Shadowplay

Towards the end of last month, the Department for Education published ‘shadow’ Attainment 8 data for 2015/16 [PDF]. This shows the impact of moving from the familiar scoring of A*-G grades – one point for grade G, up to eight points for grade A* – to the interim scale that will be used in 2016/17 [...]

By |2017-10-23T13:02:05+01:0027th April 2017|Exams and assessment, School accountability|

Are 19-year-olds really becoming less qualified?

Aficionados of DfE Statistical First Releases (SFRs) were shocked to their very core a couple of weeks ago with the revelation that the percentage of 19-year-olds qualified to Level 2 had fallen for the first time since records began. In the real world this equates to young people achieving five or more GCSEs at grades A*-C [...]

Getting older quicker

At Datalab we write about half a dozen blogposts in a typical month. Some we slave over and others we knock out in a matter of minutes, usually with one eye on the football or Paw Patrol. Being unashamed data wonks, we then pore over Google Analytics to see which of our posts have left [...]

By |2025-04-01T16:39:27+01:003rd March 2017|Pupil demographics, School accountability|

Putting Progress 8 in context

We thought we’d run out of things to say about Progress 8 but a couple of blogposts from Tom Sherrington and Jim Gordon last week made us realise that we hadn’t. Both examine, among other things, how Progress 8 scores vary by pupil and school characteristics. (Progress 8 is the headline value added measure by which [...]

By |2018-09-27T17:46:44+01:002nd March 2017|Exams and assessment, School accountability|

Who’s left: Three questions for the Department for Education from our work

This is one of several blogposts in Datalab's 'Who's left' series of posts. The full series can be found here. This post was updated at 19:05 on 31 January 2017, to correct an explanation of the duty which local authorities have regarding pupils in their areas. 1. Are they satisfied that enough is being done [...]

By |2021-02-17T18:48:24+00:0031st January 2017|School accountability|

Who’s left: How do pupils count in league tables, and how does our reweighting approach work?

This is one of several blogposts in Datalab's 'Who's left' series of posts. The full series can be found here. Three school censuses are carried out each year – in October, January and May – recording which pupils are on-roll at which schools. When it comes to inclusion in a mainstream secondary school’s league table [...]

By |2021-02-17T18:48:09+00:0031st January 2017|School accountability|

Who’s left: The main findings

This is one of several blogposts in Datalab's 'Who's left' series of posts. The full series can be found here. Today we are publishing the findings of a major piece of work we have carried out looking at pupil moves and the impact on secondary school results. Our investigation into the issue and the children [...]

By |2021-02-17T18:47:54+00:0031st January 2017|School accountability|
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