Best-fit progress: Is it worth it?
The Department for Education are consulting on a new "best-fit progress" measure for pupils with low prior attainment at the end of Key Stage 2. But does it offer any more beyond the existing Progress 8 measure?
Are DfE right to ditch confidence intervals?
DfE are proposing a change to the way they calculate bandings that summarise schools' progress scores. We look at the pros and cons of doing so.
What difference will the proposed changes to Attainment 8 and Progress 8 make?
The proposed new method of calculating Attainment 8 will not affect schools' Progress 8 scores greatly but will shift the incentives to enter particular subjects
The inverse intervention law and education, health and care plans
Disadvantaged pupils resident in less deprived local authorities are more likely to have an EHCP than disadvantaged pupils resident in more deprived local authorities
What will it take to meet the government’s ambition for 90% of pupils to achieve the expected standard in Year 1 phonics?
80% of pupils currently achieve the phonics standard by the end of Year 1. We look at how challenging it will be to reach 90%.
Making sense of school performance data in 2025
This year's published secondary school performance data shows why Progress 8 (or something like it) is needed, despite its flaws
How many pupils really are severely absent?
Is it right to say that there were over 170 thousand children who were severely absent in 2023/24?
How many pupils resit English and maths?
Although it is a requirement that pupils who do not achieve grade 4 in English (or maths) at GCSE continue to study English (or maths) post-16 by no means all of them enter a qualification.
Is the start of term critical for tackling persistent absence?
Absence at the start of term is no more predictive of persistent absence than at any other time of year.