Exam board wins contract to run Sats tests next year

The exam board Edexcel has been awarded the contract to run Sats tests in England next year, the government’s exams watchdog has confirmed today.

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) announced a £25m one-year contract to supply key stage tests for 11-year-olds and other non-statutory national curriculum tests in 2009.

Edexcel previously held the Sats contract from 2005 to 2007. It has undertaken to deliver 99.9% of test results to candidates by 7 July 2009.

The announcement was made as it emerged that the QCA warned ministers in November of the “very significant” risk that pupils would again face delayed Sats results in 2009.

Ken Boston, who was then chief executive of the QCA, told the schools secretary, Ed Balls, that the rush to hire a new company to handle next year’s exams meant there was “no guarantee” Sats tests would be on time.

Pupils aged 11 and 14 were left waiting months for their results after technical and logistical failures with this summer’s exams, including marking problems.

The company running the tests, ETS Europe, lost its five-year contract in August.

Ministers subsequently scrapped Sats for 14-year-olds, then abolished the National Assessment Agency on 18 December after an inquiry into the fiasco.

But the QCA said the rush to appoint Edexcel to run the key stage tests for 11-year-olds in 2009 has not left enough time to test the marking systems to ensure they do not collapse again.

A letter to Balls, written by Boston before he was suspended in mid-December in the wake of the damning Sutherland inquiry into the Sats shambles, warns that “whilst the supplier is committed to achieving it [the deadline], there is currently no guarantee that events will not cause them to miss it”.

The speed with which the contract had to be awarded meant the fine details would have to be worked out after it was agreed, he warned.

The risk of missing the deadline would, he said, “be at its greatest in the crucial and short period between the beginning of marking and the completion of results data”.

In his reply, Balls said that Edexcel offered the “best prospect” of delivering successful tests but he urged “effective contingencies” to be put in place “to reduce the likelihood and impact of serious risks to delivery”.

But Boston’s reply warned Balls that the measures available to the QCA to prevent delays were limited.

“We will do all we can to mitigate risk, but it is important that I re-emphasise to you that the risks in this process are high.

“In the restricted time available to us, it will not be possible to develop mitigations to the level that either you or I would wish. In particular, during the crucial short period between the tests being sat, and the results being published on or by 7 July, the only meaningful contingency available is a delay in publishing the result.”

The government expects around 500,000 pupils will sit next year’s tests.

A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: “It is a major task and a major challenge. However, we and QCA remain committed to getting pupils’ results issued on time, as has been the case in previous years.

“Successful delivery of 2009 tests will be key to restoring confidence in the testing system.

“We are strengthening governance arrangements for the 2009 test cycle – in line with [Stewart] Sutherland’s recommendations – and the new supplier, Edexcel, has a strong track record in delivery of tests and exams.”

Balls has asked Chris Trinick, chair of the QCA, to report back by 16 January on how it intends to address the recommendations.

The DCSF will publish a detailed response to the Sutherland report in the new year.

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