Making Sense of School Performance Data

1 The Governors Role in Supporting and Challenging SchoolsMaking Sense of School Performance DataI am pleased to support this new training booklet on Making Sense ofSchool Performance data in my role as the current Chairman of theLearn together Partnership. The Learn together Partnership is acollaboration of Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, St Helens, Sefton,Warrington and Wirral s Children and Young Peoples Services. The authorities have a long history of working closely together to meet the challenge of high quality provision within the emergingchildren s services agenda. This project is the result of the collaborative work of all of our sevenpartner local authorities and has been led by their respective governorsupport and training sections. The work has also been supported bythe Merseyside Improvement and Efficiency Partnership through ourNarrowing the Gap aim was to provide a useful resource to support School governorsin fulfilling their role as a critical friend allowing them to provide botheffective support and important section is the identification of the key questions thatshould be asked in monitoring the standards and progress of differentgroups of students including those likely to be more vulnerable.

2 We want this to be very much a working document and to be used byall of our governing bodies to review their statutory role in the settingof School targets and the monitoring of student sincerelyDamian AllenChair of the Learn together PartnershipExecutive Director of Children and Family Services in KnowsleyDear GovernorOur thanks go toThe Learn together PartnershipThe Merseyside Improvement and Efficiency PartnershipThe Governor Training and Support Services in Halton, Knowsley,Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens, Warrington and WirralMike McLachlan, Educational ConsultantContentsSection 13 The Governors RoleThe School improvement cycle and target setting4A note on setting targets5 Attainment - standards reached in national testing6and demonstrated by each year groupProgress and value added measures6 How is the Contextual Value Added (CVA) calculated?7 Summary9 Section 211 Where do we find comparative data ?RAISE online (RoL)12 Fischer Family Trust (FFT)13 Section 3 15 Extracts from a Secondary School RAISE online reportKey Question: 16 What is the context of our School and how does this compare with other schools?

3 Attainment Key Question:19 What standards are reached by our pupils, what do our pupils attain?Progress Key Question:24 What is the quality of pupils learning and what progress do our pupils make given their starting points and their context?Summary29 Section 4 31 Extracts from a Primary School RAISE online reportKey Question:32 What is the context of our School and how does this compare with other schools?Attainment Key Question:35 What standards are reached by our pupils, what do our pupils attain?Progress Key Question:38 What is the quality of pupils learning and what progress do our pupils make given their starting points and their context?Summary41 Useful resources43 Key documents, links and definitions43 Glossary441 Making Sense of School Performance Data2 Making Sense of School Performance DataThe quote from Boris Pasternakaptly summarises thecomplexity of trying tomeasure pupil, student andschool Performance .

4 Governors need to be satisfiedthat their schools are reachinghigh enough standards andexceeding national thresholdsand that this demonstrates atleast satisfactory and preferablybetter progress for all groups ofpupils, given their starting pointswhen they joined alone is simply not enoughto make the judgement butneeds to be balanced by anunderstanding of the widerissues facing the School . In addition, an understanding ofthe quality of the School sprovision including teaching andlearning, the curriculum and caresupport and guidance. Pupil Performance informationneeds to be considered: in relation to the context ofthe School in the context of thenational demands placedon schools For example, the current nationalexpectations are that: pupils should demonstrategood progress but also reach or exceed nationallydefined thresholds,particularly in literacy andnumeracyThis is to ensure pupils canaccess suitable employment,play an active part as citizensand crucially enjoy life to the full,drawing on and engaging in all itcan offer.

5 3 Making Sense of School Performance DataSection 1 The Governors RoleWhat is laid down, ordered,factual is never enough toembrace the whole truth: lifespills over the rim of every cup.(Boris Pasternak 1890-1960)In order to support and challenge effectively governors need to askthree key questions: 1 What is the context of our School and how does this compareto other schools?2 What do our pupils attain in each year group and in national tests?3 What progress do our pupils make given their starting points?1. How well are we doing?Involves assembling andanalysing evidence of: pupil Performance - the most important indicatorand contributory factors- most notably teaching,leadership and managementKnowledge about currentachievement is a necessaryfoundation if schools are toanswer the question posed at thesecond stage of the How much better should weaim to achieve and how do wecompare with similar schools?Information on pupil performancein other similar schools,particularly those schoolsachieving the best results,provides a benchmark againstwhich schools can: examine the standardsachieved by their ownpupils assess what more can beachieved and explore why and howothers are doing better4 Making Sense of School Performance DataThe School improvement cycle and target settingExtracts from at schools Performance data is often the starting point in the School improvement cycle, whichtypically looks like this: 3.

6 What must we change toachieve this?This is where schools determinetheir priorities for the year aheadand set themselves realistic andchallenging targets forimprovement. It is important forschools to involve all staff in thetarget-setting process. It helpsthem to own the targets and toaccept responsibility forachieving them. It is essentialthat schools' development plansset out the targeted actionneeded to improve the quality oflearning and teaching, identifyContinued ProfessionalDevelopment (CPD) needs andtarget intervention strategies forspecific pupils or Planning for improvementand what actions will we take? The closer development plansget to the work of children inclassrooms, the greater theimpact on achievement. These must be agreed for eachteaching group including thecurricular Implementation and review -Taking action and reviewingprogressIf pupil achievement is to rise,implementation of the plan needs to influence classroompractice and improve the quality of teaching and schools also need to knowwhether implementation of theirplans is having the desired this end, it is vital that schools.

7 Monitor the action beingtaken against their plansand evaluate the impact of thataction on pupil progressand achievementThe evidence gathered in the finalstage of the cycle allows schoolsto ensure the plan is deliveringthe outcomes planned for, and tomake any necessary also provides a valuable basisfor beginning the next round ofthe comparative data isavailable through RAISE onlineand Fischer Family Trust (FFT)which provide details of the rangeof outcomes pupils have achievedso far given their various startingpoints and circumstances. These figures are drawn fromcomparing what has happenedfor similar pupils in pastexaminations and varies year on year as overall results have improved. Schools need to be cautious inusing these systems simplisticallyas predictors of what will beachieved or for setting targetswhich may act as a ceiling topupil Performance . The reality is that pupils withsimilar prior attainment andcircumstances reach a rangeof outcomes because of anumber of factors including: the quality of teaching andlearning the curriculum care and guidance providedby the School the aspiration challenge andsupport from School leadersand governors support from families the pupils resilience andattitude to learning that is the life that spills over every cup The challenge facing your School is to attempt to remove as many barriers to learning aspossible to maximise theoutcomes for every pupil.

8 5 Making Sense of School Performance DataA note on setting targetsThe outcomes from the nationaltests, taken at the end of eachKey Stage, are the key indicatorsof the attainment of your pupils. However, attainment should alsobe measured in each year groupso that you are able to check if pupils are Making goodprogress and are on track toreach the targets set for the endof the key need to be realisticabout this judgement. For example, a selective School islikely to claim that standards andattainment are above average. A special School for pupils withsevere learning difficulties is likelyto state standards and pupils attainment are exceptionally low. These are only positionalstatements not judgements about the quality of provision,learning and progress madewithin the of attainment can begained from: RAISE online for current andprevious years Fischer Family Trust data Ofsted report of year schoolinspection and any subjectvisits School ImprovementPartner or NationalChallenge Adviser reports The Self Evaluation Form(SEF) and what it saysabout the latest standardsin the School The School s records anddata concerning pupils current work, teacherassessed levels, the workthe pupils have done in therecent past and theknowledge, skills andunderstanding that they arecurrently able todemonstrate Outcomes from internalbenchmarked tests optional Standards andAttainment Targets (SATs)or past GCSE papers6 Making Sense of School Performance DataAttainment - Standards reached in national testing and demonstratedby each year groupEvaluating attainment is only partof the picture.

9 Governors alsoneed to ask if the pupils attainment represents goodprogress given their startingpoints their levels when theyjoined the School . Given that schools have different intakes of pupils, inorder to make fair comparisons,results are compared to pupils insimilar circumstances to balanceout any advantage, ordisadvantage inherent in thepupils prior experiences. This is known as measuring the Contextual Value Added(CVA) made by each pupil. This individual pupil data iscollated to show the value addedby the School alongside theachievement and standardsreached in examinations or this enables a fairercomparison to be made between pupils and schools,there is also a drive to ensurecertain thresholds are reached,irrespective of pupils priorexperiences or circumstances. For example, the NationalChallenge is an initiative aimedat ensuring all schools reach atleast 30% 5A*-C (includingEnglish and Maths) by 2011irrespective of what previousperformance might indicate is thelikely outcome in this measure.

10 In primary schools, pupils areexpected to make two levels ofprogress between KS1 and theend of also need to considerif the attainment and progressmade by the pupils representsgood overall achievement as this is a key judgement made by the School in the SEF andOfsted and Value added measuresRAISE online gives a number oftables which provide the CVA for: the whole School groups of pupils and individual pupilsBriefly the CVA is a measure of the distance travelled between the end of each key stage, adjusted for thecontext of each pupil. For example, the average pupil leaves primary School with Level4 in English, Maths and the time they have reachedthe end of Year 11, typically theywill achieve GCSE results aroundgrade C. Because there has been a vastarray of data collected over anumber of years it is possible tocalculate how far pupils indifferent contexts typically CVA calculation is verysophisticated and takes intoaccount: prior attainment in Englishand Mathematics ethnicity gender age within year group special educational needs eligibility for free schoolmeals degree of deprivation in thepostcode area where apupil lives first language other thanEnglish children in care mobilityFor example, pupils with higherSATs results on entry travel fasterthan those with low scores, girlstend to travel further than in both these cases, if theschool has a high proportion ofgirls at Level 5 on entry they willhave to achieve much higherGCSE outcomes to have thesame value added as a schoolwith a high proportion of boyswith low attainment on entry.