The Progress Test in English (PTE) provides a clear, independent snapshot of English attainment, helping you track progress and identify gaps at both individual and cohort level.
Standardised on over 37,000 students, it enables you to measure how your school and students are performing, student by student, class by class and year by year, while reliably comparing results with national data.
PTE assesses students’ understanding and application of technical English skills: spelling, grammar and punctuation, as well as reading comprehension, using age-appropriate fiction and non-fiction texts.
Reports offer detailed insights into literacy skills and reading ability, helping you target interventions and plan effectively across the curriculum.
How do you measure the success of your English curriculum? Covering comprehension and SPaG with a range of question types, PTE gives you clear insight into attainment over time. Results are benchmarked against a national sample of over 37,000 students, helping you track progress and ensure your curriculum is meeting the needs of all learners.
PTE provides a consistent and rigorous attainment measure that allows schools to verify their teacher assessments of students’ learning. Benchmarks are regularly checked by digital test results from schools like yours, so you can be confident they are robust and reliable.
Are your students on track to meet mastery? PTE enables you to measure attainment and track progress year-on-year at both individual and cohort levels.
By comparing progress against students with similar levels of prior attainment, you can easily identify who’s on track and where intervention is needed most
How confident are you in pinpointing the areas where students need the most support? PTE provides in-depth reports that highlight gaps in knowledge and understanding, helping you identify key skills to focus on. Whether at an individual or cohort level, the insights support targeted teaching and planning, ensuring students stay on track. Different report types give you a clear view of progress and areas for development, so you can adapt teaching strategies and address learning needs effectively.
Identify where group and individual student performance is significantly different to that of our nationally representative sample.
Parents and carers play a key role in supporting learning. PTE provides reports designed specifically for them, offering clear insights into English attainment and progress. The Individual Student Report for Parents includes an explanation of why the test was used, a breakdown of scores with a visual comparison to national averages and supporting information to help interpret results.
Easily share trends and anticipated outcomes with school leaders, governors and external stakeholders to inform and foster positive engagement.
Our discreet reports for families provide helpful context on why PTE may have been used, with the option of a full breakdown of scores or a simple visual showing how a child is performing compared to the national average. Schools control what parents see, tailoring the report format to what they find most useful. Each report also includes supporting narrative to explain the implications of a student’s test performance.
Use PTE alongside Progress Test in Maths or Progress Test in Science to build a consistent and reliable picture of student attainment across core subjects. Together, they help you assess both knowledge and skills with greater confidence.
For deeper insight, you can combine PTE scores with data from the Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT4). This combination report reveals hidden strengths, uncovers potential barriers to progress and highlights where additional support may be needed.
Placing PTE and CAT4 data side-by-side enables you to spot discrepancies between English attainment and students’ underlying ability. Statistically informed discrepancy categories help highlight learners with untapped potential, supporting more targeted and effective intervention.
Alice Smith School use assessments to provide reliable benchmarking data, use assessment data alongside reading practice tools and foster independent learning.
By Charlotte Karara, Deputy Academic Head and Admin/ HPL Lead at the New Cairo British International School
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It measures your students’ knowledge, understanding and application of technical English skills (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and reading comprehension, using age-appropriate fiction and information texts.
It’s statistically robust. PTE was standardised on a UK sample of over 49,000 students, with benchmarks verified every year based on analysis from over half a million students.
It supports school improvement initiatives by showing the relative performance of your students compared to national benchmarks. Testing year-on-year enables you to track individual and group progress. Transition tests provide an accurate profile of your students and set a baseline from which to monitor progress.
To compare ability with current attainment, our Combination Reports combine data from CAT4 with PTE. These valuable reports allow you to identify students who are under-achieving or exceeding expectations in English, guiding interventions.
The tests are designed for students aged 4-14+ years. Results are generated automatically on completion.
Easy to access reports are matched to the needs of different stakeholders, for groups, individuals, parents and clusters. The CAT4 Combination Report allows you to compare attainment and ability in English.
Over half a million students take the Progress Test Series each year. Because the data is robust, it supports feedback and planning discussions with senior leaders, students and parents.
For guidance on which test level you should be using please see our test level age guide.