Doorstroomtoets 2027: dates, what it tests, and how the school advice really works

Every Indian parent with a child in groep 7 or 8 has heard of "the Cito" and knows it matters. Most of what they have heard is out of date. The old eindtoets in April was replaced in the 2023-24 school year by the doorstroomtoets, taken earlier, and the way the school advice is formed changed with it. This is the 2026-27 timeline, what the test actually measures, and what to do about it if your child is in groep 7 now.

The timeline for the 2026-27 school year

The dates that matter for planning are simple. The advice is formed on groep 7. It is written down in January of groep 8. The test in February can only push it up. Anything you want to change has to happen before Christmas of groep 8, and realistically in groep 7.

What the doorstroomtoets tests

Three areas, all in Dutch: reading (lezen), language (taalverzorging: spelling, grammar, punctuation) and rekenen. The results are reported against the national reference levels.

• Reading and language: 1F is the fundamental level every pupil should reach; 2F is the higher target level.
• Rekenen: 1F is the fundamental level; 1S is the higher "streefniveau" that supports a HAVO or VWO advice.

The rekenen questions are almost all context problems: money, percentages and discounts, ratio, measurement and scale, time and timetables, reading tables and graphs, fractions and decimals in real situations. There is very little bare calculation. A child who is strong in arithmetic and weak in reading Dutch will score below their real level, which is exactly the trap for children from India that we described in my child was ahead in India and is now average here.

Five providers are approved: Cito, IEP, Route 8, Dia and AMN. Your school chooses one. They differ in format (IEP is on paper and adaptive in difficulty, Route 8 is digital and adaptive, Cito has both) but they test the same reference levels, and the school will tell you which one it uses. Ask early, because the practice material differs.

How the school advice is really made

This is the part parents misunderstand most. The advice is not the test score. It is the teacher's judgement, based mainly on:

1. The pupil monitoring results over groep 6, 7 and 8, especially reading comprehension and rekenen.
2. Work attitude: independence, concentration, homework, how the child handles harder work.
3. The teacher's experience of the child in class.

Schools give a single level (VWO, HAVO, VMBO-TL and so on) or a double level such as HAVO/VWO. A double advice keeps the door open, and some secondary schools place those children in a mixed first year. What the three levels mean for the six years that follow is in VWO, HAVO or VMBO explained.

Since 2024 the rule is: if the doorstroomtoets result is higher than the preliminary advice, the school must raise the advice, unless it can explain to you why raising it is not in the child's interest. A lower test result never lowers the advice. So the test is a safety net upwards, not a threat.

Exemptions for recent arrivals

A pupil who has been in the Netherlands for less than four years and does not yet have enough Dutch can be exempted from the doorstroomtoets. The school decides. The school still has to give a school advice, and it will lean on classwork, the monitoring tests and the child's language trajectory.

For an Indian family this cuts both ways. Exemption removes a test the child would probably do badly in for language reasons. It also removes the one chance to raise a cautious advice. If your child is strong in maths, it is often better to take the test and let the rekenen result speak, even if reading pulls the total down. Talk to the teacher about this in groep 7, not in January of groep 8.

What to do, by when

Groep 7, from September. Get the January monitoring results and read them properly: the level I to V and, more importantly, the growth. If rekenen is at level III or below for a child who was strong in India, find out whether it is the maths or the Dutch. Our guide to Cito scores I to V shows how.

Groep 7, whole year. Rekenen at the 1S level, in the Dutch question styles, weekly. Reading comprehension in Dutch with a Dutch-speaking tutor or a parent who reads Dutch, three short sessions a week. This is the year that decides the advice.

Groep 8, September to December. Ask the school which test it uses and get the practice booklet. Time-limited practice on context problems. Keep the maths stretch going, including the algebra and geometry the child will meet in the brugklas.

Groep 8, January. Preliminary advice. If it is lower than you expected, ask what the school would need to see to raise it, and ask specifically whether the child will take the test or be exempted.

Groep 8, February. The test. Sleep, breakfast, no cramming. Children who have done weekly work for a year do not need a final sprint.

Groep 8, March. Final advice, registration week. Visit two or three secondary schools in the autumn before, not in March.

What we do for groep 7 and 8 rekenen

We teach the rekenen part in English, in the Dutch question styles, at the 1S level, with the Dutch tools the school expects: the ratio table, the number line, the Dutch column layout. We work through translated context problems so the child learns to find the maths inside the Dutch, and we track against the school's own monitoring reports so you can see the level moving before January of groep 8, when it matters. We do not teach Dutch reading and language, and we will tell you when that is the bigger gap.

The free 30-minute placement is the fastest way to find out which gap your child actually has. Bring the last monitoring report.

Questions parents ask

See how we teach this, 1-on-1 online →