SPI Maths assessments

How SPI Maths assessments diagnose mathematical literacy.

SPI Maths assessments show how well students can read the hidden grammar of mathematics: terms, factors, expressions, equations, brackets, powers and valid transformations.

Jump to a sample assessment item

Not another end-of-unit test

A normal test tells you who got it wrong. SPI Maths helps explain why.

Two pupils can fail the same equation question for completely different reasons. One may not understand negative terms. Another may treat the equals sign as an answer signal. Another may misread brackets or confuse factors with terms.

SPI Maths is built to separate those causes. The assessment looks beneath procedural performance and checks whether pupils can read, identify, classify, parse, compare and transform mathematical structures. That is the literacy pupils need before algebra becomes reliable.

This is why the questions avoid unnecessary reading load where possible. The aim is to test whether pupils can read the mathematics itself, not whether they can decode a long word problem before reaching the structure being assessed.

How it works

Designed to make teachers' lives easier.

The assessment cycle is deliberately simple for schools: pupils complete the diagnostic, SPI Maths handles the analysis, and teachers receive concise priorities they can act on.

Students complete a low-stakes diagnostic

Questions are short, focused and written to keep reading demand low. The assessment is designed to reveal how pupils interpret notation, not to catch them out with lengthy wording.

Each answer is read through diagnostic tags

Items are tagged by structure, object, literacy action, misconception and topic impact, so the response data points to the likely reason behind a wrong answer.

Teachers receive clear next steps

The output is not a spreadsheet of marks. It shows the priority weaknesses, the pupils affected, the future topics at risk and the teaching actions that will help.

Example diagnostic item

The distractors are part of the diagnosis.

A multiple choice question in SPI Maths is not just a quick mark. Each incorrect option is chosen because it represents a likely misconception.

When a pupil selects the wrong list of terms, the report can identify whether they have detached the sign from the term, confused terms with factors, or treated part of the expression as a single object. That gives the teacher a much better starting point.

Sums diagnostic

Which list gives all the terms in 5x - 3y + 7?

5x, 3y, 7

+5x, -3y, +7

5, x, -3, y, 7

5x - 3y, 7

What the teacher learns: a wrong answer can show whether the pupil sees subtraction as a separate instruction, rather than reading a sum as signed terms.

Value for teachers and maths leads

More useful evidence. Less manual diagnosis.

See the hidden barrier

Find out whether pupils can identify terms, factors, expressions, equations, powers and valid transformations before those weaknesses become GCSE algebra problems.

Reduce diagnostic workload

SPI Maths does the heavy lifting after the assessment: marking, tagging, grouping pupils and translating patterns into practical teaching priorities.

Intervene precisely

Instead of setting more general algebra practice, teachers can act on a specific diagnosis such as signed terms, equality, factors, brackets or index structure.

Lead improvement with evidence

Maths leads can see whether a weakness is individual, class-wide or curriculum-wide, helping departments make sharper decisions about intervention, sequencing and CPD.

What SPI assesses

The structures beneath successful algebra.

Distinguishing expressions, equations, formulae and inequalities
Identifying terms, factors, coefficients, constants, bases and exponents
Parsing sums, products, powers and nested bracket structures
Recognising misconceptions that ordinary topic tests often hide
Choosing transformations that preserve value or preserve truth
Mapping literacy weaknesses to future topics such as solving, expansion, factorisation, ratio and formulae

Why this improves outcomes

Pupils cannot manipulate notation they cannot read.

Many pupils experience algebra as a set of separate tricks: collect like terms, expand brackets, solve equations, rearrange formulae, simplify indices. SPI Maths helps teachers reveal the smaller structural ideas underneath those procedures.

When pupils learn to see a sum as terms, a product as factors, and an equation as a truth-bearing statement, future teaching has firmer foundations. Interventions become shorter, clearer and better targeted because the missing idea is named.

Question tagging

Each item is designed to carry diagnostic information.

SPI Maths questions are not only marked right or wrong. They are tagged so that a pupil response can be connected to the structure being assessed, the literacy action required, the likely misconception and the most useful follow-up.

Level and object

The assessment stage and mathematical object, such as symbolic parsing, sums, products, indices, terms, factors, powers or equations.

Structure and literacy action

The structure being read and the action required: identify, classify, parse, compare, substitute, transform, solve or explain.

Misconception and topic impact

The likely misconception behind a response and the future topics it may affect, such as expansion, factorisation, ratio or formulae.

Response and follow-up route

The response type, difficulty, linked resource, reassessment point and CPD note that can help teachers act on the diagnosis.

Pilot study

A practical way to test the value for your department.

The pilot is for schools that want better diagnostic evidence without committing to a curriculum rewrite. Start with one assessment cycle, inspect the reports, and judge whether the insight is useful for your teachers, pupils and department planning.

Choose a class, year group or small department sample.
Run the online assessment with minimal teacher administration.
Receive pupil, class and department-level diagnostic summaries.
Use the findings to decide whether SPI Maths should become part of your intervention and curriculum support.

Explore the pilot