on May 17, 2013
Guardian Education – Education secretary suggests A* and A grades may be replaced by one to four scale to create more distinctions in highest grades.
Posted in Examinations Reform, News, Secondary
on May 17, 2013
TES article – Grade A students could be about to become a thing of the past in England, as the country that provided the framework for many of the world’s school exam systems switches to numerical grades.
Posted in Examinations Reform, News, Secondary
on May 11, 2013
BBC News Education – The government’s planned overhaul of GCSEs in England could see results “varying more than normal” for several years, the exams regulator has said.
Guardian Education – Exams chief warns against emphasis on English and maths GCSEs
Ofqual – Our response to the secondary school accountability consultation.
Posted in Examinations Reform, News, Performance Data, Secondary
on May 11, 2013
BBC News Education – More than half a million 11-year-olds in England will sit a new grammar, spelling and punctuation test next week.
Posted in News, Primary, Statutory Assessment
on May 7, 2013
BBC News Education - Many teachers, heads and parents lack confidence in GCSE grades, research into perceptions of secondary school exams in England suggests.
Ofqual – annual survey of public attitudes to GCSEs and A levels.
Posted in Examinations and Qualifications, News, Secondary
on May 7, 2013
The Telegraph – Children attending village schools in Britain are outperforming their inner-city peers despite a clear “urban advantage” elsewhere in the western world, according to international research.
Posted in Assessment Matters, Assessment of Learning, International Comparisons, News
on May 7, 2013
The Telegraph – One of England’s top performing grammar schools is to scrap its entrance exam amid fears the 11-plus is being undermined by an “endemic” culture of tutoring.
Posted in Assessment of Learning, News, Primary, Secondary
on May 7, 2013
BBC News Education – Labour will reverse many of the coalition’s changes to A-levels if it wins the next election, shadow schools minister Kevin Brennan has told England’s exam regulator.
Posted in Examinations Reform, News, Secondary
on April 26, 2013
TES Scotland article – The scale of the performance gap between rich and poor children has been unveiled for the first time in a landmark national survey of literacy standards.
Posted in National Data, News
on April 20, 2013
TES article – Pilot suggests changes may affect black children disproportionately.
Posted in Early Years, News, Statutory Assessment
on April 20, 2013
The Scotsman – Teachers have called for an independent regulator to handle complaints against Scotland’s qualifications body amid allegations of a series of errors in school exams.
Posted in Examinations and Qualifications, News, Secondary
on April 12, 2013
TES article – Heads’ leaders have delivered a damning verdict on the new national curriculum, warning that it cannot be introduced in the time allotted, and that it could “create chaos” and result in lower standards.
Posted in Assessment Matters, News
on April 5, 2013
TES article – Year 6 will take the exams this summer despite advisers’ concerns.
Posted in News, Primary, Statutory Assessment
on April 2, 2013
Guardian Education – At its annual conference in Liverpool, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) passed a motion calling for a boycott of spelling, punctuation and grammar tests for 11-year-olds and a reading check for six-year-olds. Both were introduced this year.
The Independent – Teachers threaten boycott of controversial tests for six-year-olds.
Posted in News, Primary, Statutory Assessment
on April 2, 2013
BBC News Education – Individual schools are going to be able to take international tests for the first time to see how they compare with the world’s best school systems.
Posted in Assessment Matters, Assessment of Learning, News, School Self-Evaluation
A booklet to support the understanding, development and evaluation of assessment for learning, produced by AAIA members in the Midlands.
‘This booklet provided us with a clear framework for getting assessment back on track in the school.’ Head teacher of a primary school where assessment had been adversely criticised during an inspection