A fully adaptive, standardised, termly spelling assessment. New Group Spelling Test (NGST) is an adaptive assessment which allows termly monitoring of spelling skills, benchmarked against the national average. When combined with New Group Reading Test (NGRT) you can assess reading and spelling together in under an hour.

Questions are delivered via audio and the assessment is adaptive – meaning that questions change based on students’ responses, so more able students can be challenged while weaker students are kept engaged. The reports provide the Standard Age Score (SAS), allowing you to compare each students’ performance with other children of the same age, and track progress. Reports also provide customised implications for teaching and learning as well as offer practical help with next steps in the classroom.

When should I use NGST?

NGST features three equivalent forms A, B and C, so it can be used in each term of the year.

By administering NGST for all students at the beginning, middle and end of a school year, you can stay on top of spelling progress and meet the Ofsted requirement to show strong progress, and gain an informed picture on Progress 8.

Alternatively, you can choose to administer NGST as a screener for all students at the beginning of a year to identify any students who may need additional diagnostic assessment or support for specific literacy difficulties. You can then check the progress of this group midway through the year, then return to check the progress of everyone again at the end of the year.

What do the tests involve?

NGST has two sections:

• Single word section – tests five or six spelling rules in line with the new curricula.
• Spelling in context section – tests a variety of different spelling rules using sentence completion tasks.

What does NGST data tell me?

NGST reports include:

• Group report for teachers – a summary of the age-standardised scores for the chosen group of students, presented in rank order and compared to the national population (national percentile rank).
• Individual report for teachers – offers a detailed analysis of responses to the two sections of NGST, a profile summary and tailored implications for teaching and learning.
• Group progress report for teachers – provides a summary of the progress made over time for the chosen group of students with two points of progress. A group progress report for three points of progress is coming soon.

Reports are available as downloadable Excel reports for easy analysis.

NGST Excel Group and Individual Reports

• A CSV/ Excel report which gives all raw/core data enabling further analysis of results and import into other systems
• A breakdown of scores for all students, including raw score, SAS, NPR and stanine scores as well as individual question scores where applicable.

The Reading and Spelling Group Report for Teachers shows the scores of NGST and NGRT together and gives a summary of the age-standardised scores for the chosen group of students, presented both in rank order and compared to the national population (national percentile rank). Report includes:

Scores for all students in the group, showing SAS for both tests and group ranking

• Analysis of group scores compared to the national average, plus a spelling age and reading age for each student
• Analysis of group scores by previously defined categories such as EAL and SEND
• An overall attainment score detailing whether a student has a higher spelling or reading attainment

The Reading and Spelling Individual Report for Teachers shows all scores, a profile summary for each student and implications for teaching and learning. This report will inform teachers about each individual student’s results in both assessments and indicate how specific issues can be improved. Report includes:

• A breakdown of scores for each student, including the SAS for both tests with confidence bands, National Percentile Rank, stanine, reading age and spelling age
• An overall attainment score detailing whether a student has a higher spelling or reading attainment
• A profile description for each student with written implications for teaching and learning

Reading and Spelling Excel Report

• CSV/Excel report gives all raw/core data for both assessments enabling further analysis of results and import into other systems
• A breakdown of scores for all students, including raw scores, SAS, NPR, spelling and reading ages and stanine scores.

Sample Reports