NFER has been commissioned by the Standards and Testing Agency (STA) to trial test materials for assessment at key stage 1 and key stage 2.
As part of that process, we are asking a number of schools to trial new English reading, English grammar, punctuation and spelling (GPS), and mathematics tests. The trial is aimed at testing the performance of the tests rather than the performance of any pupil. This means that schools can have confidence that the tests function appropriately for pupils and that the results will be valid and reliable.
More information about your participation in the trial and what it involves for your school can be found in the information for schools.
The schools have been randomly selected by STA and make up a nationally representative sample. If your school has been selected, we will have written to your headteacher. If your school is LA-maintained or is part of a multi-academy trust (MAT) with more than five schools, we will have informed your LA or MAT that your school has been selected.
It is important that all selected schools participate in the trial so that the trial data includes pupils from all backgrounds across the whole of England. This means that you can have confidence that future national curriculum tests are accessible for all pupils and not just those with the highest abilities or from more privileged backgrounds.
Although KS1 national curriculum tests are now optional in schools, participation in all these trials is statutory across both key stages. For more information, please read STA’s guidance: Statutory participation in trialling of national curriculum assessments
Along with your selection letter and email, you will also have received a copy of a letter from STA with more details about the statutory nature of these trials. If you do not have a copy, please contact NFER using the details at the end of these FAQs and someone from the team will be happy to share a copy of this letter with you.
Your involvement in this trial is an excellent opportunity for pupils to practise and for feedback to be considered in the development of future assessments. Regrettably, we are unable to give feedback to the schools that take part in the development of tests.
As these trials test the suitability of the questions and tests as a whole, in some cases, this may mean they are too difficult or too easy. The results pupils achieve may, therefore, not be indicative of their actual ability and may be misleading as standalone results.
The data and scanned images will be maintained as strictly confidential by NFER and will be passed to STA, the Data Controller, for the purposes of informing the analysis of the test results and ensuring that the tests are operating appropriately for all pupils. No individual school or pupil will be identified by NFER or STA in any report arising from the trial. For more details about the use of data for this trial, please refer to the privacy notices which are available at the following links:
Our aim is that your experience of taking part in the trial is a positive one, and we are on hand to support you throughout if required. Please feel free to contact our team by email with any queries, or if you require further information, at [email protected].