Tested, and found wanting

摘要

Perhaps it was the praise showered on his boss, Gordon Brown, for getting on with rescuing banks that encouraged Ed Balls to take decisive action. On October 14th the schools secretary told Parliament that he was abolishing the "standard assessment tests" (sats) in English, mathematics and science for 14-year-olds, which were, he said, "less and less relevant". The sats taken by seven-year-olds and marked by their teachers as well as the externally-marked ones for 11-year-olds would continue. But even this partial climb-down will have embarrassed a government that has long seen sats as vital to improving teaching and informing parental school choice.