Personalised assessments: guidance for parents and carers

The purpose of these assessments is to:

• provide teachers with feedback on children’s strengths and areas for further development

• help teachers to plan the next steps for your child’s learning

Schools will decide how and when to share information on children's reading and numeracy skills with parents and carers. This information will include feedback from personalised assessments. Schools are encouraged to share it while the information is current. However, some schools may decide to wait until later in the school year. For example, the teacher might share information at a parents’ evening to discuss how your child is progressing based on:

• feedback from one or more assessments

• the teacher’s observations of your child’s learning

Overview

Personalised assessments are taken online and are adaptive. This means that questions are selected based on the responses to previous questions. This provides a tailored assessment experience for each child. It will help all children develop their skills through understanding:

• what they can do

• the things they may need to work on

• their next steps

The assessments provide schools with information on the skills of:

• individual children

• groups of children

• whole classes

There is no set time of year or ‘assessment window’ for personalised assessments. The timing is decided by the school.

Children can take the assessments in small or large groups, depending on the school’s preferences and facilities.

Children must do the assessments once during the academic year. Schools also have the option to use the assessments once more during the academic year.