This is the recent KS2 English reading test that staff and pupils thought was hard

[cakeorwine]

Key stage 2 tests: 2023 English reading test materials - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Only had a quick look - but I thought people might find it interesting

I have one child with adhd and profound dyslexia, it is a joy. She’d absolutely bomb in this, she wouldn’t have the attention span to read the guff texts, or the reading speed to finish them. But she still managed to do well at school. My other child is autistic. She doesn’t in any way get references and obscure stuff. She reads something and doesn’t grasp the context of why they would say one thing and mean another.

nornally in an English exam she does very well on most parts and misses marks on those ones but this would have been a struggle for her.

I’ve got a degree in English, I work in a related field, I can tell you not many people I know or work with would have sat down and read that comfortably and I read research papers regularly.

m there’s a real drive to clarify writing and communications in the workplace and in business to account for second and third languages, adaptive reading software and learning issues such as dyslexia. So no, very few workplaces even at a high level are doing crap like this. I’d get absolutely lambasted for writing like that, as it goes the values of being accessible and impactful.

Ultimately the tests are pointless, as they only really offer opportunities to children with specific skill sets or who’ve been prepped. It’s not testing ability.

The extension paper idea is a good one. I hadn’t realised that was what happened in the past. That way, everyone gets to access the paper at their own level and everyone is given the opportunity to achieve well at their own level.

It's tricky I'd say. I could read the text very quickly and then nip in and out of it to find the answers pretty easily. But your brain has to move quite fast to remember where that bit was and think about what they're really asking. In my opinion, it's not 'too difficult', but the skill is in recalling what you've read and being quick enough to go back and find the right bit and interpret which bit they're asking for.

You could make the texts shorter and change the questions and the marking scheme. That would allow everyone to finish the full test and show their true ability. The more able pupils would be able to demonstrate a higher/more nuanced level of understanding. This version measures reading speed as much as if not more than comprehension. It will also penalise the more able pupils who are anxious about tests and likely to worry more about the time pressure.

They are 10, or 11 year old children.

They had (on average) 34 seconds to answer each question. Some questions are (possibly, in my cynical view, deliberately) extremely difficult for neurodivergent children to access.

Some children were genuinely frightened by what they were reading. Many will have already been frightened by the tests and even more will have had it drummed into them that these pointless tests are the most important thing in the world by schools who are pressured into caring more about data than actual human children.

It's horrific.

I've only skimmed so far-but I spotted a few ambiguous questions. I was amused though that a board that was defending Enid Blyton yesterday was saying the first extract was boring today!

“extremely difficult for neurodivergent children to access.”

If all children with additional needs were properly supported and diagnosed and given extra time or appropriate tests, these tests would be fine.

Are some of you really arguing against streaming in Comprehensives? Or stream later? Do you want the GCSEs to be scrapped too? Made easier?

The truth will be known when results come out - the scores will show if kids found it really hard.

We shouldn't be making children take tests, they're children FFS.

Imagine making all children take a test in football and allocating them places based on how many goals they scored. The athletic ones would be chosen first, with all the rest left behind.

How would you find the next tennis star or cycling champion, if you only ever test how far they can kick a ball?

Those tests are just stupid and cruel.

Some children were genuinely frightened by what they were reading.

If that's the case, there are far bigger problems ahead for them than the SATs. Talk about drama!

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

You're hilarious. "Properly supported and diagnosed" 😂😂😂😂

You genuinely are making your ignorance and - ironically - stupidity very blatant.

No they won't, because the pass mark is decided retrospectively based on whole-cohort achievement overall. They will just lower it to fit whatever percentage the DfE decide they want to 'pass' this year.

Making it this challenging was also, therefore, entirely meaningless.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/understanding-scaled-scores-at-key-stage-2

90 wpm is extremely slow reading.Adults read 200 -300 wpm and one would expect by e he end of y6 that kids would be fluent readers and at least approaching that sort of speed

I adored Enid Blyton as a child, particularly the Famous Five. They were completely outdated when I read them in the 80s. They were as much fantasy to me as the Magic Faraway Tree books!

Personally I don’t want to see GCSEs scrapped but I do want to see (in my dream world) a much more flexible system which allows children to work to their own ability and pathway in life rather than trying to force all children down the same narrow route. We spend too long trying to fit square pegs into round holes.

That is taken as an average for 10-11 year olds. Of course some will be able to read the text much faster than others but the point is some won’t! Adults also unconsciously skim read - 10-11 year old don’t and haven’t been taught how to! They have been taught to read and absorb text.

“Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

You're hilarious. "Properly supported and diagnosed" 😂😂😂😂”

Your inference skills are appalling.

That is why I said “appropriate tests”. In a theoretical world, if all dyslexic children were given an actually dyslexia friendly paper, it could work. Autistic children given a less inference based paper etc. What would be so wrong with that? If the NHS actually worked for these children.

Just because the NHS and CAMHS is failing these children, why change the bar for the normal children?

Oh dear.

No they are the rates for reading carefully.skim reading is more like 600+ wpm

Unfortunately the UK has moved away from that. Looking at other European countries, Germany for example, many of them separate children at 11, partly by selection and partly by choice. From what I’ve read, it’s not fixed and there are opportunities to change pathway as children get older. There are very academic schools, mid range academic schools and vocational schools.

The UK’s drive to make everyone “equal” and average is ridiculous in my opinion. We should value vocational education in the same way as academic education. Different routes suit different children. None is better than the other. Throwing all children together in a comprehensive system fails so many of our children.

Separating children at 11 isn’t a popular choice in the UK though and you’ll have people arguing it’s unfair.

“The UK’s drive to make everyone “equal” and average is ridiculous in my opinion. We should value vocational education in the same way as academic education. Different routes suit different children. None is better than the other. Throwing all children together in a comprehensive system fails so many of our children. “

Totally agree with you. You have to stream at 11 or 13, it just doesn’t work otherwise.

Kicking up a fuss about some SATs paper marked on a bell curve anyway is ridiculous.

90 wpm is not an average. From the government’s own publications “Approximately 90 words per minute is a good indicator of when children start to read with sufficient fluency to focus on their understanding”.

From TES
“Furthermore, the Department for Education’s guidelines say that an Sats pupil is expected to be able to read a minimum of 90 words per minute.”

90wpm is the minimum expected. I can’t find the average UK wpm for that age group, but US sites suggest an average of around 175. Some will be quicker, some will be slower. In the US, from the articles I’ve found, an average 7 year old reads around 90wpm.

All the comments of it not being so hard strike me as similar to friends I know who declare they were terrible at maths because they only got a C at O level.

They have no idea of the range of ability in the general population, no empathy for 10-11 year olds facing a compulsory test and no thought for how we need to test in a way that not only doesn't destroy children's confidence but also finds out what they do know.

Making a test too hard destroys confidence and doesn't give useful information.

So I just had my year 2 child, who I'm certain would be nowhere near passing the other exams, do the first story and co-ordinating questions out of curiosity. Didn't treat it as a test, but did secretely note how long it took. Not too dismiliar to other comprehension activities we've done. No exam prep done or anything, mostly used our year 2 comprehension book. We use brilliant activities books for English which I've heard are on the upper end ability wise for the age group. But still within the age group. Just pointing this out before any accuses me of bragging she's some sort of genius, she isn't. Doing well but certainly working within expected parameters for age, nothing exceptional.

She completed it in 24 minutes and besides some spelling mistakes, I can see she got all the answers correct. Haven't looked at the marking scheme yet to see if she'd get knocked down for spelling. With 3 texts, that would be 20 mins each which she was a little above. But obviously, even so, she's years away from being the age intended for. No tears or complaints. The majority of year 6 children should not have found this hard. If they did, then there is clearly a problem that needs addressing. It shouldn't need to be said, but just incase, I am not blaming the children. But it is in the children's best interests to address this rather than just saying 'oh the exam was too hard'.

I hope that quote about even staff needing to really think about it is taken out of context. Because if so, there is an enormous issue with illiteracy with some teachers which I would expect the government to release a statement on urgently and what exactly the action plan is.