Korean universities
National Curriculum assessment, a series of educational assessments in the United Kingdom colloquially known as Sats or SATs
Stanford Achievement Test Series, a battery of tests used for assessing academic knowledge of elementary and secondary students in the United States
College Scholastic Ability TestFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search
College Scholastic Ability Test
Revised Romanization Daehak suhak neungnyeok siheom
McCune–Reischauer Taehak suhak nŭngnyŏk sihŏm
College Scholastic Ability Test also known as Suneung (수능) is a type of standardized test accepted by all South Korean universities. Suneung is managed by the Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation. The test is offered on the second Thursday of November of every year.
On the test day, government employees arrive to work later than the ordinary time to avoid traffic jams that could prevent students from getting to testing sites. The CSAT is one of the most rigorous standardized tests in existence, and students start preparing for it as early as elementary school. Since South Korea has one of the highest number of post-secondary degree holders in the world, the extreme pressure felt by students culminate to teenage depression and high rates of suicide.
Often, students are escorted by police, especially if students don't think they will arrive at the test center on time and planes are grounded to reduce noise pollution. Since the test is almost a life-or-death exam for students, the preparation for it is so secure and strict that since its beginning from 1993, Suneung questions were never leaked. Questions are made by chosen professors and teachers, who are locked in a hotel with blacked windows, no communication and a full library of questions until the end of Suneung.
National Curriculum assessment From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search
Contents [hide]
1 Terminology
2 Data
2.1 Key Stage 1
2.2 Key Stage 2
2.3 Key Stage 3
2.4 Optional tests
3 Criticisms
4 References
5 External links
National Curriculum assessments are a series of educational assessments, colloquially known as Sats[1] or SATs,[2] used to assess the attainment of children attending maintained schools in England. They comprise a mixture of teacher-led and test-based assessment depending on the age of the pupils.
The tests were introduced for 7-year-olds for the academic year ending July 1991, and for 11-year-olds in the academic year ending July 1995
Similar tests were introduced for 14-year-olds for the academic year ending July 1998 but were scrapped at the end of the academic year ending July 2009.
In 2012, L6 National Curriculum maths tests were introduced for the exceptionally more able. They were not mandatory, and teachers had to apply to give their pupils the test. There were L6 maths SATs in 2002, but were scrapped by the Labour party after being deemed 'too hard'. Many do say that the 2002 L6 SATs were harder than the 2012 SATs. The tests are 30mins long. There are 2: 'Test A' and 'Test B', but no 'Mental' maths tests, unlike the standard Level 3-5 tests.
The assessments are completed at the end of each Key Stage and record attainment in terms of National Curriculum attainment levels, numbered between 1 and 8. The expectations for each stage are set out as follows:
Key Stage School Year Approximate
Pupil Age Expected
Level[5] Highest Level Achievable by Test
Key Stage 1 Year 2 7 2 3
Key Stage 2 Year 6 11 4 6
Key Stage 3 Year 9 14 5 or 6 8
Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Key Stage Key Stage 1
Key Stage 2
Key Stage 3
TerminologyThe terminology used for the assessments varies both in type and context. Where assessments are made in-school by class teachers, these are referred to as Teacher Assessments. These assessments make up part of the final assessment at the end of all Key Stages
Where assessment is completed through testing, these assessments are known as National Curriculum Tests.
Colloquially the assessments—particularly in the test form—are referred to as SATs. This terminology is rooted in the original intention to introduce Standard Assessment Tasks when the assessments were first introducedThe term is variously believed to stand for Statutory Assessment Tests, Standard Attainment Tests,[10] Standardised Achievement Tests and Standard Assessment Tests. "SATs" is pronounced as one word, rather than the American SATs (where the letters "SAT" are pronounced individually).
DataIn England, data collected from the assessments at all three key stages are published nationally in performance tables produced by the Department for Children, Schools and Families alongside data for secondary schools relating to performance at Key Stage 4.
Key Stage 1During Year 2, teacher assessment is carried out in the core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science. In English, teachers are required to record a level in the three strands of Reading, Writing, and Speaking & Listening. To assist teachers in arriving at an assessed level, tests and tasks can be completed in reading, writing and mathematics. These are normally taken during May Key Stage 2During May in the final year of Key Stage 2, children undertake National Curriculum Tests in the three core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science (up until 2009). These provide records of attainment in the subjects, including separate levels for reading and writing as part of the overall English grade. In addition, teachers are required to provide teacher assessments in the same subjects Key Stage 3Until 2008, in May during the final year of Key Stage 3, all pupils were required to undertake National Curriculum Tests in the three core subjects of English, Mathematics and Science. These provided records of attainment in the subjects, including separate levels for reading and writing as part of the overall English grade. The English assessments also included the study of a Shakespeare play.
Previous plans to introduce a test for Information and Communication Technology were dropped in 2007 in favour of a bank of formative assessment materials.
Following a series of issues regarding the marking of National Curriculum Tests in 2008, the national tests were abolished for Key Stage 3. Teacher assessments are still required in all the subjects of the National Curriculum and in Religious Education.
Optional testsIn addition to the statutory assessments at the end of each key stage, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority produces suites of tests for the assessment of English and Mathematics in Years 3, 4 and 5 during Key Stage 2,[14] and in Years 7 and 8 during Key Stage . These tests are not statutory, hence their titling as Optional Tests. Although no longer compulsory, assessment materials are also still available for Year
CriticismsLike many tests of this nature, the assessments have been subject to a variety of criticism. Two of the main points of concern are that they place children under constant stress for their whole academic lives, and that the principal purpose of national curriculum testing is for school league tables
In its 2008 report into National Testing, the House of Commons, the Select Committee on Children, Schools and Families registered its concern with the current testing arrangements in state schools. It raised concerns that the "professional abilities of teachers" were under-used and that the high-stakes nature of the tests led to "phenomena such as teaching to the test, narrowing the curriculum and focusing disproportionate resources on borderline pupils." They further recommended that the multiple uses of National Curriculum assessment - for local accountability, national monitoring, and individual progress measurement - be separated into different forms of assessment.
In April 2009, the National Union of Teachers voted to ballot members on boycotting SATs tests for the following year.
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