Each year the National Reference Test reports the proportions of students achieving at or above three key GCSE grades in English and mathematics. The NRT is therefore uniquely placed as a Key Stage 4 assessment which compares performance directly at ability level, to contribute to the evidence on the impact of disruption to education due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As the 2020 NRT administration was largely unaffected by Covid (the testing window ended before schools were closed for the first national lockdown), the outcomes from that year provide a useful pre-Covid measure of performance.
Comparing these outcomes with the NRT outcomes in 2021 enabled us to identify any significant changes in performance in 2021 which could be attributed to the impact of Covid-19 on student performance in English and mathematics.
