Level best? Levels of attainment in national curriculum assessment Introduction

It is now over 13 years since the report of the Task Group on Assessment and Testing (TGAT) published its proposals for a framework for reporting of the results of national curriculum assessments. Given the developments that have taken place over the intervening years, it is remarkable how well the document stands up to re-reading today. However, while the principles underpinning the report are still sound, the recommendations were, perhaps inevitably, not implemented in a coherent way, and as the context of education policy has changed, this incoherence has been magnified. In particular, it has become clear that policy-makers have never really understood the nature of the levels of attainment in the national curriculum. The result is that current policy has driven teachers and schools in ways that are antithetical to high-quality teaching and learning.