Sisra AnalyticsAssessment in Sonar
Further reading
These are the main sources behind the Assessment in Sonar chapter, with a note on what each is good for. Every link leaves the user guide.
Formative assessment and feedback
Section titled “Formative assessment and feedback”Black and Wiliam, 1998. The review of about 250 publications that started the modern case for formative assessment (an author copy, hosted by the University of Glasgow).
Black and Wiliam, 1998. The short version for teachers, including the finding that marks on their own do little to help pupils learn (a 2001 reprint).
The five strategies of formative assessment
Section titled “The five strategies of formative assessment”Wiliam and Thompson, 2007, summarised by Newcastle University. A one-page outline of the five strategies and the three questions behind them.
Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) Teaching and Learning Toolkit, reviewed 2021. The evidence summary: about 6 months’ additional progress on average, with wide variation between studies.
Teacher Feedback to Improve Pupil Learning
Section titled “Teacher Feedback to Improve Pupil Learning”EEF, 2021. Six practical recommendations, including written feedback that is purposeful and time-efficient.
Daisy Christodoulou, 2017. Why formative and summative assessment need different designs; the link goes to Tom Sherrington’s review for the Chartered College of Teaching.
Assessment policy in England
Section titled “Assessment policy in England”Commission on Assessment without Levels: final report
Section titled “Commission on Assessment without Levels: final report”DfE, 2015. Still the clearest statement of principles for assessment in school, including what tracking software should not do.
Nick Gibb, schools minister, 2015. Why levels were removed, and what the government expected schools to do instead.
School inspection toolkit, operating guide and information
Section titled “School inspection toolkit, operating guide and information”Ofsted, 2025, updated for September 2026. The current inspection framework, including what inspectors do and do not do with schools’ assessment information.
Curriculum and Assessment Review: government response
Section titled “Curriculum and Assessment Review: government response”DfE, 2025. What the government plans to change in primary assessment, and when.
Teacher Workload Advisory Group, 2018. The government-accepted advice on how often to collect data, and on flight paths, targets and small groups.
Damian Hinds, education secretary, 2019. His letter asking trusts and local authorities to cut data collections and stop routinely asking for targets and predictions.
Measuring attainment and progress
Section titled “Measuring attainment and progress”Becky Allen, 2018. Why a pupil’s progress over a term or a year is so hard to measure reliably.
Why assessment may tell you less than you think
Section titled “Why assessment may tell you less than you think”Rob Coe, 2018. How big a difference between two test scores has to be before it means anything.
Progress measures are the root of all evil
Section titled “Progress measures are the root of all evil”James Pembroke, 2019. A critique of points-based progress measures and flight paths in primary trackers.
Making sense of scores generated by assessment
Section titled “Making sense of scores generated by assessment”National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), 2023. The difference between standardised and scaled scores, and why every score has a confidence band.
Comparative judgement: the next big revolution in assessment?
Section titled “Comparative judgement: the next big revolution in assessment?”Daisy Christodoulou, researchED, 2018. Why judging pieces of writing side by side gives more reliable results than marking them against a rubric.
Early years
Section titled “Early years”Early years foundation stage profile handbook
Section titled “Early years foundation stage profile handbook”Standards and Testing Agency (STA), 2026. How to make profile judgements, why no evidence is required, and how Ofsted uses the results.
DfE, updated 2023. Non-statutory curriculum guidance for the EYFS, which says it is not a tick list for generating data.
Strong foundations in the first years of school
Section titled “Strong foundations in the first years of school”Ofsted, 2024. A review of reception classes, including what collecting evidence costs staff and children.
Statutory assessment guidance
Section titled “Statutory assessment guidance”STA, 2026. The dates of each statutory primary assessment over the next few years.
2027 key stage 2 assessment and reporting arrangements
Section titled “2027 key stage 2 assessment and reporting arrangements”STA, 2026. The rules and dates for the 2027 KS2 tests and teacher assessment.
Teacher assessment frameworks at the end of key stage 2
Section titled “Teacher assessment frameworks at the end of key stage 2”STA, 2018 onwards. The standards for writing and science, and STA’s warning not to use them to track progress.
DfE, 2020. How to assess pupils who are not yet engaged in subject-specific study.
Technology and formative assessment
Section titled “Technology and formative assessment”Exploring the Role of Technology in Formative Assessment in an International Baccalaureate Secondary School: Perspectives of Students and Teachers
Section titled “Exploring the Role of Technology in Formative Assessment in an International Baccalaureate Secondary School: Perspectives of Students and Teachers”Ahoud Alshaikh, PhD thesis, University of Exeter, 2022. A case study of one London secondary school that follows the International Baccalaureate, with no primary or early years data. It is useful on why teachers adopt or ignore assessment software: the school’s platforms were used mainly for administration, not for formative assessment.