School Data Updates

The DfE have now released details of the content and format of the new RAISE summary reports, to be published in the Autumn term. As expected, they are going to look considerably different to previous versions; and it’s not just the obvious stuff that’s changed. Of course, there will no longer be pages filled with […]

The SATS results are out and many schools are feeling utterly dejected. Our tracking systems told us everything would be OK and we confidently gave predictions to governors, staff, LAs and others, of results that would at least be above floor. But then Tuesday happened and not even the country as a whole came close […]

The KS2 results are out (joy!) and we know the national RWM combined figure is 53% so obviously we now want to know how we compare. This is where the problems start. There are two mistakes people commonly make when working out this figure and they are the same mistakes that were made when we […]

This study stems from a request sent to Gloucestershire primary schools, asking for key stage 1 test scores alongside pupils’ teacher assessments with the aim of ascertaining the average and range of scores for the three main teacher assessment bands: working towards the expected standard (WTS), working at the expected standard (EXS), and working at […]

As another story filters through of a headteacher wasting their time making up progress data because their system doesn’t produce data in a format that is acceptable to the consultant carrying out a school review, I thought i’d revisit the issue of progress calculations based on tracking data. I could rant about this all day […]

If there is one phrase that exposes the true nature of data in a school it is ‘data drop’. That termly data collection window, which opens 3 to 6 times per year and causes fear, consternation and resentment amongst teachers. The data drop is indicative of a system that revolves around an accountability cycle – […]

I guess you could call it 2020 vision. This issue of calculating KS2 VA in 2020 has been bugging me for some time, ever since I discovered that the DfE would not be collecting KS1 test scores this year, just the teacher assessments. I found this decision rather odd: why go to the bother of […]

I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m easily misunderstood. I rock up somewhere to give a talk, start ranting about how we have to wean ourselves off our number addiction – stop trying to measure and quantify everything that moves (and if it doesn’t move, measure it until it does) – and people are left […]

So, as we all know, the findings of the SQA’s comparability study have been reported and the three remaining baseline assessments (EEx, NFER, CEMS) have been deemed to be incomparable with one another. Wow! Really? The DfE attempted to convince us that they had intended to carry out this study all along, whereas I’m fairly […]

‘This is the floorshow, the last ideal‘ – The Sisters of Mercy Yesterday, Twitter lit up with debate and disbelief over Nicky Morgan’s speech to NAHT. Much of the consternation related to her assertion that “this year…no more than 1% more schools will be below the floor standard than last year”. How could she guarantee […]