- 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.
We understand you'll have some questions...
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, you should continue to use the benchmark information provided in the relevant printed Teacher Guide.
The new NFER Reporting Tool uses the updated national benchmarks, so new reports will reflect these updated standards. In many cases, schools will find that more pupils are on track to meet expectations than they initially thought when using the updated benchmarks. As a result, some pupils may appear in different attainment groups, particularly in certain year groups where the benchmarks have changed more noticeably. This 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 this transition year, we recommend reviewing your current cohort against your existing benchmarks and then using the new NFER Reporting Tool to establish your new baseline. This will help you understand how the updated benchmarks affect your pupil data and support meaningful comparisons moving forward.
Please contact [email protected] if there's anything else we can do to support.