Previous publications have looked at the outcomes of pupils and schools. This bulletin adds to the picture by presenting information about the spread of results, both for pupils and for schools. It also looks at how far school results fluctuate over time, against a much more stable national pattern.
Key points: Pupils, schools and LEAs have a range of results. Some of the variation can be attributed to prior attainment and pupil, school and LEA characteristics. Not only is there variation between schools (as shown in performance tables) there is variation within schools.
Results and value added measures for schools are volatile and can fluctuate from year to year, not necessarily showing an underlying improvement or decline. Similarly a value added measure for any particular school may be different from the national mean but the school may not be significantly different from average. The degree of significance that can be attached to these differences is affected by, among other factors, the number of pupils in the calculation.
Some pupils show different levels of performance between different subjects, similarly there are schools which have better results in one subject than another. In schools differences in the results in English, mathematics and science may highlight systematic differences in the performance of departments within a school.
Pupil characteristics such as free school meal eligibility help to explain some of the variation in performance. These characteristics still have an adverse effect even after allowing for prior attainment, because pupils with some of these characteristics have different patterns of progress, even when compared to pupils with similar prior attainment.
Contact details
Steve Hamilton
Telephone: 020 7340 7916
Email: Steve.Hamilton@education.gsi.gov.uk
