For the first time, students from group 8 will start the progression test on Monday, the successor to the Cito final test. About 170,000 children will take one of the six government-approved progression tests over the next three weeks, on paper or digitally. The advancement test is less decisive for secondary school advice than the CITO once was. Students already received their preliminary advice last week. This can be adjusted upwards based on the test results, but not downwards.
By administering the progression test earlier in the year – the CITO final test took place in April and May last year – students take the test before they have to register at a secondary school. From this year onwards, all children in the Netherlands will do this at the same time, in the last week of March, after they receive the results of the progression test on March 24. This order is intended to combat inequality of opportunity in education: previously it sometimes happened that students who scored above their recommendation on the final test could no longer find a suitable place at a secondary school, because the places had already been allocated before the CITO final test.
The planning of the advancement test, which was initially to take place from February 5 to 15, attracted a lot of criticism from Brabant and Limburg. The dates overlap with Carnival, which is celebrated on February 11, 12 and 13. Outgoing Minister of Education Mariëlle Paul (VVD) therefore decided last September to give primary schools an extra week. Schools can now choose when and on which part of the day they administer the test within the administration period of January 29 to February 18.