1998/9 Task Group on Assessment and Testing
               report to Kenneth Baker
         recommendations about teachers’ role
   •14.The  national  assessment  system  should  be  based  on  a 
    combination  of  moderated  teachers'  ratings  and  standardised 
    assessment tasks.  (Paragraph 63)
   •15.Group moderation should be an integral part of the national 
    assessment system.  It should be used to produce the agreed 
    combination of moderated teachers' ratings and the results of the 
    national tests.  (Paragraph 77)
   •17.The final reports on individual pupils to their parents should be 
    the  responsibility  of  the  teacher,  supported  by  standardised 
    assessment tasks and group moderation.  (Paragraph 80)
    2
    New Minister - new national assessment 
                       tasks
     (The original tasks ) were made a little too 
     complicated and we have said we will simplify 
     them. . .  The complications themselves were 
     largely designed in the first place in an attempt 
     to pacify opponents who feared above all else 
     'paper and pencil' tests. . . This opposition to 
     testing and examinations is largely based on a 
     folk memory in the left about the old debate on 
     the 11-plus and grammar schools.                       
                                         ( Clarke 
     1991)
    3
                        Margaret Thatcher’s opinion
      • Ken Baker warmly welcomed the report. Whether he 
          had read it properly I do not know: if he had it says 
          much for his stamina. Certainly I had no opportunity 
          to do so before agreeing to its publication . . .that it 
          was then welcomed by the Labour party, the National 
          Union of Teachers and the Times Educational 
          Supplement was enough to confirm for me that its 
          approach was suspect.
      •   Pp.594-5 in THATCHER, M.  (1993) The Downing Street Years   
          (London, Harper Collins).                                     4
           Purposes of assessment
    1  Formative - develop pupils’ as learners
    2  Summative for individuals
    3  Accountability - of teachers, of schools, of nations
                Synergies and tensions :
                 3 separate methods ?
                   or multi-purpose?
   5
                    Validity 
               Validity is achieved when
     inferences that users of the results need to make 
              are justified by the evidence
                    The users are:
                     The student 
         Those who teach that student next year
                 Or in the next school
     And all involved with the student after schooling 
                      completed
   6