The Complete Digital Solution (CDS) is a ready-made digital package of 11 of our leading assessments, with unlimited use. It will help you to enable a smooth transition back to school following lockdown and give you an unrivalled understanding of your pupils’ potential and achievement right through school.

These assessments will provide you with the data to baseline your pupils, at the right time for you after they return. They will also support you in understanding current levels of attainment, including pupils’ reading ages, helping you to identify any gaps in knowledge across core subjects and aiding your curriculum planning. Additionally, our PASS measure will allow you to gauge the attitudes and mindset of your pupils as they return to school after this period of absence.

CDS includes:

Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT4)

Baseline and Baseline Progress

The Progress Test Series (English, maths, science)

New Group Reading Test (NGRT)

New Group Spelling Test (NGST)

Dyslexia Screener

Dyscalculia Screener

Pupil Attitudes to Self and School (PASS)

Kirkland Rowell Surveys

What does CDS do?

The assessments cover ability, attainment in core subjects, reading, spelling, dyslexia, dyscalculia and pupil attitudes:

1. The Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT4) offers an independent perspective on potential pupil achievement, providing you with reliable information for each child to help identify where to give extra support or set more challenging targets.
2. Attainment and progress in core subjects are assessed by Baseline and Baseline Progress (on entry and at the end of Reception), the Progress Test Series (covering English, maths and science), the New Group Reading Test (NGRT) and the New Group Spelling Test (NGST).
3. Barriers to learning are uncovered by the Pupil Attitudes to Self and School (PASS) survey, Dyslexia Screener and Dyscalculia Screener, as well as NGRT and NGST.
4. Parent, pupil and staff stakeholder surveys are also available through our Kirkland Rowell Surveys, providing you with a solid basis for your school self-evaluation.

Tailored, easy to access reports enable you to share results with different audiences, including inspectors and parents.

Why use CDS?

It’s statistically robust, with national benchmarks for all assessments based on impressive pupil numbers. The PT Series (for example) was standardised against a UK sample of over 100,000 pupils, with benchmarks verified every year based on analysis from half a million pupils. PASS was standardised on 600,000 children.

CDS offers great value for money – it will save you over 60% on the cost of the individual assessments within the package. 

What information does CDS provide?

The assessments cover ability, attainment in core subjects, reading, spelling and barriers to learning including pupil attitudes. As the assessments are digital you save on marking time and results and analysis are instant so you can act straight away. Combination Reports analyse data from CAT4 together with PTE (English), PTM (Maths) and NGRT (reading) so you can easily identify the children who may not be achieving their potential and plan interventions.

As tests and reports are set within the context of national benchmarks, you know that your recommendations have a sound basis, making discussions with stakeholders more focused. Individualised pupil reports give a snapshot of each child’s strengths and weaknesses. They are specifically designed to support conversations with parents, avoiding technical language, and suggesting strategies for support in the home.

How do I use CDS?  

You can use as many of the assessments within the package as you wish and when you wish. All assessments are digital except Progress Test Series in YR and Y1, where paper tests are deemed more appropriate.

Assessments can be taken annually, bi-annually or, at most, termly, ensuring testing is both timely and manageable. Easy to access reports matched to the needs of groups, individuals and parents are available for each assessment.

Who uses CDS?

The assessments within CDS are widely used in primary and secondary schools. For example, over three quarters of a million pupils take CAT4 each year.

What support is available?

Continued support for you and your team is an important aspect of what we offer as part of your subscription to our assessments.

We provide a range of online and face to face training and our Assessment Insights team also helps you make the best use of your assessments through one to one consultations. From talking through the findings of your data to showing you which reports are most useful for your school’s needs. The team consists of educators with a mix of classroom experience, curriculum design, SENCO provision, intervention support and implementation of teaching and learning strategies.