School Data Updates

The Progress Loophole of Despair In 2016 – the first year of new national curriculum assessments in primary schools – the DfE made a bit of an error: the new progress measures neglected to make provision for those pupils that sat key stage 2 tests but failed to gain enough marks to reach the minimum […]

I haven’t blogged for a while. But then I turned 50 (today!) and thought: what better way to spend a significant birthday than to have a proper rant about stuff that annoys me? I sat down to write a list (I have to sit down to write a list. I’m 50) and realised, somewhat unsurprisingly, […]

As in other industries, accountability in education is inevitable and necessary. The government wants to know if the vast sums of money involved are being well spent and whether or not its assessment reforms and new national curriculum are producing the desired results. Are national educational standards rising and are gaps between the most disadvantaged […]

In 2018 President Macron announced that the compulsory age for starting school would be lowered from six years’ old to three, a decision that came into effect in September 2019. It was largely symbolic as nearly 98% of three year olds were already attending Ecole Maternelle anyway but is significant because France now has one […]

There is so much going on right now regarding statutory assessment and accountability measures that I thought I’d have a go at summarising it all and provide the links to the relevant documents. So, no messing about, let’s get on with it. The Engagement Model and P Scales Along with the changes to Development Matters […]

Please click here to download the slides for the ‘Problem with Progress’ webinar for governors run on 23rd Nov 2020 And here’s the link to the video.

When Reinhold Messner climbed Everest in 1980, solo and without supplemental oxygen, it marked a watershed in the history of climbing. Prior to this extraordinary achievement – previously considered beyond the realms of human possibility – expeditions were huge and complex affairs requiring military logistics. Hundreds of porters would ferry massive loads and establish base […]

Tracking in the Early Years Foundation Stage is a mess. We’re not talking about statutory assessment here – of the Reception Baseline and the Foundation Stage Profile. This is about day-to-day data collection, especially across the reception year, for the purpose of monitoring pupil progress. I use the phrase ‘day-to-day’ deliberately because let’s admit it: […]

Six years on from the government announcing its intention to get rid of levels, many schools are still struggling with the issue of how best to measure progress. An increasing number, however, are coming to realise an inconvenient truth: that maybe it just can’t be done and any attempt to do so is a waste […]

Before I get started answering this question, I want to make one thing clear: I’m not keen on the word ‘tracking’ in the context of school data management. I think it’s slightly sinister and misleading. Tracking is what hunters do; and what the military does with missiles. I think we need a better name. How […]