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Frequently Asked Questions
The most common questions about the system, administration, reporting and the ethical framework - plus questions specific to each of the 21 instruments.
Instrument-specific questions
Questions from each instrument's own page, collected here by assessment area.
ASA — Academic Skills and Attention
No. This is a screening instrument for one narrow ability, administered under one set of conditions. It says nothing about general intelligence and is not a diagnostic tool.
Yes. The items are entirely figural and the instructions are given verbally, so reading ability does not limit administration.
Because two rules operate at once. The additional difficulty is in holding both while searching, which is why the two forms are read together rather than separately.
The instrument is not speeded, but the administration window is recorded. A student who finishes far outside the usual range is noted, since that is itself information.
It usually points to responding before the full set has been scanned. That is an attention finding as much as a reasoning one, and it is worth checking against the attention instruments.
Yes. The instrument works individually, in groups and digitally.
The demand exceeds what primary-age norms cover. Using it there would produce a score that cannot be interpreted against any reference group.
Mental rotation does improve with practice, which is why a repeat measurement is spaced at least a term apart.
No. This is a screening and assessment instrument; it does not diagnose. The result is only a signal about whether a more detailed assessment is warranted.
Attention performance is affected by sleep, anxiety, motivation and physical state. This is why a repeat measurement after three to six months is recommended where relevant.
It can, but that information must be taken into account when the result is interpreted, and the conditions of administration must be recorded.
The attention test isolates attention with a low reasoning load. This instrument deliberately combines the two, so the comparison between them is where the information lies.
Yes, and it is usually most useful that way, because the distribution across a class shows more than any single score.
That pattern points to memory rather than processing, and it changes the support plan: the student needs retrieval support, not more explanation.
Yes, and it must be kept as specified. Shortening or extending it makes the result incomparable with the norm group.
SED — Social and Emotional Development
No. Self-esteem is about worth; self-efficacy is about capability in the face of a task. A student can hold one and not the other, and the support differs.
It responds to structured experiences of success more than to encouragement. That is why it is measured again after a term of support.
It depends on age and content. If it is shared, it must be consistent with what the family was told and framed as an area to work on, never as a limitation.
Not on its own. It is a reason to look at the other social-emotional measures and at teacher observation together.
Once at the start and once at the end of a term is the usual pattern. More frequent administration produces noise rather than signal.
No. It measures a general judgement about life, not symptoms. Symptom screening belongs to the advanced guidance screening area and requires a qualified practitioner.
That is a climate finding rather than a set of individual findings, and it is addressed at class level with the teacher and the guidance service together.
It reports the student's own experience. It is not a sociometric measure and does not map the group's structure.
Because a student who does not believe support is available does not ask for it, whatever the network looks like from outside.
No. It indicates where to look; the interview is where the picture is filled in.
Because the result often needs a conversation, and how that conversation is opened materially affects the student. That is a trained skill.
It can be, in combination with other findings. Results carrying a risk indicator go directly to the guidance service rather than into a queue.
No. It measures what they do about it. Two students under equal pressure can produce very different profiles here.
Yes, and that is the point of measuring them. The follow-up measurement after a term shows whether the repertoire widened.
PDS — Peer and Digital Safety
No. It reports experience and involvement at the level of the class. Identifying individuals is the work of the interview that follows, not of the screening.
It becomes a class-level intervention involving the teacher, the guidance service and school leadership, rather than a series of individual conversations.
No. The two overlap but not completely, and an intervention that addresses one may leave the other running.
Within its remit, yes; beyond that the guidance service refers outside the school. The route is settled in advance, not improvised.
No. Displacement is: what the behaviour has pushed out. Two students with the same hours can score very differently.
No. It is a screening instrument. Diagnosis belongs to a qualified specialist weighing several sources of data.
AGS — Advanced Guidance Screening
No. This instrument requires a qualified clinical practitioner. Outside that boundary the result is not weaker, it is invalid.
No. It screens for symptoms and indicates whether a fuller assessment is warranted.
The adolescent form's norms cover that age range. Applied below it, the score has no reference group to be read against.
A fuller assessment by a qualified practitioner, and where necessary a referral outside the school. The route is agreed before the instrument is administered.
No. Worry looks forward; rumination circles back. They respond to different approaches, which is why the distinction is worth measuring.
As one input among several in a fuller assessment. It is not read on its own and never as a verdict.
It is handled directly and without delay by the guidance service, and referred outside the school where necessary. It does not enter a queue.
Within limits that are explained to the student in advance. Where there is a safety concern, confidentiality has boundaries and the student is told what they are before the instrument is administered.