47%

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Ok, that's 100 dots.
100%. 
47& are blue, 53% are orange. 
Those 47 dots represent the 47% of our 11 year-olds who, according to the BBC news website( Link ) have failed to meet a new tough standard in reading, writing and mathematics.

That's a lot of dots that have not attained the label 'Expected'. They are 'Emerging' dots (no mention of 'Exceeding' dots in the article - not sure what that tells us). In fairness, some of those dots would have been 'Expected ' in some subjects but the Government requires they are 'Expected' in each of the key areas: maths, reading, spag (spelling, punctuation and grammar) and teacher-assessed writing.

Now I'm not an  expert (though that should be OK since apparently we are all fed up with experts, says Mr Curriculum Designer Man) but my reading of 47% 'Unexpected' tells me one thing.  The 'Expectations' were way out.

Those of us who have taught the new curriculum knew that.
Those who administered the tests confirmed that they were, indeed, more delusional than inspirational.
Those who comforted distressed children, waited to see just how bad it was.

It's bad.
The Education Secretary said she didn't know what the results would look like. Well, she jolly well should have known because those of us with children, or working with children, could have given her a jolly good idea. Now is the time to look at what children really need to learn and how they need to learn it. I agree with Nicky Morgan that a direct comparison is not  reflective of schools' achievements. It's a reflection of the suitability of the curriculum, and so I thought I'd give you a direct comparison so you could decide for yourselves.

Last year the dots would have looked like this:

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