Even the more heavyweight papers carried “alarming” headlines of doom and gloom when announcing the Key Stage 2 Standard Assessment Test results. “More than 700 primaries fail Gove’s tough new test” boomed The Times when lamenting that “hundreds more primary schools have slipped beneath the minimum of test results”. The actual number is 767. The Department for Education has threatened that it will impose on those primary schools that have fallen below the floor level “new leadership and governance from academy sponsors”.
And what is the floor level? Well, not only have the goalposts moved on this but also narrowed. This year, at least 60% of pupils in a school were required to attain level 4 and above in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Key Stage 2. Last year, 60% were expected to attain level 4 and above in English (per se) and mathematics. At the time, a pupil may have attained level 5 in reading but only level 3 in writing – averaging out to level 4. She/he would have been deemed to have met the target required. Not so this year.
As a consequence, in 2011/12, 521 primary schools were below this threshold, having improved on the picture in 2010/11 when 1,310 failed to do so. Were the same benchmarks used in 2011/12 as have been deployed this year, 834 would have failed. The press would benefit from reflecting that it depends on one’s perspective when making a judgement about whether the nation’s primary pupils are improving or “going down the pan”.
The actual results were as follows.
| %age achieving level 4 and above in reading, writing and maths | %age achieving level 4B and above in reading, writing and maths | %age making expected progress | ||||
|
2013 |
2012 |
Reading |
Writing |
Maths |
||
| England – all schools |
75% |
75% |
63% |
88% |
91% |
88% |
| England – state funded schools only |
75% |
74% |
63% |
88% |
92% |
88% |
A DfE spokesman told The Times: “The floor standards we introduced were tougher and performance is improving. Heads, teachers and pupils deserve credit for meeting the challenge head on.” Then he added the “killer” remark. “Schools with a long history of underperformance and who are not stepping up to the mark will be taken over by an academy sponsor. The expertise and strong leadership provided by sponsors is the best way to turn around weak schools and give pupils the best chance of a first-class education.”
There is only one little problem with what the DfE is planning to do. Several sponsored academies have also fallen below the floor level. What plans is the government hatching to have these academies also taken over and who will do the job?
governorsagenda 