§ Mrs. Ann TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will publish the full data upon which he based his evidence to the Education Select Committee on 11 March concerning the reading ages of secondary school children.
§ Mr. ForthThe data were drawn from an internal evaluation, commissioned by SEAC, of the 1992 pilot English tests for 14-year-olds. Some 12,000 pupils from 102 schools took part in the pilot. Complete information is available for some 9,300 pupils. The sample as a whole was deliberately constructed to have a disproportionately high number of pupils (over 1,000) with special educational needs, with 3 per cent. of the total sample having statements of special needs. Excluding these pupils from the calculations, for a sample of 8,100 pupils, achievements in reading were as follows:
- approximately 9 per cent. achieved level 7 and above—above average achievement for 14-year-olds;
- 58 per cent. achieved levels 5 and 6—about the average for 14-year-olds;
- 29 per cent. achieved levels 3 and 4—which are the levels expected for typical pupils aged 9 to 11;
- 4 per cent. achieved levels 1 and 2—which are the levels expected for pupils aged 5 to 7.