Training & Support
18 September 2024 –GL Assessment has today announced the launch of its New Group Maths Test (NGMT), a digital, adaptive assessment for students aged 6 – 12 years that is designed to help teachers understand their students’ mathematical knowledge and skills across key curriculum topics.
Available now, NGMT aims to address the ongoing challenges faced by schools in mathematics teaching and learning. The assessment:
- Establishes an accurate measure of current maths attainment
- Identifies areas of relative strength and those for further development for each child
- Measures curriculum effectiveness – within and across schools
- Deploys adaptivity to ensure inclusive participation of all students
- Gets meaningful information in the hands of specialist and non-specialist teachers
- Helps schools provide the right support to each student.
NGMT offers a comprehensive solution for schools struggling with a demanding maths curriculum, the lingering effects of pandemic-related learning loss, and a shortage of specialist maths teachers. The test provides teachers with actionable data to pinpoint areas where students need additional support, enabling targeted interventions and personalised learning strategies.
NGMT is designed with flexibility and efficiency in mind. It's available in a digital format, accessible via PC, laptop or tablet, making it easy to administer in various school settings. The test takes between 45 to 60 minutes to complete, striking a balance between thoroughness and practicality. It also complements GL Assessment’s other adaptive assessments, the New Group Reading Test and the New Group Spelling Test.
Crispin Chatterton, Director of Education at Renaissance, incorporating GL Assessment, said: "NGMT marks a significant advancement in maths assessment. For every individual child, it provides a reliable and valid measure of overall maths attainment, allows for comparisons with peers of the same age, and offers insight into areas of relative strength and those needing development.
“By equipping teachers with precise, actionable data, we're enabling them to offer targeted support where it's most needed. NGMT will help all schools use their resources more efficiently and improve mathematics education outcomes."
The assessment covers key mathematical topics, including number and algebra, fractions, decimals, percentages, proportion and ratio and geometry, measurement and statistics,providing a broad view of each student's mathematical competencies. After completion, NGMT generates detailed reports on both individual and group performance, giving teachers and schools a clear picture of each student’s strengths and areas of challenge.
NGMT employs adaptive testing technology, tailoring the difficulty of questions to each student's attainment as they progress through the assessment. This ensures a more accurate measure of mathematical skills across a wide range of abilities. During beta testing, one Maths Leader noted: "More able children enjoyed the challenge of the test and the presentation of different content for each child is great. The children generally loved completing the NGMT."
NGMT contextualises each student's performance against a nationally representative sample of 30,000 students and provides teachers with Standard Age Scores, stanines and domain-specific results. This allows for easy comparison with national standards and identification of strengths and areas for development.
NGMT's reporting system, accessed through GL Assessment's online testing platform, Testwise, offers flexible data visualisation and analysis options. The system can be customised to meet the differing needs of various MAT and school roles: from school leaders and data managers to maths subject leaders and classroom teachers. Schools can use the test as a termly measure throughout the academic year to track progress and adjust teaching strategies as needed.
Leaders working in MATs will find NGMT's reporting particularly valuable. The assessment provides a consistent way to gather comparable data across all schools, cohorts and key groups within a Trust. Implementing NGMT across all schools allows users to identify best practices, spot trends, and plan a curriculum strategy using rigorous, actionable data.
Andy Small, Assessment Specialist (Numeracy & Mathematics) at GL Assessment, said: "I know from experience the challenges that exist in the maths classroom, both in terms of a wealth of content to cover with children often displaying a wide range of complex profiles and with attitudes towards the subject. That not only the learner, but their parents and - more often than you may think - even their teacher can struggle for maths confidence only serves to exacerbate the issue.
"Having access to the right resources helps to mitigate some of these challenges and I am so pleased that we have been able to develop an assessment tool that should do some of the 'heavy lifting' for both specialist and non-specialist teachers of maths. I hope that time-poor teachers will really value knowing that every one of their students will be able to achieve through the adaptive testing algorithm and every result will support them to enhance their classroom practice."
For more information about the New Group Maths Test, visit here.
About GL Assessment
GL Assessment, part of Renaissance, is a leading provider of formative assessments to schools and school groups in the UK and in over 100 countries worldwide. It provides assessments that help to reveal students' potential, track their progress, and identify any barriers to learning they might have. www.gl-assessment.co.uk
For further information, please contact [email protected]
