What do Sats test levels mean?
The results for tests taken by 11-year-olds in England’s schools have been published – with a blizzard of statistics about how many pupils have reached the “expected level”. There are targets to increase the number of pupils achieving Level 4, ambitions to push up the number of Level 5s. But what does all this jargon mean? THE EXPECTED LEVEL: LEVEL 4 This “expected level” benchmark, used for school league tables, is whether pupils have reached “Level 4”. This is the level that pupils should have reached by the time they have completed primary school, preparing them for the next step into secondary school. This expected ability of an “average” pupil might be less relevant to children with special needs or who have English as a second language, who will be included among those pupils who do not make this grade. This level is now the one most commonly achieved by pupils – 51% of pupils are in this band for English and 44% in maths. In English, pupils in this ability range should be able t
