ETS Europe, who are running this year's SATs, are apparently going to be late with their homework, i.e. returning properly-marked test papers on time. they haven't actually said "Sorry, Miss, the cat's eaten my marking," but it's only a matter of time. What they have managed to do is to return some Maths and Science papers on time, although the quality of marking has been questioned by the candidates' own teachers, who presumably have a better idea of their pupils' abilities than contract markers at ETS.
Due to, er, the bus being late or something, several boxes of papers were returned not only unmarked but also to the wrong school. You don't get much more wrong than that. meanwhile, ETS are now complaining that their English homework was too hard and can they please have a bit longer? They've just noticed, you see, that Maths answers are either right or wrong, whereas English answers contain SENTENCES and will require qualitative assessment. Also, it's their Auntie's wedding on Saturday and they won't get back till, like, really late so they'll be too tired on Sunday.
While we wait to discover if the whole class of ETS will be kept in after school, the leader of the National Association of Head Teachers, Mick Brookes, has called for this year's shambolic tests to be annulled:
" if there are widespread problems in the marking and the quality of the marking then this year's tests - publication of them - should be scrapped."
The chief executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), which is ultimately responsible for the tests, Ken Boston, is to be questioned on Monday by the select committee in an emergency session.But the committee chair, Barry Sheerman, said talk of the results having lost credibility was premature.
Hmm. What do you think, boys and girls?
Where, meanwhile, did QCA find ETS, and just how much cheaper were ETS than the other tenders? We have a right to know.
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