Does “improvement” mean improvement?

The Sats results have finally been released, and – as the BBC puts it – there has been “a slight improvement” in level 4 results – the level that will be used in creating the school league tables later this year.

Meanwhile, here are some findings from a survey of teachers by the think-tank Civitas, released today:

— Just 10% of teachers think that Year 7 pupil levels this last school year have been consistent with their Key Stage 2 Sats test results.

 — 79% of teachers surveyed think that up to a third of Year 7 pupils’ abilities this last school year have been either ‘often’ or ‘sometimes’ lower than their Key Stage 2 Sats test results.

— 77% of teachers think that the main or second most important reason for a discrepancy between actual abilities and Key Stage 2 Sats test results this last school year is coaching for the tests in Year 6.