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Preface
The 2004 Mathematics Survey was the last survey to be carried out within the Assessment of Achievement Programme ( AAP), which this year is replaced by the expanded Scottish Survey of Achievement. The stages assessed were P3, P5, P7 and S2, with pupil testing taking place in May and June 2004. Almost 10000 pupils in just under 850 mainstream schools across Scotland attempted mathematics test booklets, that is 2000-3000 pupils per stage. In addition, around 5500 pupils in almost 800 of these same schools attempted reading and writing tasks. Almost 400 of the schools also participated in practical assessments, of mathematics and ICT skills. To provide a context for the attainment findings, participating schools were invited to complete questionnaires about the resources available to them for mathematics and about their mathematics provision, and at every stage those pupils who attempted mathematics assessments were invited to complete questionnaires about their learning experience in mathematics.
The National Assessment Bank provided the 'pencil and paper' and the 'mental' mathematics assessment tasks used in the survey, supplemented by practical mathematics tasks, ICT tasks, and reading and writing tasks newly developed by the Scottish Qualifications Authority ( SQA). School and pupil questionnaires were developed by the Scottish Executive Education Department ( SEED) and SQA. The SQA was responsible for printing the test booklets and distributing these to schools. The survey schools organised and supervised their own written test sessions, but the practical assessments were the responsibility of itinerant field officers - practising primary teachers and secondary mathematics teachers released by their education authorities for survey involvement. Completed test booklets were received and processed by SQA. The pupil response data were keyboarded by Datapro Data Services Ltd and analysed by Assessment Europe. The survey report was produced by Sandra Johnson (Assessment Europe) and Tom Macintyre (University of Edinburgh).
This report presents a rich snapshot view of the situation in Scottish schools today as regards mathematics and core skills 5-14. Like previous surveys in the AAP series, this survey was an ambitious exercise, that has resulted in a wealth of information about pupil attainment in an important curricular area, set within the context of learning circumstances and experiences both within and outside the classroom.
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