Year 8 pupils in England will have to sit reading tests at school under government plans due to be released this autumn, the BBC understands.
The mandatory tests, first reported by Schools Week, would aim to check their progress two years into secondary school.
It comes amid concern that a quarter of Year 6 pupils are not meeting expected reading standards and the English GCSE pass rate has slipped.
But the National Education Union (NEU) said “young people being churned through test after test after test does not automatically equate to high standards”.