MPs have called in the head of England's exams watchdog to ask for an explanation of what is being called the "shambles" of this year's Sats marking.
Publication of the results has been delayed amid complaints about the administration and quality of marking.
Ken Boston, head of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), will be at an emergency session of the committee of MPs on Monday.
The government says speculation about reliability is unfounded.
The Shadow Schools Secretary Michael Gove says that "the credibility of the nation's exam system is crumbling in this government's hands".
The results are of national tests taken by 11-year-olds and 14-year-olds in English, maths and science.
Barry Sheerman, who chairs the Commons committee for children, schools and families, says serious questions must be answered.
The Labour MP told the BBC news website: "We will be asking Ken Boston what the hell is going on.
"This is an emergency session called in what seems to be a fast-moving situation.
"We will ask why is it that a big business given a contract to deliver these results on time and in good form has not been able to do so."
Initially, he said, he had not thought it was the "end of the world" that results might be a week late.
"But it seems there is more trouble than that. I want to get to the bottom of it."
A private contractor, ETS Europe, is in its first year of a £156m five-year contract to mark the tests.
Complaints
Head teachers and heads of departments have been contacting the BBC News website and the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) to complain about delays to the results and about the quality of the marking.
Some said their top pupils had received similar marks to children of much lower ability.
Some schools have said they are sending back all of their scripts for re-marking.
There have also been complaints from teachers marking the tests about the process and its administration.
Papers which have been marked are being sent back to schools with provisional results - but the official results for 11-year-olds are now due to be published online next Tuesday, 15 July - a week later than expected.
'Serious failure'
Even then, marking of results for 14-year-olds will not be complete. Secondary school teachers and pupils who have contacted the website say this will cause problems in preparing GCSE courses.
Last week, England's National Assessment Agency (NAA), which now oversees the testing and is a subsidiary of the QCA, said there was no issue with the quality of the marking; it simply had not been done in time.
It said the delay was due to lateness in the completion of the marking process and a series of technical issues and described this as a "serious failure".
The DCSF has said it has had assurances from the regulatory bodies about the reliability of the results and that the only issue is the delay.
QCA chief executive Ken Boston said: "It is unfortunate that there is speculation about the reliability of results in the key stage tests.
"The papers have been marked largely by the same people who marked test papers last year and in previous years: teachers and other experienced local markers who know and understand curriculum, schools and standards in England."
A former Ofsted chief, Lord Sutherland, has been asked to lead an inquiry into the delays and will report his findings in the autumn.
Readers have been writing to the BBC News website with their views:
I work at a primary school in Oxfordshire and, as of today (Friday 11th July) we have yet to receive any of our KS2 papers, let alone marksheets. It will be very interesting to see if our children's results actually appear online on the 15th . . .
RS, Oxfordshire
So far we have nothing, have heard nothing and have been told nothing about our 220 pupils taking KS3 SATs. I suppose it means I cannot criticise the marking (yet) so things may be looking up for ETS (at the moment) in that they can claim not everyone is dissatisfied with it. I don't hold out much hope though.
Roger Brown, Derby
I'm a Head Teacher and we haven't received any papers back at all (Friday 11th July). If I don't meet the deadlines set for the administration of tests and return of data, then I am in breach of my terms and conditions and would face disciplinary action. It is not appropriate to suggest we give this company a chance as it is only their first year dealing with these tests - for our children this is their only chance! ETS are being paid millions to administer these tests in a professional and accountable manner. As yet, no-one seems to be being held accountable; as a HT if things go wrong in my school, I am quite rightly held to account - I want to see someone take responsibility for this, accept that it is a farce and be held to account - so far, the problems caused are impacting on children and this is just not on. I'm so angry!
HT, Reading
The deafening silence from Ed Balls, Jim Knight, NAA, QCA, DCSF, OfQUAL etc is an indication of their bewilderment regarding the current marking disaster. The process has become so big, complex and expensive that it is imploding upon itself. Who will fall on his/her sword and take responsibility for all this? How much public money is being thrown at the problem so that the government is able to get out of its hole? R. I. P. Sats......your end is nigh.
Stephen, Weymouth
Having worked at both ETS and the NAA during june and july 2008 as a temp pulled in at the last minute to "sort out" the utter shambles of this year's marking process, I would like to add one question to the numerous ones rightly pointed out by teachers, markers, headteachers, pupils and parents so far... How on earth is an enquiry reporting to Ofqual going to make any difference? For those of you who don't know, Ofqual, the watchdog, sits in an open-plan office with NAA and QCA staff... Indeed, during my time there, I occasionally sat not far from the Ofqual desk (as far as I could tell, there was only one Ofqual desk - which suggests the whole watchdog is composed of one person)... so the Ofqual staff knew exactly what was going on as it (or they) sat in the same room as the badly-trained-and-treated temps (such as myself) who were trying to fend off calls from disgrunteld markers or schools... this is a complete mockery of the whole idea of an inquiry... Watchdogs should ! be separated from the things they are watching not only in theory, but also in practice... In my opinion, Lord Sutherland should report to Parliament directly...
x, London
10th July: we now have some papers returned (no levels). Half the maths papers are missing. The marking of the English writing papers is way-off. (Feedback from an English marker known to us talk about the utter shambles she has encountered). Children of very different ability got similar marks. Highly competent stylish pieces which to me, as an experienced English co-ordinator, are of a good level 5 standard, were awarded only level 4. In an inclusive school serving a deprived ward, our staff have really had to push hard all year. The children have done all we have asked of them, striving to meet their targets. The complete lack of confidence we have in the marking is so dispiriting. The time we might have available to appeal means we may not be able to meet deadlines and so be cheated out of the marks our children - and school- so much need and deserve. As usual, the utmost professionalism is expected of our schools, and also as usual - this turns out to be a one-sided arrangement.
John Hodgson, North Yorkshire, England
I am a Head of Year that uses the SAT scores to set students when they join as year sevens in September. Our main feeder school is asking for all their literacy papers to be remarked as students who have passed the 11+ have scored lower than statemented students. Also only half of the mathematics and science papers have been marked. There are also no borderline checks being carried out. I have much more faith in the teacher assessed levels and if my sons had been taking their SATS this year I would have been even more frustrated than I am now. I feel Ed Balls should come clean about this and apologise. The government is very keen to hold the teaching profession to account yet how can they measure progress if their data is wrong or inaccurate?
Rob Greenaway, Chelmsford
I am a Head Teacher in the position of not even having had my test papers returned to me- no explanation- nothing, until this morning when I was told that my papers SHOULD be with me by the 15th July- surely this is unacceptable - I will be faced with year 6 leaving on the 15th with possibly or should I say most certainly NO SATs levels or marks!! Unacceptable, another reason why testing should be stopped and Teacher Assessment heightened!
Mr Jarman, Doncaster
My son and the rest of his class have worked hard all year. They have a wonderful teacher and great support staff who have worked hard with them all year. How do you explain to a 11 year old that the system has failed and that after all their hard work its the adults which run ETS Europe who have let them down. It is time for someone to take responsibility for their action, which is what all of us parents are trying to teach our children.
Linda , Luton
We have just received our laughable set of KS3 English results and the school is sending them all back. Children in lower sets are receiving the same kind of marks as much more able children,(overall 92% of scripts judged to be level 5 or above!!!!) especially in the Shakespeare paer and none of the papers for 220 pupils were totalled up or graded in English Maths or Science. Dept heads and admin staff had to spend hours completing the checking and totalling, something that this private firm has already been paid for. The whole SATS process is a shocking waste of taxpayers' money and school resources, and it is destroying children's enjopyment of learning! It must be abolished for the sanity of all as soon as possible.
Theresa Banks, King's Lynn
I am the Head of English in a large secondary school. We received our papers back last week - but still no results. We have today sat down and worked on ours ... and have been astounded at the marking of the writing papers. It was shocking - and we have a marker amongst the team. Many of my dept are angry, frustrated, disappointed and upset that after working so hard (yet again!) these ridiculous tests are not doing the job they are meant to do! It has been a total shambles and, now, in order to gain some justice for our pupils, we will have to spend an inordinate amount of hours preparing reports etc etc. We are at a complete loss as to what to do next in order to improve - and many of us are saying, 'What is the point!?'
Juli Morgan-Russell, Reading
I was a marker of the Mathematics Key stage 2 SATS papers this year and apart from the time consuming system of the online mark capture, which involved entering all marks for all questions online after marking them on paper first I didn't have too many problems. ETS were quite difficult to get hold of especially at peak times but having got all my papers back on time I have already received my payment for my work. Personally I worked very hard like many markers to ensure the children's papers were returned on time and I hope that people don't think badly of all SATS markers due to some first year admin teething problems by ETS which I am sure will be learnt from and corrected for next year since isn't this what we teach our children as teachers the 'trial and improvement' method. Give them a chance!
Jodie, Newport, Shropshire
I am an experienced marker and I will not mark NCTs (SATs)again. The whole administration and communication system has been shambolic. Failure to notify about training venues, changes in team leaders and some who were inadequate and didn't support their markers. A help-line which charged at peak rates, temporary staff who have no clue about education, deliveries of the wrong scripts and failure of ETS to respond, a database which is not fit for purpose. Delivery drivers repeatedly calling to deliver/collect scripts when no-one was home or scripts that have been returned already. Supposed on-line (often unreadable & sometimes inaccurate)benchmarking scripts replacing live sampling. Last minute marking panels, discrepancies in marking levels,missing scripts. The list goes on. My daughter worked hard for her SATs this year and is worried about her levels for GCSE classes. I am a school governor and the results will affect how the school is judged. Gross incompetence at the! highest level as the NAA and politicians were warned by markers months ago of the impending disaster which was about to fall from a great height. The result is spin, spin and more spin. Doesn't anyone involved in politics tell the truth anymore? The people who are at the receiving end are pupils, teachers and schools. In times of looming recession, we cannot afford to waste £156m. This money could be used by schools for better resources and to repair crumbling buildings/replace mobile classrooms.
Jenny Blakemore, Dorset
I have marked SAT's papers this year, the organisation has been shambolic. We had no time to become familiar with the mark scheme, the papers arrived with markers late giving us less than three weeks to mark 357 scipts (714 papers). There has been no feedback on the test scripts and there have been no borderline checks.
As a mother I will not allow my son to sit SAT exams. Teachers are more than capable of assessing children; this assessment is far more accurate than SAT's or LEA set targets.
Rowena Clemson-Dave, Great Harwood
I'm a KS3 pupil having just taken my SATS, I've recieved my english levels but my school hasn't yet recieved all of the science & maths papers so nobody can have their results. Some of the levels that my friends achieved seems a little odd as well: one of the girls predicted for a level 6 came out with a level 4a. I understand that maybe she had a bad day, but I saw her revise constantly. It's ridiculous how long we have to wait to get our results & we need them to know if we will be allowed to take certain subjects for GCSE's next year. If we don't recieve them before the summer holidays, there will be noone to collect them & we will have to wait until september for our other results which will completely mess up our sets.
Jasmine C, Walsall, England
It was clear from the outset when ETS did not tell markers where their training was that this was going to be a shambles. I pulled out at that stage, as did many other markers. We have just recieved our KS2 English results - although very good they do not reflect our children. Many Level 3 children have been awarded Level 5 ! I really hope schools take no notice of levels awarded from this shambolic and humiliating process.
Tim, Leeds
Having been a KS3 SATS mathematics marker for 5 years, I resigned my position this year for a number of reasons. The main reason though, was the need of ETS to arrogantly change the tried and tested formats of previous exam boards. It seems, and yes I am speculating, that ETS guaranteed online marking this year and failed to deliver. This would explain the ridiculous situation whereby an examiner had to mark each script by hand and then input the mark for each question online. Did ETS not consider the length of time this would take. How long does it take to input 85 questions' marks for each of 350 pupils. I estimated 40 -50 hours. All of this extra work, and initially without extra pay, no wonder they are behind. There are other changes ETS introduced which took longer from posting scripts to a 3rd party; examiners having to register each pupil's scripts. Sheer arrogance!!
Donovan Suddell, Welshpool
I started off with a few issues at the beginning with training venue information being given a little late, but ETS staff have been exemplary in assisting me with my issues. I was wary of online marking as I am computer illiterate, but was spoken through the whole process by a member of ETS staff. Every time I have called with a query they have been nothing but superb in their help, and I for one will definitely be marking again.
This was my first time marking and unfortunately i was surrounded by a number of Luddites in my team who had been using the pen and paper method for the last 50 + years and were not willing to change. That's where I believe the issues lie.
Quentin Charles Anderson, London UK
I am the Headteacher of a large 11-18 Comprehensive school judged Outstanding by Ofsetd. Our Maths and Science results look ok, but we have had to transfer all the marks from the individual papers to a spreadsheet to get the overall mark. With English we had to go through each question and enter each invidual mark for each question for each student - for all 150 students since they had not been totaled. Even then the Writing paper has been marked so badly that we wonder who could possibly have done it. Students with Level 7 on the Reading paper are getting Level 4!!! on the writing paper. I have staff who mark the SATS and they have looked at the marking and are discusted. How dare the Government say that the only problem is the lateness. Now my staff are remarking the papers and we shall be sending them back for re-marking. My staff, the students and their families deserve much better than this complete and utter farce. ETS should be sacked and not paid.
terry F!ish, Bournemouth Dorset
What's going on ! My grandson and two friends are all very able, are at a (state) primary school, have all passed their 11+ exam ( they live in a selective schools county), and will be going on to grammar schools, have all got lower SATS results in English than at least five other kids at their school ( some of whom can barely read ), and who have all "failed" their 11+ exam!! Conclusion? Bin all the SATS results this year.
Vernon Bollindale, Maidstone, Kent, UK
WE WANT OUR RESULTS! WE WORKED VERY HARD FOR OUR SATS! We are very annoyed that they can't give us our results. We are in year nine and we are meant to be doing an english project but we are so angry about this that we thought we must express our disgust! And we will be even more angry if they mark our papers wrong or if they take any longer getting our papers back to us. Got to go, teacher coming ;-)
Jess, Beth, Katie and Emma, Hertfordshire
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