Secondary school accountability reforms in practice

Chris Paterson

Core objectives

•Improve outcomes for all pupils; and•‘Close the gap’ between

disadvantaged pupils and the rest

5 A*-C EM incentives

Chance of one extra grade +/- being critical

Disadvantaged pupils (FSM)

Headline measure: Progress 8

•Main headline measure / floor standard from 2016.

•Isolates the ‘value added’ by a school.•Benchmarks school against the average

performance of a school with the same intake (based on level of prior attainment).

Progress 8 vs 5 A*-C incentives

Equal reward for any grade advancement – ‘every child matters’

Government curriculum objective

•Pupils should take ‘high value’ qualifications as part of a ‘broad and balanced’ curriculum, with a particular emphasis on securing an ‘academic core’.

Attainment 8Basket Slot Subject Detail Weighting1 1 English Compulsory X 2

2 Maths2 3 EBacc 1 EBacc subjects X 1

4 EBacc 2

5 EBacc 33 6 Other 1 Approved vocational, further EBacc

subjects, other GCSE subjectsX 1

7 Other 2

8 Other 3

Attainment 8 in practice

APS8 = Attainment 8ND = percentile within national distribution (100 as highest)

Attainment 8 – breakdown

Difference in Attainment 8 scores driven exclusively by patterns of qualifying entries.

Attainment 8 in practice

APS8 = Attainment 8ND = percentile within national distribution (100 as highest)

Attainment 8 – breakdown

Difference in Attainment 8 scores driven around 80% by performance per entry