What's new in NFER Tests for 26/27

NFER has updated the standardisation to ensure that assessment results reflect today’s attainment landscape.

Following a period of change in national attainment, NFER has refreshed its standardisation using 2024–25 nationally representative test data. This provides schools with an updated national reference point when interpreting pupil performance.

No. The assessments themselves remain exactly the same.

• Not yet ordered autumn tests? Access will be provided automatically on next order.​
• Already ordered your autumn tests? Request access to the new NFER Reporting Tool​.

Yes. You can continue using your existing data to track trends over time, or use the updated standardisation to compare against current national attainment.

No. The assessments themselves remain exactly the same.

No. You can transition at a pace that suits your school. 

You will need to access the new Reporting Tool to view updated standardisation data and access the updated Teacher Guides, but you can continue using your existing tools alongside it.

Teacher guides will be available free of charge via the new NFER Reporting Tool launching on 1st October. Schools that purchase autumn tests after launch will automatically be given access to the new tool. The digital teacher guides include the same mark schemes, but with new standardisation.

You can also still purchase the existing paper teacher guides with original standardisation, if you'd prefer. 

It's important to remember that a standardised score of 100 is not the same as the DfE's scaled score of 100. A standardised score of 100 simply represents the average score for pupils in the national sample, meaning around half of pupils score above it and half score below it. This does not mean that a pupil is or is not on track to meet the expected standard.

If you are using the original standardisation data, you should continue to use the age-related expectations information provided in the printed Teacher Guides for the summer tests. This information gives test score ranges which indicate whether or not pupils are likely to meet age-related expectations

The new NFER Reporting Tool uses the updated standardisation data. On this data, pupils achieving a standardised score of around 90 will be on the borderline for achieving age-related expectations. If a pupil has a standardised score comfortably above 90 then they are likely to meet the age-related expectations. If a pupil has a standardised score somewhat below 90 then they may well not meet age-related expectations. Percentiles can also be used to guide predictions as to whether a pupil will achieve age-related expectations with a percentile rank of 25 marking the borderline.

For some of the tests there is very little difference in the two data sets and pupils would get the same prediction from either data set. For some tests there is a little more difference but not so much that a pupil could move likely to achieve the age-related expectations to unlikely to achieve the age-related expectations, for example. Predictions on whether a pupil will or will not meet age-related expectations should always be made in light of a range of assessment evidence and not just one test score. Therefore large shifts in predictions are not anticipated.  Any changes does not necessarily indicate that a pupil has made progress or regressed. Instead, it reflects the move to a more up-to-date national comparison.

For some tests, the restandardisation data does not differ greatly from the original and you may not notice much difference in the pupils' test outcomes. This is particularly true of the KS1 and Year 6 tests as these were the last assessments to be developed. 

Once the new NFER Reporting Tool launches on the 1st October, you'll have access to the new digital teacher guides where you'll be able to see the new standardisation tables.

Please contact [email protected] if there's anything else we can do to support.