Monitoring Student Progress in Mathematics and Science
National curriculum subjects are assessed each year by teachers making summary judgments. In addition, under the aegis of the Department for Education (DfE), the Standards and Testing Agency (STA) develops tests for Key Stages 1 and 2, and a phonics screening check for 6-year-old children. Students take statutory examinations in mathematics and English at the end of Key Stage 2, which are written and graded externally. Until 2009, they also took external examinations in science, but national standards in science now are measured through a statutory sampling arrangement. Beginning in 2012, arrangements were put in place to allow teachers to assess English writing based on their own judgment. Test results are provided to parents and published at the school level, and are used to evaluate school and student performance. Aggregated school data are used to present an overall picture of local and national attainment.
Until the early 2000s, students were assessed externally at the end of Key Stage 3 in English, mathematics, and science. Now, they are assessed by teachers’ summative judgments across all subjects. These results are not collected by the DfE or published.
Students from age 14 onward pursue separate subject qualifications. Examination papers for subject qualifications are written externally, administered under controlled conditions, and graded by an awarding body. Internal assessment is limited to coursework or controlled assessment, and very few new qualifications, which will be introduced starting in 2015, contain coursework or controlled assessment.
Most students ages 14 to 16 take General Certification of Secondary Education examinations (GCSEs). GCSEs are graded on a scale of A* through G, where only grades A* through C are considered a “good pass.” For the student cohort beginning in 2015 and taking their first examinations in 2017, GCSEs will be graded on a scale of 9 (highest) to 1 (lowest). On average, students take eight GCSEs.21 In 2011, the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) was introduced to recognize achievement of good passes on GCSEs in English, mathematics, sciences, languages, and humanities. From 2016, Progress 8 will replace the existing five A*–C English and mathematics headline measure. Progress 8 will show students’ progress across eight qualifications—English, mathematics, three other EBacc subjects, and three further subjects—compared to other students with the same starting point at the end of Key Stage 2. There is no national curriculum for students over 16, but those who have not yet passed English and mathematics must continue to study those subjects.