To help teachers measure progress accurately as they move away from using national curriculum levels, GL Assessment has launched a brand new suite of assessments for maths, English and science.
The new Progress Test Series suite can be used together to help schools monitor progress in core subjects objectively against a national benchmark – essentially reassuring teachers that they have an accurate measure of attainment as they transition away from their familiar levels of progress targets.
The new Progress Test in Maths, Progress Test in English and the Progress Test in Science will also help identify if any child is not fulfilling their full potential, highlight potential barriers to learning and suggest strategies for intervention.
Greg Watson, Chief Executive of GL Assessment, said: “We have combined our 30 years of knowledge in providing assessments for schools with input from specialists at the National Foundation for Education Research (NFER) and the Mathematics Assessment Resource Service (MARS) at the University of Nottingham to create a solution that means teachers can effectively monitor progress post-levels.
“These assessments will allow teachers to compare progress against pupils across the country so they can see how their girls, boys or children receiving the Pupil Premium are performing in relation to others of the same age, for example.
“This information is critical as schools must be able to show that every child that comes through their gates is making progress, especially as from September, proposed changes to the Ofsted framework for inspections will mean inspectors will be looking more closely at assessment as a key part of the inspection process.”
The tests are broken down to help set very personal targets for children, so a teacher using Progress Test in English will know if a child is being held back in English due to their comprehension, spelling or understanding the technical aspects of English, such as grammar. Armed with this information, a teacher can put highly targeted interventions in place that will move the child forward.
The scores can also be used to provide reports to school leaders, parents, multi -academy trusts and local authorities that deliver an accurate picture of progress by child, class, year, school or region.
The Progress Test Series is available in digital or paper format for £4.95 per pupil per test and can be used for children aged 5-14.
Users of GL Assessment’s existing Progress in Maths and Progress in English series of assessments will be able to move seamlessly to these new versions of the tests, as it is easy to compare results data between the two.
Notes to Editors
About GL Assessment
GL Assessment is the leading provider of formative assessments to UK schools.
Working with a large pool of universities and research teams, our scientifically rigorous assessments have been used by education, health and psychology professionals for over 30 years. Today, we lead literacy, numeracy and ability testing in UK schools and have delivered over 7 million online tests, providing teachers with real insights and evidence to help them make a genuine improvement.
For more information, please visit our Progress Test Series web pages.
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