents are starting to plan for their childrens’ SATs tests. You can see what the SATs are testing for on the National Curriculum website. The site features descriptions of the National Curriculum levels for ‘Number and Algebra’ here, ‘Shape, Space and Measures’ here and ‘Handling Data’ here.
UK Schools Custom Google Search
You can also look for the SATs results for your local school. We’ve created a simple custom Google search:
This will make it easier to find UK schools and official information on those schools. For instance, if we search for ‘highfield school’ the responses show results for schools in Sussex, Hertfordshire, Berkshire and Yorkshire. We can narrow down those responses to show results from either official government school inspectorate Ofsted, the Department for Education and Skills site or from the BBC’s league tables site. Click the ‘League Table Data’ filter to find performance tables, or click the ‘OFSTED reports’ filter to get inspection reports.
Happy surfing!
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