Sue Horner
Introduction
The year 1989 was the first time that, in England and Wales, curriculum provision in schools was the subject of legislation. This legislation included a statutory Order for English, which includes requirements for reading within an integrated programme of speaking, listening, reading and writing.
During 1994–5 the original National Curriculum was revised to slim down the content of what is to be taught and to refine arrangements for the assessment of pupils’ achievement. In 1996 teachers in England began to teach a revised National Curriculum, consisting of eleven subjects in all, of which English, mathematics and science are core subjects and are compulsory for all pupils between the ages of five and sixteen.
The National Curriculum in England and Wales is unique, when compared to that in other countries, in that it has not only provision for what should be taught but also has a mandatory system for assessing what pupils have learnt related to that curriculum, at specific intervals in their progress through school, at ages seven, eleven and fourteen. There has been a period of rapid changes in the curriculum and assessment systems in the last eight years, and the arrangements are just beginning to stabilize. The government has promised that there will be no more changes to legislation for five years, so this will give opportunities to build familiarity and confidence in what has been put in place.
This paper first outlines the structure of the curriculum and its assessment arrangements and then goes on to show how reading fits within this structure. The final section makes some comparisons between the experience of such curriculum innovation in England and that in other English speaking countries.
The structure of the English National Curriculum
The curriculum for each subject is structured in a similar way. What is to be taught is outlined in Programmes of Study related to key stages of schooling.
The programmes of study for English include the framework of what is to be taught in relation to Speaking and Listening, Reading, and Writing for Key Stage 1 (5–7-year-olds), Key Stage 2 (7–11-year-olds), Key Stage 3 (11–14-year-olds) and Key Stage 4 (14–16-(11–14-year-olds). These programmes of study are organized in terms of the Range of activities and material to be covered, the Key Skills which pupils need to learn, and the aspects of Standard English and Language Study which are relevant at each key stage. They do not seek to prescribe classroom activities or teaching methods, but rather to define the range of experiences which must be provided, the skills which must be developed and the knowledge pupils need about language and how it works.
Alongside these provisions for the curriculum are the Attainment Targets, which outline progression in achievement in each of the aspects of English.
In each of the three Attainment Targets—Speaking and Listening, Reading, and Writing—progression is described in eight levels to characterise achievement in relation to the curriculum for ages five to fourteen. Each level is described in a prose statement of characteristics of pupils achieving at that level, and these statements are called Level Descriptions.
The Level Descriptions are designed to be used on a ‘best fit’ principle.
The model is not one of mastery, determining that pupils move from one distinct goal to another, and so up through the levels. Rather, it is expected that through the teaching of the contents of the programmes of study in a range of contexts, pupils will progress and then, at specific points, namely at ages seven, eleven and fourteen, pupils’ achievement will be assessed and compared to the Level Descriptions. The work of a pupil is judged to be at a particular level because that description is the closest match and best fit. It is not necessary to show achievement of every aspect of the description to gain that level. Although this does, in one sense, free the assessment from the straitjacket of identifying specific hurdles, in another way it puts a greater onus on the assessment instruments to deliver judgements which do not undermine the complex nature of speaking and listening, reading and writing.
The Level Descriptions cannot, of course, attempt to cover all the ground that is in the programmes of study, and it is assumed that, if the programmes of study are taught, pupils will give evidence of their abilities which may then be assessed. How the curriculum is taught is not subject to statute, that is up to teachers and schools. In particular, the provision for identification of progress within a key stage, that is, formative assessment, is for teachers to decide as part of their ongoing, day-to-day teaching.
The assessment arrangements
The arrangements by which judgements are made about pupils’ levels are also statutory. At the ends of the Key Stages pupils are assessed in two ways:
on their performance in the National Curriculum tests, and on their work over time through Teacher Assessment. Both these assessments are anchored to the standards described in the Level Descriptions. The essential distinction between them is that they are based on different evidence, and the assessments are therefore complementary.
The National Curriculum tests are designed to target the skills outlined in the Level Descriptions, in relation to a sample of the range of activities and texts in the programmes of study. They are designed, and extensively pre-tested, to ensure continuity of standards from year to year. The same tasks are given to all pupils in a cohort and, at ages eleven and fourteen, they are undertaken in limited time and independent of teacher help. These tests give a snapshot of what pupils can do, and, since they are the same for all pupils at a particular age, they enable comparisons to be made on the basis of similar evidence.
Teacher Assessment, which is akin to coursework or portfolio assessment, is based on teachers’ knowledge of pupils’ work over a range of situations and takes account of pupils’ strengths and weaknesses in aiming at the ‘best fit’ judgement. Since teachers decide on how to teach the curriculum, according to their pupils’ needs, the work in one class on which Teacher Assessment is based is unlikely to be the same as that for other classes or pupils. This allows pupils’ particular achievements to be recognized and their future needs to be identified. Teachers’ records and observations are vital to this process. In order for this to be a credible national system it is very important for teachers to agree the standards that are being applied in a school and that these reflect national standards.
The interrelationship of these different parts of the system is shown in diagrammatic form in Figure 5.1.
What we are in the process of setting up, as the figure shows, is a system of assessment which works on parallel, complementary tracks. Both the tests and the Teacher Assessment are referenced to the same Level Descriptions and hence, the same standards. They are predicated on different sets of evidence to serve different purposes. The two levels resulting from the two assessments are to be reported in parallel to parents, and there is no expectation that the two levels will necessarily be the same.
Reading in the English National Curriculum
In the revised English statutory Order the overall aims of English are to
‘develop pupils’ abilities to communicate effectively in speech and writing and to listen with understanding’. It should also enable them to
Figure 5.1 English National Curriculum: assessment arrangements
be ‘enthusiastic, responsive and knowledgeable readers’ (HMSO 1995). Within these, the requirements for reading, in particular, specify that to develop as effective readers, pupils should be taught to:
• read accurately, fluently and with understanding;
• understand and respond to the texts they read;
• read, analyse and evaluate a wide range of texts, including literature;
• this literature to come from the English literary heritage and from other cultures and traditions.
The details of what should be taught are in the programmes of study for reading. The Level Descriptions relate to major aspects of that curriculum, so that those for reading describe features of attainment related to fluency and accuracy, to understanding and response, and to critical evaluation of texts. The intention of these Level Descriptions is to show that progress relates to increasing sophistication in reading and response. This progress is largely a qualitative development of the necessary skills rather than gradual coverage of specific, discrete hurdles. This is illustrated by the following level descriptors:
Level 2, the average level for seven year olds, describes achievement in Reading in these terms:
‘Pupils’ reading of simple texts shows understanding and is generally accurate. They express opinions about major events or ideas in stories, poems, and non-fiction. They use more than one strategy, such as phonic, graphic, syntactic and contextual, in reading unfamiliar words and establishing meaning.’
Level 4, the most common level for eleven year olds, says:
‘In responding to a range of texts, pupils show understanding of significant ideas, themes, events and characters, beginning to use inference and deduction. They refer to the text when explaining their views. They locate and use ideas and information’.
A fourteen year old who is just above average may be expected to be best described by Level 6:
‘In reading and discussing a range of texts, pupils identify different layers of meaning and comment on their significance and effect. They give personal responses to literary texts, referring to aspects of language, structure and themes in justifying their views. They summarise a range of information from different sources.’
(HMSO, 1995)
The model of reading
Reading is a complex activity and accomplished readers operate at a number of levels simultaneously. They are decoding and establishing meaning at the same time as they are responding to what they read, selecting particular aspects for consideration and evaluating effects. At the lower levels emphasis is placed on accurate and fluent reading and on reading with understanding.
Response to texts is included at all levels but becomes more prominent later, as do strategies for information retrieval. It is the sense of a text as an artefact and critical evaluation of it which distinguishes pupils’ responses at the upper levels. Throughout the levels, there is reference to all the following aspects, with different emphases:
• reading accurately and fluently, using different strategies;
• establishing meaning and showing understanding;
• using inference and deduction;
• locating key aspects, ideas, information and using them as appropriate;
• identifying and commenting on character, language, theme, structure;
• responding to what has been read, expressing preferences and making critical evaluations;
• referring to texts as appropriate to explain and support views.
Challenges posed by the model
A range of problems has always beset assessors of reading, including fundamental issues such as whether to try to get directly at the reading act or whether to rely on evidence derived from speaking or writing. The systems being set up in England provide several challenges, both to test developers and to teachers applying the Level Descriptions:
• how to ‘weight’ the different elements of reading and so of the level descriptions;
• whether such ‘weightings’ should vary at the different key stages;
• whether a description can or should be interpreted differently depend-ing on the age of the pupils;
• whether and/or how to separate decoding, understanding, responding and evaluating for assessment purposes;
• how to judge the degree of difficulty of a test passage or a book, and how that influences pupils’ performance, since affective engagement is recognized as important in the level descriptions;
• what significance to attribute to the mode of response (written or oral), since the level descriptions are not prescriptive about this.
The ways these issues are tackled is likely to vary at different ages and between tests and Teacher Assessment. Both modes of assessments are related
to the same Level Descriptions and the same model of reading, but are based on different evidence. What is important is their complementarity, since both have strengths and drawbacks.
The tests
How does this format of assessment bring together the model of reading and the Level Descriptions? The ways the tests are set up for the different age groups does vary, but there are commonalities. The Levels 1 and 2 are awarded through very similar procedures at each key stage. The teacher and the pupils select a text for a reading interview. After initial discussion of the choice, the pupil reads the text, (or an extract) aloud. The teacher notes successes and failures in the reading, using a running record. There is then some further discussion of the text, looking for the pupil’s views, understanding and preferences. The questions the teacher asks about the reading are related to the features in the level descriptions, so, in the light of a pupil’s reading and responses, the teacher can decide which level best describes the pupil’s achievement. This procedure is followed to award Levels 1 and 2 in all key stages and also Level 3 for 14-year-olds. The evidence in this test is obviously oral not written.
For 7- and 11-year-olds, written papers are required for Levels 3 to 6, and for Levels 4 to 8 for 14-year-olds. At each age, pupils are expected to read more than one type of text, literary and non fiction; that range is important, even in timed, written tests, because it allows students to demonstrate different strengths. At the earlier ages the tests are mainly focused on comprehension, that is, location, inference and deduction, and retrieval of information, although some comment on aspects such as character and plot is invited. At Key Stage 2 some questions invite comment on how language is used and on pupils’ likes and interest. In the main, the tests for 7- and 11 -year-olds contain questions which expect short, correct answers, so the opportunity for recognizing multiple readings of texts is not extensive.
In the tests for 14-year-olds, the nature of the questioning is slightly different. There are two tests in the package at this level: Paper 1 includes two passages to read which are previously unseen by the pupils, and Paper 2 is a test of prior reading, on scenes from plays by Shakespeare which have been taught. In both these papers the model of questioning differs from that at the earlier key stages. The questions all follow a similar pattern, which is to invite comment about a lead idea central to the text, and help with structuring the answer is provided by a number of bullet points or prompts.
It is assumed that all readers, regardless of ability, on first reading of such a piece, find it natural to engage with the central impact of the text. For example, one of the texts in the 1995 tests was a letter from the Red Cross appealing for donations, and pupils were asked to comment on how the
letter seeks to persuade readers to send money and how successful pupils thought the letter was in accomplishing its goal. The questions expect that pupils will retrieve specific information, comment on what they find, and state their reactions to it, doing so in a way which integrates the various aspects of their reading. In this model, the Level Descriptions are a helpful mechanism, since they allow credit to be given wherever it is possible, whilst recognizing that better answers contain more to value than weaker ones. Indeed, the performance criteria in the mark schemes resemble the Level Descriptions, customized to the particular tasks in the tests.
Teacher assessment
The other assessment system which is currently being developed for the National Curriculum is Teacher Assessment. To help these assessments, materials have been sent to all schools; these include collections of pupils’
work in different key stages. The evidence for reading which is shown in the pupils’ work is particularly interesting, because it indicates the great variety of students’ work. These exemplification materials show different pupils at work at different key stages:
Navi is seven years old. Navi’s collection contains her teacher’s records of reading conferences when Navi read aloud and talked about her reading, as well as her attempts to engage with a computer game, a retelling of a story she has heard, and a voluntary piece of writing about a book. This collection is related to the level descriptions and a judgement made about which level best describes Navi’s achievement.
A similar approach is taken with Bethan, an eleven year old, whose work includes a record of the range of her reading and a review of one story from that range, a letter in role as a character in a novel and a diary by the same character.
Adam’s work, from Key Stage 3, includes a different range. Not only is there work based explicitly on his reading, such as works by Shakespeare and Dickens; there is also literary comment on his own poetry and a story which owes much to his liking for science fiction.
The other work included in Adam’s collection, a letter and a retelling of a traditional story, shows his familiarity with different genres, which could also be taken as evidence of his reading.
(HMSO, 1995) The purpose of these collections is to help teachers by establishing the standards in the Level Descriptions, and by modelling the process by which
the judgements are made. Nor does the evidence stop here—in the written mode. Video material has also been published which focuses on pupils in each key stage, and shows them in different activities. Although this video has been made principally to establish standards in speaking and listening, there is also plenty of evidence of pupils’ reading ability in the different activities. In these materials, it is explicitly stated that the work included can only be a part of what teachers know about their pupils, and that they might take a great range of evidence into account when making a judgement at the end of the key stage.
The international context
The developments in England and Wales, which have put in place both curriculum and assessment arrangements, have their parallels in several other English-speaking countries. New Zealand and Australia have been involved in similar initiatives. In the UK, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own documents and provision. In the USA, a move to develop national standards has been taking place, accompanied by much debate. There are also moves to formalize and standardize curriculum and assessment arrangements in at least some parts of Canada.
There are interesting differences in the terminology used, the way the debate is enacted, the format of the documents and the reaction of the teaching profession in each of these countries. These differences are, of course, partly dependent on the educational culture in which the work takes place. For example, in a system where norm-referenced tests are regularly used and school performance is partly measured through the results, then to develop other means of assessing pupils’ performance and give more scope for teacher judgement may be welcomed. Alternatively, if assessment has traditionally been teacher based and related to individual pupils rather than to the overall effectiveness of a school, then to develop tests for all pupils at various stages of schooling and to publish the results is potentially a much more threatening process to teachers. Similarly, the strength of minority or local control over what is taught will have considerable influence on the acceptability of proposals for a national curriculum. In Australia, for example, the development of the curriculum statements and profiles was cooperative between states but, at the point of implementation, this agreement broke down and the states now have taken up the initiative to different degrees and in different forms. Campagna-Wildash (1995) outlined some of the controversies that accompanied these developments. Pearson (1993) presaged the issues in the USA in his article outlining a taxonomy of
‘standards’ and the arguments, in the American context, for and against national standards. Salinger and Campbell (this volume) describe the National Assessment of Educational Progress that is used in the USA to survey students’