Should Scotland introduce US-style SATs?
The OECD praised Scotland's Curriculum for Excellence but complained exam diets are out-dated
Today Scotland’s students received confirmation of the exam results, granted on the basis of teacher assessment and class tests. Questions are being asked about the fairness of these.
The experience of education over the last year or so has been patchy - private schools have been able to offer more online classes; some students have had more home support. Also - do the teacher assessed grades vary from school to school or in different parts of the country? How can we tell?
In the longer term, change is coming with assessment anyway. Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence makes it easier for individual students to map their own journey, putting together short courses to create a basket of qualifications over their three-year ‘senior phase’. The OECD praised the new curriculum but said the 16/18 exam diet is out-dated as an approach to assessment.
In the US, school assessments are combined with ‘SAT’ tests for university and college entrants - they are not perfect but they are an attempt to offer a more objective and fair tool. SATs are a three-hour exam which tests reading comprehension, maths and writing skills. They are based on knowledge that most school or home-schooled students could be expected to be familiar with - the maths is all pre-calculus levels for example.
Students can sit them as often as they like and they are read in combination with their school results when the student applies for college. A student who hasn’t done particularly well in school but who gets a good SAT score will have a better chance of a college place.
US schools don’t have leaving exams. Students are continuously assessed over four years and awarded a Grade Point Average - that includes marks for things like sticking up your hand in class and handing in work on time.
In most US schools, students themselves choose what level to do particular subjects at, in consultation with their teachers - deciding to go into the top set for French or Maths or whatever is based on a commitment to work at a fast pace and complete the homework - how well they follow through will affect their GPA.
The SATS can be swotted for of course - you can buy tuition or read books of tips. The tips you get in SAT books are things like - eliminate wrong answers in a multiple-choice question and then guess. But the tests are pretty well constructed - the best way to raise your score in reading comprehension for example is really just to read books and newspapers. The real challenge is that they are timed, and you have to answer the questions at a fast pace to get a high mark.
SATs are an attempt to create a more equal assessment and that is valuable - when added to other points of information the SAT can help to assess whether a particular student is likely to be able to cope with a course. A student may have flunked Higher Maths but if they get a good SAT score they will probably be able to cope with an engineering degree.