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BBC News: Education: School test results 'useless' say critics

Friday, 30 November, 2001, 10:54 GMT

Does concentration on tests narrow education?

School test results are "useless" as a measure of achievement, the author of a new study has said.

The results show little more than a teacher's ability to coach children for that one test, and not their all-round achievements, according to Professor Dylan William of King's College, London.

The report - compiled for the teaching union the Association of Teachers and Lecturers ATL) - also says over-concentration on the tests can lead to children not being prepared for jobs in the 21st century.

The study says: "The deficiencies in national curriculum tests mean that the results of key stage tests are almost useless as a measure of success and failure, even if value-added measures were used in place of raw scores.

"Rising test scores demonstrate little more than teachers' increasing abilities to teach to the tests, and to the power of high-stakes tests to distort the curriculum."

League tables

Children sit national curriculum tests at seven, 11 and 14.

The results of the national curriculum tests in English, maths and science for 11-year-olds are used to compile league tables for primary schools in England.

Next week sees the publication of the latest tables for England's primaries.

Professor Williams said ministers were wrong if they believed the tests known as SATs) were helping to improve standards in schools.

The government believes it has made big improvements in standards in the primary sector - and wants to repeat that success in secondary schools, especially among the 11 to 14-year-old age group.

Rising test scores demonstrate little more than teachers' increasing abilities to teach to the tests

Professor Dylan Williams, King's College, London

ProfessorWilliams says testing is the wrong way to achieve results: "Standards of achievement in the tested areas will rise but only at the expense of untested areas."

"Therefore while the reported standards of achievement may rise, the actual level of achievement across the whole subject could well be falling, and the tests are no longer an adequate proxy for achievement across the whole domain.

"Put bluntly, the clearer you are about what you want, the more likely you are to get it, but the less likely it is to mean anything."

The report says the improvements in results seen in recent years may be "counter-productive" as people needed to be able to learn new skills and adapt quickly to new demands in the 21st century jobs market.

Professor Williams believes the teaching of new skills is being neglected because schools concentrate on getting children through the tests.

He says teachers should have a bigger say in recording a child's improvement, using their own assessments, rather than relying on national tests alone.

The general secretary of the ATL Peter Smith said: "ATL is not against testing pupils' assessment - we are utterly opposed to pseudo-scientific and half-baked interpretation of the results."

Raising standards

The Department for Education and Skills said tests did help to raise standards and rejected suggestions that they led to a narrower education.

A spokesman said: "Schools equip young people with the skills they need to prepare for the world of work.

"The national curriculum covers more ground than just those elements that are tested.

"But tests are an essential part of raising standards and measuring performance and progress."

I'm posting this because an interview with professor william ran today on triplej. i tend to agree with him, and not so much with the govt droids.