Q&A: single level tests

Problems with the marking of the Sats in 2008 may hasten their demise

England's Schools Secretary Ed Balls has been talking about how new single level tests (SLTs) may replace the current national curriculum tests or "Sats".

So what makes them different?

With the existing Sats in English, maths and science, questions cover a range of ability so that children can be scored at different levels.

Within each age group, 10-11 and 13-14, they all take the same test at the same time in May.

The new SLTs are tests in English reading, English writing and mathematics in which the questions are all pitched at a certain level of understanding.

Children are entered for the relevant level when their teachers think they are ready. So they take it with others of the same ability level rather than the same age and they could tackle different levels in different subjects.

Mr Balls said: "It's a bit like a music exam. You wouldn't say to everybody age 11, you've all got to do Grade 5 piano regardless of whether you've been playing for years or only just started."

This is an odd analogy in one sense - because of course the children have all been learning for years.

At present there are two test dates, in June and December.

Why are they being introduced?

The government says it wants to retain a system that provides information on the attainment of children and schools, but draws more on the professional expertise of teachers in assessing how their charges are doing.

What does "when ready" mean?

In the first round of pilot tests, in December 2007, the intention was that children should, in their teacher's judgement, be "working securely within" the national curriculum level on which they were being assessed.

But the results from the first pilot were said to be "unusual" - in fact the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) delayed publication while it puzzled over them, amid rumours of a high failure rate.

Eventually we learnt from evidence to a select committee that among other oddities, in a reading test, younger children had done better than older ones.

For the next set of pilot tests, in June 2008, the readiness trigger was simply that teachers felt the children would be able to pass the level threshold, as with the existing Sats.

A spokeswoman for the DCSF said: "This is a standard that is better understood by teachers and will allow more continuity - a Level 4 or 5 achieved in a single level test will mean the same to a pupil or a teacher as it does if achieved in the current Key Stage tests."

What impact has this had on the results?

We do not yet know - no results have actually been published yet.

But it is reasonable to expect a very high pass rate - assuming teachers' judgements about their pupils' performance are correct - given that the whole intention is to have children take the tests when they can pass them.

And these will replace Sats?

This seems all the more likely given the fiasco over the marking of the Sats in 2008.

The government has repeatedly signalled its intention to move that way. Whether the 2009 Sats will be the last will depend on a number of factors, not least a satisfactory outcome to the SLT pilots.

Mr Balls said: "It's really important we get this right.

"I'm not going to rush on making good progress on the single level tests, to do it before we know it can work."

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