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.
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?
What will be the impact of the Curriculum and Assessment Review on subject take-up at Key Stage 4?
With the publication of the Curriculum and Assessment Review imminent, we look at the extent to which schools offer different subjects at Key Stage 4, and how entry patterns have been changing in the last few years
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.
Usage of new attendance codes: An update
New statutory guidance for schools in relation to recording and managing attendance (and absence) came into effect in September last year. We take a look at the use of codes to record absences in attendance registers.
Exclusions and suspensions in 2024/25
An update to our regular series using attendance data to gauge the rate of exclusion and suspension in the whole of the 2024/25 academic year