Primary schools have to carry out standardised tests in 2^nd, 4^th and 6^th Class in Mathematics and English reading (in English-medium schools), as well as Irish reading (in Irish-medium schools).  Many schools will test all students every year because it allows them to track students’ progress and needs every year.

The ERC Drumcondra tests are what are known asstandardised tests. Standardised tests measure a student’s achievement compared to students across all schools in Ireland. They are different from exams like the Junior Cycle or Leaving Certificate, where the content of the test changes every year. The ERC Drumcondra tests are usually redeveloped every few years to make sure they are up to date with changes in the education system (for example, updates to the curriculum) and the diverse lives and interests of students in Ireland.

The ERC Drumcondra tests are what are known as low-stakes tests because their results do not determine what options your child will have in the future (in the way that a score from a score on a state examination like the Leaving Certificate might, for example). Schools use the ERC Drumcondra tests to keep teachers and parents informed about how students’ learning is going, and what kinds of support and learning opportunities they might need to help them next. In contrast, the Leaving Certificate is an example of a high-stakes test because the results can influence future study and career options.

Schools assess students’ learning progress and their needs in lots of different ways. Standardised test results are just one way of assessing students, and scores should be looked at and interpreted along with other assessment methods to help you build an overall picture of your child’s learning. Please remember that these tests are just a snapshot of performance on any particular day. When talking to your child’s teacher about their progress, they will take all elements of your child’s learning into consideration.

While the tests are designed to give good estimates of students’ achievement, you should bear in mind that there is a margin of error around every child’s test score. This is because a test represents a single “snapshot” of achievement, and a child’s result is likely to vary a little depending on how they are feeling on the day. For example, how much energy do they have; are they nervous; are they feeling hungry or ill? Their result will also vary slightly based on the particular test questions that they see. For example, a child who loves sport might perform a bit better than usual when reading a text about a football player because they are more familiar with the words used. It is useful to always keep this margin of error in mind when you are trying to understand your child’s test score. It might be helpful to think of a standardised test score as just one piece in the “jigsaw” of information about your child’s learning.

You can find further information on standardised testing and its purpose from the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) website here.

Samples of the ERC Drumcondra tests are not available to parents/guardians in the way that they are available for the Junior and Leaving Certificate examinations, for example. This is because we need to protect the content of the test. “Past papers” do not exist because the content of the test stays the same for a number of years, and previous versions may not correspond to the current curriculum or social context.

Pupils should not “practise the test” and teachers should not teach the actual content of an ERC Drumcondra test or make the students familiar with their format. Test scores from ERC Drumcondra tests are based on a nationally representative sample of pupils who took the test with no special preparation for the test. Because of this, pupils’ results are no longer valid or useful if pupils have “practised the test” or if teachers have “taught to the test”.

However, it is possible to try a demo test on the ERC DOTS platform. The purpose of this demo test is to show you how the student moves through a test on ERC DOTS. It also shows you some (but not all) of the features available when taking a test, such as a timer and a review screen. The questions in this demo test are easy sample questions and not actual test content.

Yes, to comply with GDPR, the Educational Research Centre is of the view that parents/guardians are entitled to view their own child’s test script. This will usually be a completed test booklet for First and Second class, and a completed answer sheet alongside a blank test booklet for Third to Sixth class.

It is very important to note that the content of the ERC Drumcondra tests is confidential and test content cannot be circulated. Other pupils and schools will use these tests in subsequent years, and the content must be kept secure to make sure that results remain valid.

The Educational Research Centre recommends that a child’s answers can only be viewed under the supervision of a school staff member. The test content must not be photographed or photocopied. Your child’s school may ask you to leave your phone in a safe place outside the room (e.g. in the school office) in order to ensure that the test content remains secure.

Pupils can be exempted for a number of reasons. Children who have a physical or intellectual/learning disability that would prevent them from engaging with the test in a meaningful way can be exempted from testing. Also, children whose knowledge of the test language is limited and who have been receiving schooling through English or Irish for less than one year may be exempted. In general, pupils should be included whenever possible.

Additional guidance about exemptions and reasonable accommodations is available from the Department of Education here. The decision to exempt a particular pupil lies with the school principal, and they should take into account the pupil’s needs, abilities, and best interests when making the decision.

Accommodations for certain pupils can be made for testing. These could include a child:

• taking the test at a lower level than their class level;
• taking the test in a quiet room;
• getting extra time for comfort breaks;
• taking the test with the support of a Special Needs Assistant;
• having a reader for the mathematics test (whether a human reader or a digital device that reads text aloud);
• answering a paper test using the test booklet rather than an answer sheet (applies from 3rd class) upwards;
• using coloured overlays.

Other kinds of accommodation may also be possible and should be discussed with your child’s teacher. If an accommodation is made, you should interpret the test results cautiously as the test was carried out differently to the conditions used for standardisation. You can contact the ERC at any time if you have a query about exemptions, reasonable accommodations or Esinet returns.

Please note that it is not usually advisable to have a reader for a reading test as a reasonable accommodation. If the school does this, you should be aware that what is being assessed is no longer reading literacy in the traditional sense, but rather listening language skills.

While the raw score (number of questions answered correctly) may still offer some useful information about the child’s language knowledge more generally, the standard score will not be easily interpretable as a reading literacy score.

The security of school and child information is of the utmost importance to the Educational Research Centre. We use state-of-the-art security to safeguard information entered by the school. Data is stored and processed in strict compliance with Irish and European data protection laws. School data inputted by schools through DOTS is stored on an encrypted server hosted in the EEA on the secure Microsoft Azure cloud.

The ERC DOTS platform and Microsoft Azure have extensive security features and protocols to protect Personal Data including:

• Pseudonymisation and encryption of Personal Data
• HTTPS protocol and federated authentication
• Restricted Access role-based security model
• Passwords for local users are salted and hashed with a Base64 algorithm
• Layered security architecture
• Azure SQL provides built in auditing functionality
• Azure Web Application Firewall.

Microsoft Azure provides a secure foundation across physical, infrastructure, and operational security. Microsoft use a layered approach to security and their data centres are certified to comply with the most comprehensive portfolio of internationally-recognized standards and certifications. If you require more information please contact us at tests@erc.ie

The ERC is a statutory body under the aegis of the Department of Education and Youth. Our remit is to:

• Conduct educational research.

• Supply schools and centres of education with standardised testing materials.

DOTS is an online testing system that aids schools in conducting standardised tests online. It also operates as our e-commerce platform for the purchase of paper test materials.

A range of data types is available to be uploaded to DOTS by individual schools. In general it comprises of

• School name

• School contact information

• Student name

• Student DOB

• Class information

• Raw test response data

• Test report data

The school makes decision about which students’ data are uploaded to DOTS and manages their student’s data. For more information about how schools manage student data, please contact the school directly.

A retention schedule is the period of time your data stays on the DOTS system. The school often has a different retention period to the ERC’s retention period for the same data. The ERC has the following retention schedules for data held on DOTS. These schedules are reviewed periodically considering experience and legal or other relevant indications.

Any data inputted by a school to the DOTS system during an academic year is deleted the January of the following academic year after anonymisation.

This data includes all:

• Student data – student names, student date of birth

• Class data – class names, student information

• Test data – test item responses

• Reports data – any reports generated from completed tests, machine-scoring, or paper test scoring

Please refer to the below schedule for the download date for your school’s data. Once this data has been anonymised and deleted in can no longer be accessed by the ERC.

DOTS Data Deletion Schedule

Data anonymisation is the removal of all identifiable data points in a data set. In the case of data from DOTS, information like student name & teacher name will be deleted. Dates of birth will be amended. This ensures that no individual student can be identified from the remaining data. This is an important security measure that enables the ERC to use the remaining data for research purposes or for the purposes of developing new tests.

The security of school and child information is of the utmost importance to the Educational Research Centre. We use state-of-the-art security to safeguard information entered by the school on the DOTS platform. Data is stored and processed in strict compliance with Irish and European data protection laws. We use the appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure security of information. They include but are not limited to:

• Entrance controls

• User access controls

• Password protection

• Data access controls

• Confidentiality commitment

• Legislative compliance

Data Access Controls

• DOTS implements users roles to ensure authenticated users are only able to access system functionality relevant to their job role.

• The DOTS platform has authentication and authorization features, which restricts the data users can access. Schools can only access their own data.

Dots Platform School & Student Data inputted by Schools through DOTS is stored on an encrypted server hosted in the EEA on a secure cloud platform. The ERC DOTS platform and its cloud storage have extensive security features and protocols to protect personal data. If you have any further queries, please contact us at tests@erc.ie .

Please see our corporate governance page for further information on our data protection and GDPR policies.

Email: Data.Protection@erc.ie

Telephone: (01) 837 3789

Address: The Data Protection Officer,

The Educational Research Centre,

St. Patrick’s Campus,

Drumcondra Road Upper,

Dublin D09 AN2F

Additional information is also available on the website of the Data Protection Commissioner: https://www.dataprotection.ie/docs/Home/4.htm