Tests show UK 11-year-olds a bit better at math, worse at reading; Schools protest tests

Tests: UK kids better at math, worse at reading

LONDON — School tests across England show that 11-year-olds are doing a bit better at mathematics and writing but worse at reading.

But a fourth of English primary schools declared the tests a waste of time and didn’t make their pupils take them.

Results of the Standard Assessments Tests, or SATS, showed that 71 percent of students were up to standard for writing, up from 68 percent last year, and 81 percent hit the target for English, up from 80 percent. In reading, however, 84 percent met the standard this year, compared to 86 percent a year ago.

Despite the nationwide test’s rejection by many schools, Schools Minister Nick Gibb defended the test as “a vital staging post” in a child’s life.