Record

StorageSiteUCL Institute of Education
LevelSubFonds
Reference Number IE/CAT
TitleConsortium for Assessment and Testing in Schools
Date1988-1992
DescriptionComprises agendas, minutes, papers and correspondence regarding the work of the Consortium for Assessment and Testing in Schools (CATS) in the development of SATs for different subjects at National Curriculum Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 between 1988 and 1992.
Extent8 boxes
AdminHistoryThe Consortium for Assessment and Testing in Schools (CATS) was formed in September 1988 to submit a tender to the School Examinations and Assessment Council (SEAC) for the development of SATs in English, Mathematics and Science for use with students at the end of the National Curriculum's Key Stage 1. In January 1989 the CATS Consortium and two other development agencies were appointed by SEAC to develop the Key Stage 1 SATs. For that work, the Consortium comprised The Institute of Education, London East Anglian Group for GCSE (LEAG) and Hodder & Stoughton Publishers and was based at the Institute. In July 1989 further contracts were awarded for the development of SATs in English, Mathematics, Science and Technology at Key Stage 3. For the purposes of developing SATs for students at the end of Key Stage 3, the membership of the Consortium was extended to include Goldsmiths College and King's College, University of London. In July 1990 the Consortium was also awarded the contract for the development of SATs in Technology at Key Stage 1. A project for the development of Welsh Second Language SATs at Key Stage 1/2 was based at the Consortium's Welsh headquarters in Denbigh.

The Consortium was chaired by Denis Lawton who was succeeded as chair by Peter Mortimore in January 1991. It was run by an Executive Committee, comprising senior representatives of each member organisation, and six teams: Mathematics, English, Science, Design & Technology, Welsh, and a Central Co-ordinating Team. The Design & Technology team was based at Goldsmiths, the Science and Mathematics teams at King's, and the English team was based at the Department of English and Media Studies at the Institute of Education. For the Welsh project, a Welsh Advisory Committee was established.
CustodialHistoryThese papers were left in a filing cabinet in the Archive Office in early 1997. Most of the material seems to have been Prof Mortimore's set of the Consortium's papers. The contents of boxes 70-71 were already boxed and labelled and may be from a different provenance than the rest of the material, which was boxed (although not sorted) prior to its transfer to LMA.
ArrangementAfter initial appraisal the records were categorised as IE/CAT.
Add to My Items