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Assessment of Achievement Programme
Report of the First AAP Survey of Social Subjects Enquiry Skills (2002)
Preface
The Assessment of Achievement Programme (AAP) is designed to monitor pupils' attainment in different areas of the school curriculum on a national basis, over time, across stages, and between boys and girls, through the vehicle of sample-based surveys.
The 2002 survey of Social Subjects Enquiry Skills is unique in a number of ways. Firstly, it is the first AAP survey to be conducted in this important area of the curriculum. Secondly, it is the first AAP survey to incorporate an assessment of pupils' core skills attainment alongside attainment in a principal subject field. Thirdly, the introduction of social subjects into the assessment programme has resulted in a shift from the previous 3-year subject cycle (to accommodate mathematics, English language and science on a rotation basis) to a new 4-year subject cycle. Fourthly, it is the first AAP survey to attempt the assessment of performance of pupils as young as P3: whereas previous surveys have reported the attainments of pupils in P4, P7 and S2, this survey has shifted the focus to P3, P5, P7 and S2, which, with the move to a 4-year subject cycle, provides new possibilities for looking more directly in the future at attainment progression between P3 and P7 and between P5 and S2.
Almost 10000 pupils in 447 primary schools and 134 secondary schools throughout the country participated in the survey. Pupil testing took place in May and June 2002.
Responsibility for the preparation and implementation of the survey, and the reporting of results, lay with a project team ( see next).
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