National Standardised Assessments for Scotland: national report 2022 to 2023

Preface

This report has been developed to provide a summary of outcomes at a national level on the 'Scottish National Standardised Assessments' (SNSA) and ‘Measaidhean Coitcheann Nàiseanta airson Foghlam tron Ghàidhlig’ (MCNG) (collectively known as NSA) in the 2022 to 2023 academic year. It presents a description of what NSA set out to measure, and some findings from the 2022-23 academic session. This was the sixth year of the programme for SNSA and the fifth year for MCNG.

The report provides information on two main areas.

It shows what SNSA and MCNG set out to achieve, by way of a high-level description of each 'organiser' included within the assessments. The descriptions are exemplified by a small number of exemplar assessment items from each of the organisers.

Findings at a national level are reported, providing information across the different organisers within the assessments, and focusing on selected learner characteristics including sex, Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), ethnic background, free school meals, additional support needs, looked after children at home and away from home, and English as an additional language which reflects how data and information about learners is represented on SEEMiS.

The information in this report is intended to supplement the information already available to schools and local authorities for the 2022 to 2023 academic year, for their own setting, and is intended to provide staff with an insight into learner outcomes and engagement with the assessment at a national level. Schools and local authorities may benefit from using the information within this report to help determine strengths and areas for future improvement in relation to curriculum delivery, including support or interventions for specific cohorts or groups. In addition, schools and local authorities can make use of the information to identify trends in outcomes in areas of the curriculum that may benefit from an increased focus on learning and teaching.

This report is not intended to form the basis of an accountability measure against which performance will be tracked over time. The main aim of the NSA is to provide a diagnostic tool that can be used as part of a range of evidence to support teachers' professional judgement of children's and young people's progress in learning in both literacy and numeracy. The report is intended to support this aim through the dissemination of findings at a national level.