sats.. right or wrong?

[betty b]

Ok leah is sitting her sats all this week, shes having loads of exams each day.. do you think 11 year olds shud be tested this much at this age?

[Avec]

Originally Posted by betty b

Ok leah is sitting her sats all this week, shes having loads of exams each day.. do you think 11 year olds shud be tested this much at this age?

My children went through all those SATs. It did them no harm.
Try not to worry. Honestly I think as parents we can be a little
over concerned and over protective. Trust me she will be fine.
Go get yourself a cup of tea and relax. Have a biscuit too lol.

[Barwench]

My boy is 14 and sitting his sats. I think he is the correct age for this testing. He understands that these are just an overall test to see where he is academically.
But I also think to have these tests at 11 and 7 is wrong, for no other reason than I think it has nothing to do with the childs progess more on how well the school is teaching, or not , depending on the results.
When I was at school we had weekly tests, on a friday afternoon, just to find out if what we had learned had sunk in or not, there was no pressure to get like 100% it was made to be fun

[sky]

I think exams are a waste of time really as they don't give a true representation of the persons ability. There are lots of bright people out there who have more than enough brain cells yet put them in exam conditions and they turn to jelly. An example, when I was at college my tutor hadn't been to uni and taken any exams, instead she opted for open university where her ability was judged on coursework.Had she gone and sat exams she would have (by her own admission) failed miserably; but as she didn't have to go thro the exam process she emerged with excellent results. To subject kids to the sats at age 14 is all very well but I agree , there's no reason for having them at ages 7 & 11. The old 11+ was abandoned as it proved too demanding on children and not a true representation of their academic ability and so should sats, they are without doubt just a way in which to make the school league tables look impressive.

[littleguru]

Regular testing should be enough until age 14. too many students are burnt out and drop out from the pressure to be better. I never did well on the exams because they were timed. just because one can get it in 50 minutes and another in 30 minutes doesn't make the person who needs 2 hours any more of a dummy. Just more thorough! Over here they are called ISTEP tests. The troubles with them is One:teachers have trouble passing them. The other is that a student who is just entering the 5th grade is tested on what he is suppose to know at the end of his 6th grade year! Of course he is set to fail. Not even in that grade yet! As a parent, I don't read too much into them until high school age. That's the time for them to make a difference and choose their way! Old enuf to start deciding.