National Assessment Agency appoint ETS
ETS Global (a subsidiary of US company Educational Testing Service) have been confirmed as winner of the £156m contract to administer the Key Stage 1, 2 and 3 and Year 7 progress tests from 2008 to 2012.
The NAA is a subsidiary of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), which itself is a Non-Departmental Public Body owned by the DfES. Launched in 2004, its charter is to ‘safeguard and modernise the delivery of exams, tests and assessment’.
This is a blow for Edexcel (Pearson) which held the contract (worth £80m) between 2004 and now.In 2004 Jonathan Ford, the NAA’s then Managing Director said, ‘Pearson’s proven expertise in technology will help us to modernise the exams and testing system, and enable us to provide markers with better technical support’. A great endorsement, except that by the end of 2004 Ford quit after a QCA report described problems with the English tests, saying, ‘The whole test operations process is not robust in any sense’. Add to that comments like, ‘poor leadership and inadequate project management’ (Ken Boston, QCA), ‘appalling maladministration’ (Tim Collins, then Shadow Education Secretary) and ‘maladministration and muddle’ (John Dunford, Secondary Heads Association) – and it was always going to be difficult for Edexcel to renew this contract. In a minor exclusive, Bob Osborne of Edexcel told us, ‘We were very disappointed not to get it, having put in a very strong bid and to have delivered very effectively on the current contract’.
While changing suppliers may make sense at the NAA, there is no company operating in this area who has not been dogged by controversy. ETS itself had to pay $11.1m to settle a class-action lawsuit about one test and recycling of SAT tests (which ETS administers on behalf of The College Board) has even led to calls for government regulation of testing companies in the US. Moving the UK’s exam system from a ‘cottage industry’ (Ken Boston) was always going to be difficult and it will be interesting to see how ETS fare.
www.collegeboard.com
www.edexcel.org.uk
www.naa.org.uk
www.qca.org.uk
www.uk.etseurope.net