National Reading and Numeracy [Reasoning] Test Ordering System
INTRODUCTION OF PERSONALISED ASSESSMENTS
Welsh Government is phasing in new online personalised assessments from this academic year, and they will replace the paper-based National Reading and Numeracy Tests over a period of three years. The purpose of the personalised assessments and the paper-based National Tests is formative – to provide insights into learners’ skills which teachers can use to plan next steps in teaching and learning. The personalised assessments are ‘adaptive’, meaning that questions are selected based on a learner’s response to the previous question. All learners will get some questions right and some questions wrong, and this gathers information on what each learner can and cannot do. This information is then made available as individual feedback and group reports.
The assessments website will be available from the first week of December. The website will be accessed by staff members and learners via Hwb, Welsh Government’s online learning platform, using their Hwb logins. For information on how users find their Hwb usernames and passwords, please follow this link https://hwb.gov.wales/getting-started.
In the first instance, the headteacher needs to accept an agreement that the assessments will be administered in accordance with the Tests administration handbook (which covers the personalised assessments). The headteacher, or person with delegated responsibility, also needs to assign functions and access (e.g. to a particular year group) to staff members. The functions allocated will determine what activities staff can undertake on the assessment website.
A range of support materials will be available on the assessments website including a user guide and videos. Staff members will also be able to register for webinar sessions to further their understanding.A further announcement in the Dysg newsletter will be made to advise schools when the assessment website is ready for use. In the meantime, you can prepare for the personalised assessments by ensuring that:
- your school’s Management Information System (MIS) is updated;
- the new Hwb Provisioning Client is scheduled to run on a regular basis; and
- you have familiarised yourself with the IT guidance for the personalised assessments.
Learners in Years 2–9 are required to take the Numeracy Personalised Assessment (Procedural) once during this academic year, as well as the paper-based National Reading Test and National Numeracy Test (Reasoning).
