May 2022 update

Information for existing analysis tool users

If you already know everything you need to know about this and are ready to provide your permission, please visit this page where you can provide permission for your school in a few seconds.

Reducing the burden for schools who contribute to research
In 2021, almost 18,000 schools supported NFER’s work by taking part in research projects and assessment trials, and engaging with our resources. As we are conscious that school staff are immensely stretched for time, we continually look for ways to make engaging with us for research purposes easier.

With over 6,000 schools using our NFER Tests Analysis Tool it has the potential to be a wonderful source of information to support important research. By using the information in the tool we can:

• reduce the amount of time and effort required by schools to participate in individual research activities
• more readily gain valuable insights which we can share with you and the wider school community.

Based on our existing terms, NFER currently cannot see or use the data your school uploads to the analysis tool, meaning requests are made on a project-by-project basis. Below we set out a request for permission to use your assessment data for research and assessment improvement purposes, along with changes to our terms and conditions, which will enable your school to contribute to important research quickly and simply.

How you can help our research and assessment improvement
As a user of our analysis tool, your school’s assessment data is particularly valuable for research-purposes because it provides a record of pupils’ attainment and progress prior to and during the pandemic. This information can contribute significantly to the research we carry out to support teaching and learning at this difficult time and in the future.

We would like permission to extract your school’s historic data from the 2018-19 academic year onwards which is currently stored in the NFER Online Hub (home of our NFER Tests Analysis Tool).

As a thank you for providing us with this permission we will send you an email containing a discount code for 10% off an order of any NFER Tests autumn test papers placed before 30^th September 2022.^*

Key details you may want to know:

• We will match pupil records across years and across schools to support research throughout their education, however, no pupils or schools will be identified in any reports arising from this data.
• NFER may match your data with pupil records in the National Pupil Database (the NPD) or other administrative data sets such as the School Workforce Census and the Longitudinal Education Outcomes. This will allow NFER to analyse data and pupil outcomes over the course of their education. Data shared with those at the Department for Education who are responsible for carrying out this matching will not be available to the DfE for any other purpose, will only be used by NFER, and will not be shared with any other third parties.
• As a trusted and independent research charity you can be assured that all data will be processed by NFER with the highest levels of care and data security.

What sort of research would my permission enable?
Here are just a few examples of the research insights we can gain and share back with the education community thanks to your permission to use your school’s data in this way:

• Test data may contribute to NFER’s research programme into understanding various aspects of assessment and learning. These insights would be fed back in reports and outputs for the education sector to help improve pupil outcomes. Themes may include:
  • Determination of questions that all children struggle with to help inform changes to curriculum or teaching practices.
  • Identification of groups of pupils who struggle with certain questions, to assist in supporting pupils and the early identification of those at risk of falling behind.
• Data from the analysis tool could also be used to complement existing sources of system-level information on attainment trends and gaps by pupil characteristics such as socio-economic background. Analysis could include:
  • Tracking the attainment of year groups and cohorts through time to measure system-level trends and assess Covid-19 recovery
  • Tracking the attainment gap between Pupil Premium (PP) and non-PP pupils over time, to assess progress in closing the attainment gap
• NFER are committed to providing assessment resources that are of the highest quality and continue to provide schools with the greatest value. Quantitative analysis of our resources, coupled with our continuous qualitative research with user schools, will enable an ongoing assessment of the quality and effectiveness of our materials.

Information for existing and future analysis tool users

Changes to our terms going forward (23^rd May 2022 onwards)

We have made some changes to our terms and conditions and privacy notice for schools using our analysis tool going forward. These changes will enable us to utilise the data within the tool for research and assessment improvement purposes whilst minimising burden on schools. The main changes are summarised below:

• NFER will periodically throughout the year extract pupil data uploaded by your school via the tool. NFER will typically extract that data annually, or more frequently if it is necessary for our research and assessment improvement purposes. This data will then be controlled and managed by NFER, and stored in NFER’s own secure servers for NFER to conduct research, improve our assessments materials, and to further NFER’s objectives to support the education sector.
• The data extracted by NFER will include the required fields (pupil name, date of birth, gender), assessment outcomes and any additional pupil data uploaded by your school. This information is required to enable our analysis but please note that no pupils or schools will be identified in any reports arising from use of this data.
• NFER may match your data with pupil records in the National Pupil Database (the NPD) or other administrative data sets such as the School Workforce Census and the Longitudinal Education Outcomes. This will allow NFER to analyse data and pupil outcomes over the course of their education. Data shared with those at the Department for Education who are responsible for carrying out this matching will not be available to the DfE for any other purpose, will only be used by NFER, and will not be shared with any other third parties.
• NFER will maintain measures to preserve the security of the extracted data including wherever possible ensuring it is de-identified prior to being analysed.
• While NFER will act as your service provider, and processor of your School’s personal data when providing access to the NFER Online Hub, NFER will now also use that data for NFER’s own research and assessment improvement purposes. NFER will therefore also act as a controller in its own right.
• We will provide summaries of and links to research reports, based on the data extracted from the NFER Tests Analysis Tool and NFER Online Hub, with the education community.

As of 23rd May 2022, use of your data within the NFER Online Hub and Analysis Tool will be governed by these updated terms and conditions and privacy notice. No extract of data for research or assessment improvement purposes will take place before 27^th June 2022.

If your school does not want to share future assessment data for these purposes, please confirm this in writing to [email protected] so we can ensure we do not use your data in this way from the date of your email. This will not impact your school’s ability to use the tool.

If you would like to discuss how our tool works, what we do with the data, and the measures NFER has in place to protect your data, please get in touch by emailing [email protected].

Supporting your communication with parents
To support transparent use of assessment data, schools must clearly communicate to parents and guardians about how pupils’ data will be used. We have provided a draft letter for parents here, which you may choose to use in conjunction with your own legal advice to support your communications.

Thank you
A wholehearted thank you for contributing to educational research; we simply can’t generate valuable insights to support education development without your support.

* Discount code terms:

• Discount code will appear on screen on submission of the school’s permission and will also be sent via email to the specified email address

• Discount code only applies to autumn test papers (across any available year group)

• Maximum of 1 use per school

• Offer ends 30th September 2022

• All offer codes are applied to the value of the order, excluding delivery costs, and are subject to our general Terms and Conditions

• Offers can be amended or withdrawn at any time.