Ofqual National Reference Test a success

Ofqual has confirmed that the first annual National Reference Test (NRT) has been held and went according to plan.

The test is taken by a sample of students in year 11 every year, shortly before they take their GCSEs, to see if there are any changes in how pupils perform at a national level.

This year’s test was held in 341 schools between 20 February and 3 March. At each school, up to 30 students took the English test and another 30 students took the maths test.

The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) carried out the testing in each school on Ofqual’s behalf and is now marking and analysing the students’ papers.

Results from the NRT will only be used to measure changes in performance nationally. There will be no results for individual students or schools

Sally Collier, Ofqual’s chief regulator said: “We have begun to analyse the results and we look forward to understanding more about how this new source of information can help us maintain standards in the reformed GCSEs.

“We would expect to see an improvement in early NRT results as student and teacher familiarity with the new English language and maths GCSEs increases.

“This, alongside the need to compare the performance of student cohorts over several years, means that we expect it will be 2019 at the earliest before exam boards will start to use the information from the NRT when they award GCSEs.”