Test Operations Services (TOpS)

The STA was set-up as an executive agency of the Department for Education (DfE) in October 2011. The purpose of the STA is to develop and administer National Curriculum Assessments (NCAs) and assessments in England as part of the government’s agenda to raise educational standards through structural change, school improvement strategies, and a rigorous accountability framework where tests in the core subjects, currently at the end of Year 6 form an important measure of children’s long-term education and life chances.

The outcomes of the NCAs are published annually at an individual school level in the School Performance Tables by government and are an important factor in parental choice of schools. The current NCAs are Key Stage 1 (“KS1”) and Key Stage 2 (“KS2”) tests in the core subjects of English and Mathematics, and the KS1 Phonics Screening Check (“PSC”).

The tests are sat by the full cohort of pupils, currently 580,593 in 15,500 state schools in England. The successful economic operator will be required to undertake activities required for the successful delivery of all NCAs.

This will include: printing; the logistics associated with securely delivering test papers and other materials to participating schools; collecting and distributing tests scripts to markers; the successful completion of onscreen marking of the NCAs within a defined time frame; and to deliver all support required by participating schools for their successful administration of the NCAs. See 'Attachments' for the full version of the advert.