More than a million school children in England aged 11 and 14 will get their "Sats" results late this year. Delivery of the national curriculum test results to schools, due next week, has been delayed by administrative chaos for at least a week. Markers have been warning for months of problems at ETS, the firm handling the process this year for the first time.
The National Assessment Agency says the 8 July deadline will not be met. The government is to set up an inquiry. In a letter to the chairman of the Commons schools select committee, England's Schools Secretary Ed Balls said the delay was unsatisfactory and "clearly unacceptable". Teachers being signed up by the company to mark the test scripts began complaining about administrative problems months ago, and a lack of response from the company's telephone helpline.
Schools Minister Jim Knight told BBC News he had been aware of the warnings. "I have had regular meetings with the agency responsible. They've given me consistent reassurance that they would be able to meet the 8 July deadline," he said.
"In the last couple of weeks, they've expressed concerns they wouldn't be able to for the Key Stage 3 English - but it's only in the last two days that the story changed dramatically so that we lost all confidence that we would be able to meet the Tuesday 8 July deadline."
Shadow schools secretary Michael Gove said he had warned the government about the problems a month ago. "Ministers cannot evade responsibility for the damage done to the credibility of Britain's exam system," he said.
The head of the marking project at ETS, Andy Latham, apologised for what had happened and said he was disappointed by the delay but it had to be seen in context.
"For me the single most important thing is to deliver high quality, accurate marks to the students and that's what I'm focusing on."
It would not happen again, he promised.
Does it really matter that these results are late and then by only a week, it won’t affect the children’s future. It not like they were GCSE of A level results. From the information in news most teachers say Sats are not important anyway and don’t want them. As for a public enquiry it would be a waste of time and money. ETS should have some financial punishment yes, with hold some of they payments because they have not met they contract. The media are once again blowing this all out of proportion its just bullshit and not important.
