National curriculum assessment

National Curriculum assessment usually refers to the statutory assessments carried out in primary schools in England, colloquially known as SATs. The assessments are made up of a combination of testing and teacher assessment judgements, and are used in all government-funded primary schools in England to assess the attainment of pupils against the programmes of study of the National Curriculum at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2, when most pupils are aged 7 and 11 respectively. Until 2008, assessments were also required at the end of Key Stage 3 (14-year-olds) in secondary schools.

The assessments were introduced following the introduction of a National Curriculum to schools in England and Wales under the Education Reform Act 1988. As the curriculum was gradually rolled out from 1989, statutory assessments were introduced between 1991 and 1995, with those in Key Stage 1 first, following by Key Stages 3 and 2 respectively as each cohort completed a full key stage. The assessments were introduced only for the core subjects of English, Mathematic and Science. The first assessments in Key Stage 1 were a range of cross-curricular tasks to be delivered in the classroom, known as standardised assessment tasks - hence the common acronym 'SATs'. However, the complexity of the use of these meant they were quickly replaced by more formal tasks. The assessments in Key Stages 2 and 3 were developed using more traditional tests.

In all 3 Key Stages, tests became the main form of statutory assessment, but a separate strand of Teacher Assessment was also used. This allowed teachers to make judgements about pupils they taught, based on their knowledge of the pupil's learning and attainment against the attainment targets contained within the national curriculum. The results of both tests and teacher assessments were reported using a common scale of attainment levels, numbered 1 to 8 across the three key stages, with the national expectation that pupils would achieve Level 2 at the age of 7; Level 4 at the age of 11; and Level 5 or 6 by the age of 14.

This model continued, with minor adjustments to reflect the changing content of the National Curriulum, up to 2004. From 2005, the role of the tests was downplayed at Key Stage 1, with tests being used only internally to support teacher assessment judgements. Further changes came in 2008 when the government announced that testing in Key Stage 3 was to be scrapped altogether.

In 2013, then Education Minister, Michael Gove announced that when the new version of the National Curriculum was introduced to schools from 2014, the system of attainment levels would be removed. As a result, since 2016, the old system have levels is no longer used as part of statutory assessment. Instead, tests and teacher assessments now follow different models at each key stage.

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