Sats?

[observer]

Once upon a time, kids took exams and tests which were then marked by teachers - no probs, it stood the test of time. Then for some strange reason, marking was made the responsibility of an arms length quango, who then outsourced it to a US Company - and it's all fallen apart. Why is it that this Government seem to want to tinker with everything - if it ain't broke don't fix it.

[Bazj]

Because this government is an all controlling power mad dictatorship which thinks it can inflict its will on the people by flexing its muscle and abusing its majority.

 

Brown is as crazy as Hitler but without the murdering bit!

 

Roll on 2010

[Paul Kennedy]

Scrap them. Alas many children and parents have been brainwashed into thinking they are important.

[asperity]

The government is meddling in all the issues it can because all the big decisions are made by the unelected bureaucrats in Brussels. In turn local councils are finding that central government is making all the decisions on matters that used to be done locally so they are reduced to interfering in the minutae of our lives such as persecuting us for not shutting our bins properly. So we've ended up with loads of petty bureacrats endlessly telling us what we should and shouldn't be doing. Pitiful.

[observer]

Right on Asp: the theory of devolution (muluti-tier authorities) can be sound; PROVIDING power is handed DOWN to the lowest optimum level of governance. Problem is: politicians love the thought of control and power, thus everything heads in an upward direction as you say.

[Dizzy]

Once upon a time, kids took exams and tests which were then marked by teachers - no probs, it stood the test of time. Then for some strange reason, marking was made the responsibility of an arms length quango, who then outsourced it to a US Company - and it's all fallen apart. Why is it that this Government seem to want to tinker with everything - if it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

I agree Obs. Must admit I was very shocked when I found out that the US were marking ous kids STATS papers. Surely that can't be right although aparently it has been this way for quite some time

 

I would imagine that the US have different teaching methods etc and although a wrong answer is a wrong answer but surely it's open to misinterpretation or lack of knowledge of our methods in the case of shown workings out in maths or science or even more so in the case of english language written papers.

 

I believe students in the US have also been marking our papers to speed up the process

[Dizzy]

Scrap them. Alas many children and parents have been brainwashed into thinking they are important.

 

Are you suggesting we scrap the GCSE's and A Levels etc too Paul to stop parents and pupils also being branwashed into thinking these are important

 

Although I agree that the SATS are a farce at the moment I disagree with you completely that they should be totally scrapped.

 

The way I see them is that they give the kids, especially at the age of 14, and indication into what taking exams will be like when they are in their final years of school. A bit of a wake up call so to speak.

 

My son did quite well in his although could have done better..... he now realises that it's not quite as simple as he thought and that more hard work and effort needs to be put in if you want to get the really top marks

[Mary]

As far as I know all students wanting to enter college or university in the U.S. have to take the SAT's. They are expensive and very tough to do. Now if your an older person - over 25 you do not have to take the exams.

[Dizzy]

I rest my case Mary.... our education system is different.

 

SATS over here are done in the final year of primary school (age 10/11) and half way through senior school (age 13/14)

 

To get into College / University you need to have gained sufficient passes in your GCSEs / AS's or whatever they are called (was CSE, O'Levels and A'Levels in my day) which are done at age 16.

[Paul Kennedy]

Scrap them. Alas many children and parents have been brainwashed into thinking they are important.

 

Are you suggesting we scrap the GCSE's and A Levels etc too Paul to stop parents and pupils also being branwashed into thinking these are important

 

Although I agree that the SATS are a farce at the moment I disagree with you completely that they should be totally scrapped.

 

The way I see them is that they give the kids, especially at the age of 14, and indication into what taking exams will be like when they are in their final years of school. A bit of a wake up call so to speak.

 

My son did quite well in his although could have done better..... he now realises that it's not quite as simple as he thought and that more hard work and effort needs to be put in if you want to get the really top marks

 

No not at all, although some schools clearly want to replace them with an International Baccalaureate.

 

As I recall when I was at school they set their own end of year exams that the teachers marked, system worked well.

[asperity]

My school was the same PK, but unfortunately that sort of end of term testing is now seen as "competitive" in the same way as sports. All pupils are now of equal ability and therefore the outcome is that all pupils leave school equally educated ie very poorly.

[Dizzy]

Are you suggesting we scrap the GCSE's and A Levels etc too Paul to stop parents and pupils also being branwashed into thinking these are important

 

No not at all, although some schools clearly want to replace them with an International Baccalaureate.

 

As I recall when I was at school they set their own end of year exams that the teachers marked, system worked well.

 

What on earth is an International Baccalaureate ? It sounds rather foreign to me and can't be bothered to look the meaning up.

 

End of year internal exams are fine as long as all schools set the exams and mark them to the same standards...

 

Your own teachers marking them mmmm? OK as long as you haven't ruffled their feathers over the past year or they aren't just wanting to achieve high scores for their own school to benefit their CV's

[Dizzy]

All pupils are now of equal ability and therefore the outcome is that all pupils leave school equally educated ie very poorly.

 

I hope not

 

In the recent year 9 SATS in my sons class some kids came out with very high level 8 marks, some with level 6/7 normal to above average and some were unfortunately very below average and in some cases unmarkable

 

Must be hard for teachers to teach with such a differing level of abilities or understanding.

 

Perhaps the old days of the 11+ and Grammer / Secondary Schools was not such a bad an idea after all.

[observer]

It wasn't broke, so why fix it? Cos they want every kid , no matter how thick they are, to get somekind of "qualification", even if it's a degree in dancing. So they've dumbed down our education system to accomodate the slowest ships. Meanwhile, our Universities are now trying to maximise degree success (at any price) in order to attract customers. They're trying to recreate the world they imagine, rather than dealing with reality.

[Dizzy]

True, guess it's upto the parents to remind kids what they really need gain from school eh?

 

We after all have probably learned from our experiences and know if you want to be an engineer/designer/pilot/brain surgeon for example a degree in cookery tends not to really help although it may tick a relevnat box to help get you in

 

Gone are the days of real education, real qualifications and do they do real apprenticeships anymore ?

 

But still we must encourage our offspring to do their very best and make them understand that their educational days and exams are probably the most important times of their lives

[Mary]

Every year on most states they have a set of standardized tests - for most grades. In Florida it is called the FCAT. What happens is the teachers teach to these tests in order for their students to do ell on the exams. If the school get an over all great result - an A - they get extra money. So most teachers are willing to teach to the test.

 

The other side of it is that the kids are learning something because they are passing these tests.

 

It is a very competitive process and I do not like it - I think the kids go in with as much knowledge and they can muster and in a week only remember 25% of it.

 

But what do I know - I just teach.

[Jerry]

I'm with you Mary. I don't approve of standardized tests, one size fits all. STudents need a certain amount of factual material but above all they must learn to be curious and to think and analyze for themselves.