§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland when he intends to publish the 1984 assessment of achievement programme English report.
§ Mr. Michael Forsyth[holding answer 11 May 1989]: The report will be published in May 1989, along with the reports on home economics and technical education.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if the 1983 P4 sample used by Northern college researchers in the assessment of achievement programme—second round mathematics—changes in performance at P4 and P7 between 1983 and 1988, was numerically representative of all the divisions in Strathclyde and the remaining 11 regions and island education authority areas.
§ Mr. Michael Forsyth[holding answer 11 May 1989]: The sample was not a simple random sample of all Scottish P4 pupils in state supported schools. The sampling proceeded in two stages: first, a sample of primary schools was drawn; and second, from within these schools, samples of P4 pupils were drawn. The numbers of pupils, on which the statistical results of the survey have been reported, were properly representative of Scottish education authorities.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give for both the 1983 and 1988 sample used in the assessment of achievement programme—second round mathematics—changes in performance at P4 and P7 between 1983 and 1988, the proportions of schools in each of the 11 regions and islands education authority areas and for each education division of Strathclyde.
§ Mr. Michael Forsyth[holding answer 11 May 1989]: The assessment of achievement programme is not designed to provide comparisons between education authorities or between schools. The sample sizes used give reliable feedback on performance at national level only. Information relating to identified schools or education authorities is not released under the terms of an agreement with the Association of Directors of Education of Scotland (ADES).
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether similar numbers of children with special needs were included in both the 1983 and 1988 samples used by Northern college in the research work carried out on the assesment of achievement programme—second round mathematics—changes in performance at P4 and P7 between 1983 and 1988.
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§ Mr. Michael Forsyth[holding answer 11 May 1989]: The sampling procedures used in 1983 and 1988 were designed to provide a nationally representative sample of pupils in mainstream state-supported schools.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give the total amount of money being spent annually on the assessment of achievement programme through which the Scottish Education Department monitors standards in Scottish schools.
§ Mr. Michael Forsyth[holding answer 11 May 1989]: Planned expenditure in 1989–90 is £170,000.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will publish details of the 1988 sampling used by Northern college in the research on assessment of achievement programme—second round mathematics—changes in performance at P4 and P7 between 1983 and 1988;
(2) if information on the social background of pupils was collected in 1988 as part of the research carried out by Northern college on the assessment of achievement programme—second round mathematics—changes in performance at P4 and P7 between 1983 and 1988.
Mr. Michael Forstyth[holding answer 11 May 1989]: Details of the sampling procedures will be included in the final report of the 1988 assessment of achievement programme second round mathematics project.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) if he will give details of the brief given to Northern college for the preparation of the interim report on changes in performance at P4 and P7 between 1983 and 1988;
(2) if he will give the date when the steering committee responsible for the research programme carried out by the Northern college on the assessment of achievement programme—second round mathematics—changes in performance at P4 and P7 between 1983 and 1988, agreed to ask for an interim report;
(3) if he will give the date on which the Northern college was asked to prepare the interim report on the assessment of achievement programme—second round mathematics —changes in performance at P4 and P7 between 1983 and 1988.
§ Mr. Michael Forsyth[holding answer 11 May 1989]: Preliminary analysis to provide a comparison of performance on common items used in 1983 and 1988 was carried out by the assessment of achievement programme central support unit, Scottish Council for Research in Education. This analysis was discussed at the assessment of achievement programme mathematics project steering committee meeting on 24 October 1988. The committee agreed to give this matter priority and the researchers were asked to prepare a paper which subsequently formed the basis of the interim report.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if Northern college was asked to prepare an interim report on the internal research brief given to them on the assessment of achievement programme—second round mathematics—change in performance at P4 and P7 between 1983 and 1988.
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§ Mr. Michael Forsyth[holding answer 11 May 1989]: An interim report was produced as a result of concerns arising from a preliminary analysis of the survey results.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if any discussions took place between the Scottish Office and Northern college regarding the contents of the interim report changes in performance at P4 and P7 between 1983 and 1988 before the report was published.
§ Mr. Michael Forsyth[holding answer 11 May 1989]: Yes.
§ Mr. McLeishTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will give the names of the steering committee responsible for the research programme carried out by the Northern college on the assessment of achievement programme—second round mathematics—changes in performance at P4 and P7 between 1983 and 1988.
§ Mr. Michael Forsyth[holding answer 11 May 1989]: The members of the 1988 assessment of achievement Programme mathematics project steering committee are:
Position held Mr. D. Dunn Assistant Headteacher, Banff Academy, Grampian Regional Council Mr. N. Henderson Principal Adviser Primary Education, Lothian Regional Council Mrs. S. Livingstone Principal Teacher of Learning Support, Wallace High School, Central Regional Council Mr. D. Macdonald Mathematics Adviser, Highland Regional Council Mrs. C. McWhirter Headteacher, Gilburn Primary School, Tayside Regional Council Mr. W. Mein Her Majesty's Inspector of Schools (Chairman) Mr. G. Thorpe Scottish Council for Research in Education Mr. B. Semple Principal Research Officer, SED.