How do we measure our success?
Primary school progress measures
In 2016 the government introduced new tests to reflect the new curriculum launched in 2014.
Test results are no longer reported as levels. Scaled scores are used instead to help calculate the new progress measures for school.
What has changed?
The way the government measures primary school performance at the end of KS2 has changed. Instead of measuring progress for individual pupils, they look at progress at a school level. Progress measures provide you, the parent, with information to help you understand how the school is performing and to inform school choices.
In order to calculate the school level progress measures, pupils’ results at KS2 are compared to the achievements of other pupils across the country who had a similar starting point, their ‘prior attainment’. Prior attainment is based on teacher assessment judgements at KS1 in reading, writing and maths.
There are 2 main advantages to the new progress measures:
- They are fairer to schools because we can compare pupils with similar starting points to each other
- They recognise the progress schools make with all their pupils, highlighting the best schools whose pupils go furthest, whatever their starting point.
What progress measures mean
Most schools will have progress scores between -5 and +5.
If a school has a progress score of 0, this means that on average their pupils achieved similar results at the end of KS2 to pupils in other schools with similar results at the end of KS1.
For example: a score of +3 in reading would mean that on average pupils at the school got 3 scaled score points more in the KS2 English reading test, compared to other pupils nationally with similar results at the end of KS1.
A negative score doesn’t mean a school has failed or pupils have made no progress. It just means that on average their pupils have made less progress than pupils in other schools with similar results at the end of KS1.
For example: a score of -4 in maths would mean that on average pupils at the school got 4 scaled points fewer in the KS2 maths test, compared to other pupils nationally with similar results at the end of KS1.
Further information
More information can be found at www.gov.uk/STA