§ Mr. Don FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what assessment his Department has made of the relative standards achieved at Level 4 in(a) Key Stage 2 and (b) Key Stage 3 National Curriculum English Tests; and what research underlies this assessment. [28789]
§ Mr. ByersThe Qualification and Curriculum Authority (QCA) is responsible for the standards demanded in statutory tests and takes a number of measures to ensure comparability of standards between Key Stages. These include cross-Key Stage pre-tests before the tests are finalised and script scrutiny to compare pupil performance across the Key Stage tests. QCA has published details of the test development process in its leaflet "Key Stages 1–3 National Curriculum Tests: Setting and Maintaining the Standards" and in its annual Standards Reports. I have placed copies of these publications in the Library.