Working with AlphaPlus, AQA's specialist in standards and assessment, the Welsh government have introduced new online national assessments for school children aged 7 to 14 in Wales. These assessments have replaced the old paper-based testing system.

Background

In Wales, all state-educated children in years 2 to 9 take national, formative assessments in procedural numeracy, reading, and numerical reasoning every year. These assessments are designed to identify areas where children and teachers need to focus their efforts in order to make progress.

In the past, learners took these tests on paper. However, the Welsh government decided to move the assessments to an on-screen format – a project that started in 2017.

AlphaPlus, part of the AQA group, led this multi-team project on behalf of the Welsh government, developing technology and content for the new online assessments, and helping to deliver the national rollout across schools in Wales.

The assessments are now taken by around 270,000 learners every year.

About the new assessments

Adaptive and personalised

Available in Welsh and English, the new online assessments are fully adaptive and personalised, automatically adjusting the difficulty level of questions to match the learner taking the test. If the learner answers a question correctly, the next question they receive will be slightly more challenging; if the learner answers a question incorrectly, the following question will be slightly easier. Each learner therefore has a personalised assessment experience.

Web-based

The assessments are entirely online. They require no local server or installation of software, and can be taken on desktop computers, laptops or tablets eg iPads or Chromebooks.

Accessible

The on-screen assessments are designed to allow children with different access needs to fully demonstrate what they know and can do. For example, modified assessments are available to support learners with visual impairment.

Benefits of adaptive, on-screen tests

From automated marking to personalised feedback, the new adaptive on-screen assessments in Wales have various benefits over the traditional paper-based tests.

Better learner engagement

The adaptive assessments allow learners to move up or down the ability range, challenging those who are more able while not demotivating those who are struggling. This makes the tests engaging for all.

In addition, the new assessments typically take less time than the linear, paper-based tests, which also helps keep learners engaged.

Automated marking

Before, teachers in Wales had to mark the paper-based national assessments manually. Now, however, the tests are marked automatically, saving time and greatly reducing workload for teachers.

Timely, high-quality feedback

The on-screen assessments offer high-quality, personalised feedback, providing schools with accurate information on the skills of individual learners and whole classes. This helps teachers easily identify learners’ strengths as well as areas for improvement.

What’s more, because the assessments are automatically marked and calibrated, the feedback is available the day after the tests are taken, supporting the key purpose of formative assessment, as changes to teaching can be implemented quickly.