Is this the end for Sats? Ministers and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority which oversees tests and exams in England will hope that today's axing of the Sats contract with the American based firm ETS will salvage its reputation for competence - along with £24m.
Saving the tests may take longer. Ed Balls, the children's secretary, says in a letter to Barry Sheerman, who chairs the Commons committee for children, schools and families, that the money has been recovered from the £35m paid to ETS as the first instalment of the five year £156m contract to run the Sats tests for 11- and 14-year-olds.
It is not so much the £10m hit to the taxpayer, but the whole marking fiasco, which delayed the results and threw up so many mistakes that teachers became disillusioned, which must be Balls' main worry. It has led to a head of steam building up among teachers to boycott Sats. Whether that has dissipated over the summer may become clearer when schools go back in September, but teachers' anger could connect with growing unease among parents that their children are being over-tested and their education becoming a joyless grind.
Balls has been talking up the pilots of a "test when ready" scheme under which children sit the test when their teacher decides they are capable, rather than having an annual national test. This is the system Scotland has used since the Conservative government introduced it.
Meanwhile Balls and the QCA have to find someone to run the Sats next year. Two exam boards have already ruled themselves out. The QCA may have to pay a high price for the 2009 Sats contract.
