The threshold for reaching the expected standard for key stage 1 reading and maths tests has been raised slightly this year, the Department for Education has announced.
Both tests have seen a one-point increase in the expected standard threshold, under the 2022 scaled score conversions for KS1, published today.
In the reading test, the threshold has been raised from 25 out of 40 in 2019 to 26 this year.
In maths, the 2019 threshold of 34 out of 60 has this year been raised to 35.
The threshold for the spelling, punctuation and grammar (Spag) test remains unchanged since 2019 at 24 out of 40.
Year 2 pupils this year sat the first Sats tests in three years, owing to the effects of the pandemic.
Each year, pupils’ raw scores are converted into a scaled score which, according to the DfE, ensures it “can make accurate comparisons of pupil performance over time”.
The expected standard has not changed, remaining at between 100 and 115.
Changes to the thresholds reflect variations in the difficulties of Sats tests each year.
School leaders’ union NAHT president Paul Gosling stated today that he had represented the union at this year’s Standards and Testing Agency (STA) standards maintenance meeting ”where the thresholds were agreed and set”.
He added that “the standard remains the same”.
However, the move has sparked some debate on Twitter, with some like Chris Dyson, head of Parklands Primary School in Leeds, labelling the raise in the threshold “absolute nonsense” due to Covid-related learning loss.
However, Mr Dyson later tweeted that his Year 2 teacher was “not fussed” as “the test was a lot easier than previously”.
The discussion has also caused some confusion over what exactly has been altered.
Many were concerned that the change means the expected standard has been raised, but this is not the case - a point emphasised by school data expert James Pembroke.
While some have called for the standard to be lowered this year to take account of the pandemic, Andy Richbell, headteacher at St Nicolas CE Primary School in East Sussex, said that maintaining the standard was the “only logical thing to do”.
He added that the “only justification” for proceeding with Sats this year was to see what the “academic impact of the pandemic has been”.
“Therefore the standard has to be maintained.”
The Reception baseline assessment was set to replace key stage 1 Sats in 2023. However, DfE timetables published in April still list the key stage 1 assessments for the 2023-24 academic year.
The phonics screening week is due to start on Monday 6 June.
