The man responsible for running school tests quit today after a damning official report into the assessment of 14-year-olds in English this year criticised his leadership and said the whole process was "plagued with a myriad of issues and errors".

Jonathan Ford resigned as managing director of the National Assessment Agency (NAA), part of the exams watchdog, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA).

Dr Ford's resignation followed the publication of a highly critical report by a QCA review committee into what went wrong with this year's Key Stage 3 English test results.

Schools received the test papers late, markers failed to mark them properly and thousands of pupils were forced to wait for their grades after new "improved" marking methods were introduced this year.

The QCA admitted it had failed in its duty to pupils. The report said: "The whole test operations process is not robust in any sense."

It added: "The 2003-2004 English Key Stage 3 test process was plagued with a myriad of issues and errors. While each issue and error in itself would have been manageable, the combination of so many caused the failure.

"The process from the printing and distribution of the test materials through to the publication of electronic results was badly flawed causing significant concern and disruption in schools.

"The whole process was characterised by poor leadership and inadequate project management."

The scathing report was issued as the Government finally published the national results for the tests three months late.

The national figures also made uncomfortable reading for ministers, as the Government missed its key targets. The figures showed 71 per cent of pupils achieved the expected standard of Level 5 in their English tests - up two percentage points from last year but still short of the Government target of 75 per cent.

Publication of the school league tables for 14-year-olds, which had been expected next month, has been put back to March next year as a result of this year’s problems.

The review committee, chaired by Mike Beasley, a QCA board member and former managing director of Jaguar, took evidence from senior figures in the QCA and the Department for Education and Skills.

It also heard from the NAA - the part of QCA responsible for the tests - exam board AQA and Pearson, which ran the on-line results system. While Dr Ford quit over the fiasco, none of the groups involved escaped blame.

The Government was too prepared to sit back and wait for others to manage the work, while the final disruption came when the results website crashed, the report said. Communication between the partners was "poor" and "there was no evidence of any sense of collective responsibility".

"While there were many specific operational failure issues they all fundamentally stem from this lack of leadership and ineffective programme management coupled with poor communication and coordination."

A team of individuals from the various bodies involved must be set up to oversee future tests, taking "corporate responsibility" to make sure the system works, the report recommended.

The committee found no reason to believe that the test itself, the marking quality, or the final national results were in doubt.

Ken Boston, QCA chief executive, said he was grateful for the "thorough and frank" report. "I am confident that the English test results published today are an accurate reflection of the achievements of 14-year-olds and I congratulate pupils and their teachers on their good performance.

"At QCA, our primary responsibility is to pupils and adults who are studying the national curriculum or undertaking tests, examinations and work-related qualifications.

"However, it is clear from the review by Mike Beasley and his colleagues that we failed to carry out that responsibility effectively in delivery of the 2004 Key Stage 3 English national test. I reiterate the apologies given to schools by my colleagues in the National Assessment Agency.

"The review has identified a number of areas in which poor management decisions and operational inefficiencies led to delays in getting papers or results to schools. I give my personal commitment that QCA will take forward the recommendations to ensure that we have a smooth tests process in 2005."

David Miliband, School Standards Minister, said the failures must never happen again. "It’s vital for schools and parents that a delay in delivering results does not occur in the future," he said. "The report is a thorough assessment into what went wrong. I welcome QCA’s commitment to act on the recommendations to ensure this does not happen again."

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