UK - Exam chaos as computer error wipes out records

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School tests for more than a million children face disruption this summer after a computer error wiped out the records of thousands of pupils.

National Curriculum examinations for 11- and 14-year-olds across the country risk being thrown into chaos by the software fault. It is the latest embarrassment for the Government's Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), which oversees school tests.

The error emerged last week when computer disks containing lists of all pupils in England due to sit the tests should have been sent to Local Education Authorities. The disks, which contain lists of all pupils' names, sex, dates of birth and schools, are needed for teachers and LEA officials to compile and analyse results once the exams have been taken. Most authorities received disks with a fraction of the required information while others received lists of pupils from different regions. Several authorities received no disk at all.

One LEA official said: "Our disk only had the names of pupils whose names began with W, X, Y or Z. We are waiting to see how quickly this will be sorted out but it could cause severe delays in collating exam results."

Peter Richmond, the chairman of the National Consortium for Examinations Results, which helps LEAs to analyse test results, said: "It is critical for local authorities to have this information. There are massive amounts of data missing. Obviously the quality checking procedure was not thorough enough.

"There is the potential here for a major problem. The alarm bells are going off. We are very concerned and hope this will be rectified immediately."

Pupils are due to sit the National Curriculum tests over the next few weeks. The tests for 11-year-olds cover reading, writing, spelling, mathematics, mental arithmetic and science. The 14-year-olds are tested on English - including reading, writing and studying a Shakespeare play - mathematics, mental arithmetic and science.

David Hart, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: "There appears to be no end to the incompetence at the QCA. It really is scandalous that annual tests which are vital to pupils and their parents should be disrupted."

The database was prepared by NCS Pearson, a company specialising in the computer processing of examination information. The firm was awarded the contract to carry out the work last year. A spokesman said: "We have discovered that some incomplete versions of this data were sent out. We are working over the weekend to sort this out. The LEAs should have this data by the end of next week."

A spokesman for the QCA said: "We have established that there is a programming error in the software. The error has now been rectified. QCA acknowledges the inconvenience which this has caused to LEAs."

Earlier this year Government officials warned the QCA that it was under close scrutiny following a series of errors by Edexcel, one of the main examining boards. The board was described as "sloppy" by Tony Blair's official spokesman after mistakes in examination papers affected thousands of pupils.

Telegraph

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2002


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