§ Mr. SpearingTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, pursuant to her answer of 25 March,Official Report, columns 434-35, what evidence she has evaluated which shows that performance of a school pupil in respect of subjects and grades achieved in any public examination at the age of 16-plus years can be predicted on the basis of assessment made at the age of 11-plus years. [25852]
§ Mr. PaiceThe school year 1999–2000 will be the first year when it will be possible to compare pupils' 1995 key stage 2 national curriculum assessment results at age 11 with the same pupils' public examination results at age 16.
The majority of existing local schemes that I am aware of use GCSE examination results in any measurement of value added at secondary level. Measurement with other results, such as vocational qualifications, is made more difficult because the nature of the qualifications aimed for are often not directly comparable with the previous academic attainments of the pupils concerned.