Results 'not worth paper written on' (From Warrington Guardian)

Results 'not worth paper written on'

RESULTS of English tests for 14-year-olds in Warrington will not be worth the paper they are written, according to the town's education chief.

Responding to the announcement that exam tsar Jonathan Ford has resigned following the chaos surrounding June's key stage three exams, Malcolm Roxburgh said the delayed results were still not reliable.

As exclusively revealed in the Warrington Guardian earlier in the year, many test papers were sent back after teachers and parents complained that the results were not accurate.

Mr Ford has resigned as head of the National Assessment Agency (NAA) after it was criticised by qualifications watchdog QCA for having a myriad of errors.

Mr Roxburgh, director of education at Warrington Borough Council, said there was still a degree of anger at the extent to which the exam board got it wrong.

He said: "Colleagues do not have any confidence in the value of the data for English tests. It is not a fair representation of how the young people did and that is a regrettable situation. We have got to look to the future now to find a way forward.

"The results are not worth the paper they are written on."

The results were immediately questioned when released to pupils before the summer holidays.

This caused delays in releasing them publicly, which should have taken place this month.

However the Department for Education announced this week that results would not be published until mid-March at the earliest.

Headteachers in Warrington are still waiting to meet bosses at the exam board to vent their frustration at the way the tests were handled.