Marking Sats has always been a total fiasco

23 July 2008

Liz Brocklehurst recounts her experiences as a Sats marker

There were also occasions when we had to mark incorrect science as correct. The reason given for this was inappropriate question-setting. Only after the marking process had begun did the senior examiners decide that the correct answer was perhaps beyond the scope of the age range.

Why all these ridiculous decisions?

Well, given that the marked papers are returned to the schools and that reputations — and positions in league tables — are at stake, it was hardly surprising that the markers’ unwritten maxim was ‘if in doubt, mark it right’. (And if you didn’t, you could guarantee the school would appeal against the marking, the mark would then be awarded at this stage, and this re-marking would count against the marker in his/her final grade. Yes, even the markers were graded on their work, and awaited their results each year with as much trepidation as the pupils awaited theirs.)

I can’t speak for Key Stage 2 English and Maths tests, but if their markers followed similar guidelines to those employed in Science, it makes it all the more worrying that each year such a relatively large proportion of our 11-year-olds gained results showing they were performing at a level below that expected of their age group. And I still find it a concern that it is apparently acceptable (even after 10 years of ‘education, education, education’) for an 11-year-old to be unable to spell a simple three-letter word such as ‘air’.

Over the years I have watched the whole episode of Key Stage 2 Sats with more than a passing interest. I remember David Blunkett staking his job against the meeting of targets (lucky for him that he got out first); and Estelle Morris apparently forgetting that she had done likewise; and Stephen Twigg, as schools minister, exhorting headteachers to teach to the tests in order to try and meet targets; and Alan Johnson, as Education Secretary, being accused of ‘burying bad news’ by releasing poor Key Stage 2 results on the same day as the better GCSE results. And now we have the current headline-grabbing situation.

I can still remember the senior examiner telling me, as a newish marker, that there were ‘political issues in what we do’. But ten years as a ‘political pawn’ was quite enough. Thank goodness I got out before this summer’s mess.

Previous page 1 | 2

More articles from: Liz Brocklehurst | this section

Print this article | Email to a friend | Permalink | Comments (6)

Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Post comment

David Short

July 24th, 2008 10:56am Report this comment

As 'fiasco' means 'complete failure', I wonder what 'total fiasco' signifies.

Has this writer perhaps ever been partly pregnant?

Retired teacher

July 24th, 2008 12:18pm Report this comment

Independent schools, usually acknowledged to be among the best in the world, are free to choose to do SATs or not, making the choice on what is in the best interest of the pupils. Why not give state schools the choice?

Forlornehope

July 24th, 2008 2:22pm Report this comment

Let the schools mark the sats and then carry out a few random audits. This would be simpler, cheaper and equally reliable and might let them ease off on all the practice tests they run.

Hysteria

July 24th, 2008 5:20pm Report this comment

David - I don't think parsing the title really addresses the issue huh?

Boyce

July 26th, 2008 12:52am Report this comment

It's things like this that worry me about finishing my degree and starting teaching. SATs are pointless and make things a lot harder just to get on with the job of educating kids.

JLB

November 10th, 2010 8:48pm Report this comment

It is called studying and memorization of facts. I took the SATs years ago did horrible. Not ashamed to admit to it either. I did not study because I do not believe that SATs can show how knowledgeable someone is or show anything about their character. SATs mearly show someones ability to retain and memorize information that they have studied for about 8 months. After taking the SATs I was excepted to every college I applied to.
My belief is that a lot of college boards have come to the realization that they can not judge a student on their test taking abilities. May very successful people do not score high but have very high achievements in life.
People should not be judge on how they do on a test but on their actions and abilities to do and act with best judgment. Just because you are smart and can memorize facts does not mean you will do great things in life to better society.

Post comment