EDUCATION chiefs have defended shock figures which show less than two thirds of 11-year-olds in Scarbor-ough and the rest of North Yorkshire had made the grade in their SATs.
The figure of 64 per cent means almost four out of every 10 of those tested cannot read, write or make simple calculations to the required standard.
The figures also revealed that only 59 per cent of boys and 70 per cent of girls had attained leve
l four and above in the Key Stage Two Standard Assess-ment Tests (SATs).
As a whole the Yorkshire and Humber region was placed joint bottom of the test’s league table with an average of 59 per cent of all 11-year-olds gaining level four and above – alongside the West Midlands.
But critics have claimed the figures do not give a full picture as all schools have not received their results and there were problems in the quality of the marking and many papers were sent back after teachers queried results.
A council spokeswoman said: “North Yorkshire County Council has already expressed frustration on behalf of schools, parents and pupils about the delay in providing complete and reliable sets of test results this year.
“As we understand it the latest position is that information is being provided for schools to check but that we do not expect to have a complete picture until September.”
Figures published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families today show the council’s primary schools have received a 96 per cent return on KS2 results in English, 99 per cent in Maths and 98 per cent in science.
The spokeswoman added: “We believe the English return in particular is less than satisfactory, given that many of our schools have in any case sent back returned papers for remarking. Nineteen schools in North Yorkshire have not yet received a full set of results.”
The results were overshadowed by on-going delays with marking this year’s tests where the delivery of results to schools was delayed due to problems with marking and inputting data.
A spokesman for the National Association of Head Teachers said they had received more than 300 examples of maladministration and inaccuracies. He said: “These may well represent only the tip of the iceberg in terms of national concerns about the reliability and validity of this year’s results.”
The full article contains 402 words and appears in Scarborough Evening News newspaper.
