Creative Teaching and Learning

Baseline blues

Primary and infant schools face an urgent choice: do they use a Reception baseline test this Autumn? Sue Hackman asks whether such a test can ever be reliable.

The new Reception baseline test will soon become a key measure in the government's accountability regime – but can such a test be a reliable indicator of progress? Sue Hackman isn't so sure.


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Will you be using a Reception baseline test this Autumn? Although 2015 is a dry run, the government is keen to encourage schools to take the plunge. For just one year, schools can count either their baseline or their Key Stage 1 (KS1) results as the starting point for the progress measure that will eventually apply to this cohort. In 2016, however, the baseline starts in earnest. KS2-only schools will continue to use KS1 results as their baseline, and KS1-only schools will use baseline-to-KS1 as their measure.

Don’t hold your breath though: the first cohort will not sit their KS2 tests until May 2023.

Ignore at your peril

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