How will qualification entry patterns change as a result of changes to Attainment 8?
Expect an increase in entries in creative subjects and fewer entries in geography, history and triple science
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.
Contextualising attainment without Key Stage 2 baselines
We talk you through some new measures in FFT Aspire, designed to make sense of Key Stage 4 attainment in the absence of Key Stage 2 data.
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
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
The pupils who leave school without passes in GCSE English and mathematics
Post-COVID there has been a rise in the percentage of pupils leaving school without a pass (9-1) in GCSE English and a similar figure in maths. Most of these pupils were not entered for examinations.
DfE will need to take account of age when comparing schools’ rates of pupils achieving a good level of development
We look at some of the things DfE should consider when providing schools with comparative analysis of the percentage of pupils reaching a good level of development (GLD) at the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage.
Calculating a Key Stage 4 progress measure using CAT4 in place of Key Stage 2
There will be no official Progress 8 measures this year due to the cancellation of Key Stage 2 tests in 2020. However, we have produced an alternative measure using CAT4 scores as a baseline.