National Reading and Numeracy Tests and entitlement to free school meals: 2018

This complements other similar outputs looking at the teacher assessments and Key Stage 4 results and attendance by entitlement for free school meals.

The main results from the 2018 national reading and numeracy tests were published in August 2018. The notes in that release contain important background and quality information for the tests and should be read in conjunction with the data in this release.

Comparability

Age-standardised scores provide a measure of relative performance only. A score above 115 indicates test results that are higher than those for most children of the same age. A score between 85 and 115 indicates test results that are in line with most children of the same age. A score below 85 indicates test results that are lower than those for most children of the same age.

The results for each year group and test are independently standardised every year. Therefore the data in this release cannot be used to compare the relative performance of pupils between the different tests.

Please note that because data are independently standardised each year, the results cannot be compared over time.

Key results for 2018

• Overall, the performance of pupils eligible for free school meals (eFSM) is lower than their non eligible counterparts (nFSM) in each of the national tests.
• eFSM pupils are between two and a half and four times less likely to achieve an age-standardised score above 115 in each of the national tests.
• eFSM pupils are between two and three times more likely to achieve an age-standardised score below 85 in each of the national tests.

Transition to online assessment

As of the 2018/19 academic year online assessments will be phased in over a three-year period, starting with procedural numeracy in 2018/19. Over time the online assessments will replace the current paper-based national tests. More information can be found on the Learning Wales website.