You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.  ~Clay P. Bedford

Assessment

I think that children should be assessed based on their IQ.  I don’t believe in standardized testing.  I think standardized tests dominate classroom instruction and that is not how it should be.  Teachers are so scared that students’ achievement is a reflection on their ability to teach and that is not true, in most cases.  Giving students unit tests in a reflection of their true learning.  
In Germany assessment is carried out by means of frequent tests (‘Arbeiten’) and dictation tasks (‘Diktate’) but there are no SATS and no Key Stages like those prevalent in British primary education.
Reports are given annually and the children work towards the ‘Hauptschulabschluss’ (Certificate).
Some schools cater for the slower learner and those with special needs and, invariably, the schools have many foreign children whose knowledge of German is not up to the standard needed for the higher-level schools.