Coming from North America, I have had to familiarise
myself with the National Curriculum grading scheme used in England, Wales and
Northern Ireland. As my interest is in academic achievement and its connection
to mental health, I have been particularly focused on the testing and grading
component of the education system. The challenge in understanding the system is
that it has undergone many changes, particularly in the past decade and there
are various metrics used to represent students’ achievement, all of which serve
various purposes. As such, I have spent much of my time gathering bits of
information from various places, such as electronic resources (see links
provided below), as well as conversations with my colleagues and various organisation
representatives.
I would like to share what I have learned so far
(although my knowledge is still evolving), as I imagine others new to the
British school system may find this helpful. To be clear, this is not a
comprehensive overview of the grading scheme, however, but merely a brief
summary to get you started. Additionally, I confine the discussion to primary
(ages 5-11 years) and secondary (ages 11-16 years) schools, as this is the
focus in my research.
To begin, it is important to understand that the Nation
Curriculum is composed of Key Stages (KS; from primary to secondary school,
there are four: KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4), which signify points at which children and
young people are expected to have acquired a certain amount of knowledge and
skills. At each KS, assessments are made by teachers (and throughout the school
years; see Table 1) and at KS2 and KS4, students also undergo National Curriculum
Assessments (or Standard Assessment Tests [SATS]; not to be confused with the
SAT used in the USA for college admittance) and the General Certificate of
Secondary Education (GCSE) exams, respectively. These standardised tests ensure
that students are assessed similarly across schools and help teachers to make
sure they are marking students fairly.
Table 1
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National Curriculum assessment structurea
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Key Stage (KS)
|
School Year
|
Age
(Years)
|
Possible attainment
Levels/grades
|
Expected attainment
level/grades
|
Assessment type/ Subjects
assessed
|
1
|
1-2
|
5-7
|
1-3
|
2 (at age 7 years)
|
Teacher assessments of:
English, speaking and listening,
mathematics and science)
|
2
|
3-6
|
7-11
|
2-5
|
4 (at age 11 years)
|
SATS in: English, reading,
writing, mathematics
Teacher assessments of:
English, mathematics and science
|
3
|
7-9
|
11-14
|
3-7
|
5 or 6 (at age 14 years)
|
Teacher assessments of:
English, mathematics, and science (prior to 2009, SATS were taken at KS3)
|
4
|
10-11
|
14-16
|
A*
(highest), A, B, C (Level 2)
D,
E, F, G (Level 1)
|
Five Level 2 (A*-C)
passes
(age 14 -16 years)
|
GCSE exam or other national
qualificationsb
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Note: bGCSE exams in English and
mathematics are generally taken by all students in combination with other
compulsory curriculum subjects (e.g., science, history, geography, modern
foreign language, design and technology, art and design, music, physical
education, citizenship, information and communication technology, sex and
relationship education, religious education)
Information for this table comes from
multiple sources from the DfE (2011a, 2011b, 2011c, 2012b, 2013) and the UK Government (GOV.UK, 2013)
As indicated in Table 1, students receive marks in the form of Levels from KS1- KS3 and grades in KS4. Levels are often converted to Point Scores (see Table 2) for the purposes of creating Performance Tables for each school and predicting students’ expected outcomes in KS4 (to track progress in terms of under-/over-/expected achievement). There are various ways in which GCSE exam results can be represented, but the most common method one is likely to come across are the grades (A*-G, where A*-C represents a Level 2 [different from the Levels used in KS1-KS3] and D-G represents a Level 1 qualification; the latter is a higher qualification). Grades can also be equated to Base Points ( which closely resembles Point Scores), or represented as a Level or numeric value (see Table 2). It is also important to note that students take GCSE examines at different tiers in maths and science according to their level of functioning (determined prior to the exam) in these subjects. | |||||
Table 2
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Key Stage 2 Point
Scores for all academic subjects
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NCA Level
|
Point Score
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5
|
33
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4
|
27
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3
|
21
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2
|
15
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N - Not awarded a test level
|
15
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B - Working below the level of the tests
|
15
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Key Stage 3 Point
Scores for English, mathematics, and science
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NCA Level
|
Point Score English
|
Point Score
Maths and Science
|
|
E (Exceptional)
|
57
|
57
|
|
8
|
51
|
51
|
|
7
|
45
|
45
|
|
6
|
39
|
39
|
|
5
|
33
|
33
|
|
4
|
27
|
27
|
|
3
|
21
|
21
|
|
2
|
15
|
15
|
|
Compensatory 2
|
N/A
|
15
|
|
N (not awarded a test
level)
|
21
|
15
|
|
B (working below the
level of the test)
|
21
|
15
|
|
D (Disapplied i.e., not
taught the National Curriculum, usually due to special educational
needs/disability; D. Walton, personal communication n.d.)
|
Disregard (D)*
|
D
|
|
Key Stage 4 (GCSE) Point Scores for all academic subjects
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GCSE grade
qualification
|
Base pointsa
|
Level
|
Numeric Score
|
A*
|
58
|
2
|
8
|
A
|
52
|
2
|
7
|
B
|
46
|
2
|
6
|
C
|
40
|
2
|
5
|
D
|
34
|
1
|
4
|
E
|
28
|
1
|
3
|
F
|
22
|
1
|
2
|
G
|
16
|
1
|
1
|
Note: This
table was adapted from the tables in Department for Education (DfE; 2011d, pp. 1, 3, 9) and DfE (n.d.)
*Disregarded
means these results will not contribute towards the average point scores (DfE, n.d.)
aBase points are used to predict KS4 results from KS2
and KS3 outcomes and making other performance table and value added
calculations (R. Baker, personal communication, June 13, 2013).
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The assessments from KS SATS and GCSEs are stored in the
National Pupil Database (NPD), which is used by the Department for Education
(DfE) to produce performance table results. Data from the NDP can also be
requested to access by researchers; the project I am involved with has obtained
information for the cohort of students under investigation.
As can be seen, there are many ways students in Britain
can be marked. It would be nice if a continuous scale was in use to assess
achievement across the KS, as this would make it possible to conduct
statistical modeling analyses (e.g., growth mixture modeling, which in
simplistic terms allows one to examine the academic trajectories of different
groups of individuals within a population). However, this is not the case, and
like many other situations faced in research, one is left to use his or her
creativity to work around the peculiarities of ‘real world’ situations and find
solutions that either overcome the presenting limitations or approach the issue
from a different perspective.
LINKS for information about academic achievement
testing and the ways assessments outcomes can be represented:
·
Department for Education (DfE; official UK
government webpage; (searching for ‘assessments’ under the ‘Publication’
section is a good way to start): http://www.education.gov.uk/
·
Other organisations and qualification
services websites that I have found contain useful
information are:
o National
Foundation for Education (service that specialises in research on evaluation and
assessment in education): http://www.nfer.ac.uk/
o Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA;
awarding body for academic qualifications): http://www.aqa.org.uk/
o Oxford
Cambridge and RSA [Royal Society for the Arts] Examinations (ORC; developers
and awarding body for educational and vocational qualifications): http://www.ocr.org.uk/
o Edexcel
(organisation that offers academic and vocational qualifications and training
to schools): http://www.edexcel.com/
o NPD wiki (helpful information if using data
obtained from this database): http://nationalpupildatabase.wikispaces.com/
o UK
National Statistics publication hub: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/children-education-skills/index.html
References
Department for Education (DfE). (2011a). How do pupils progress
during key stages 2 and 3? London, UK: DfE. Retrieved from
https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DFE-RR096.pdf
Department for Education (DfE). (2011b). National Curriculum
Assessment at key stage 2 in England. London, UK: DfE. Retrieved from
http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/m/main%20text%20sfr312011.pdf
Department for Education (DfE). (2011c). National Curriculum
Assessment at key stage 1 in England. London, UK: DfE. Retrieved from
http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/s/main%20text%20sfr222011.pdf
Department for Education (DfE). (2011d). Test and examination point
scores used in the 2011 school and college performance tables. London, UK:
DfE. Retrieved from
http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/secondary_11/PointsScoreAllocation2011.pdf
Department for Education (DfE). (2012). GCSE and equivalent results
in England: 2011/12. London, UK: DfE. Retrieved from
https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DFE-RR096.pdf
Department for Education (DfE). (2013). GCSE and equivalent
attainment by pupil characacteristics in England. London, UK: DfE.
Retrieved from
https://www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/DFE-RR096.pdf
Department for Education (DfE). (n.d.). Value added technical
information. Retrieved May 31, 2013, from
http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance/archive/schools_04/sec3b.shtml
GOV.UK. (2013). Guide to the national curriculum. Retrieved March 13,
2013, from https://www.gov.uk/national-curriculum/overview
