Government to publish delayed Sats results

by Dave Keating | August 5, 2008 at 12:27 am

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The SATS, which are a national standardized test for 11-year-olds in the United Kingdom have been plagued with problems this year when the American company which was supposed to grade them encountered massive delays. Despite the screw-up, the government has announced it will publish the results anyway. But it seems unlikely that people will have faith in the results published.

UPDATE 11:53 GMT: The SAT results show that more than one in five British 11-year-olds are failing to reach the standard expected of their age in mathematics, and almost a fifth left primary school this summer without mastering basic literacy.

The government is set to publish the results of national tests for 11 year-olds on Tuesday despite problems and delays with marking, and criticism from headteachers.

The National Association of Head Teachers said it "beggars belief" that the government has decided to announce provisional results of the Key Stage 2 Sats, which test primary school children in English, maths and science.

Thousands of pupils failed to receive their results by the end of term as expected because of problems with marking, conducted for the first time this year by ETS Europe, an educational testing company.