Shadowplay

Towards the end of last month, the Department for Education published ‘shadow’ Attainment 8 data for 2015/16 [PDF]. This shows the impact of moving from the familiar scoring of A*-G grades – one point for grade G, up to eight points for grade A* – to the interim scale that will be used in 2016/17 [...]

By |2017-10-23T13:02:05+01:0027th April 2017|Exams and assessment, School accountability|

Datalab turns two

Education Datalab turned two this spring and to mark the event we gathered together with the great and the good of teaching, education research and policy-making for a celebratory party. Our event, kindly hosted by Impetus-Private Equity Foundation, was themed “We can reform…education…without the policy makers” and our four invited panel members made a pitch, [...]

By |2017-04-27T18:57:56+01:0025th April 2017|News|

What PISA tells us about pupils from ordinary working families

Last week, we heard a lot from the government about their interest in children from ‘ordinary working families’. (For our initial take on the topic, see here and here.) In its new consultation document, the Department for Education has provided information on the GCSE grades and progress of these children – defined as those not [...]

By |2017-10-23T13:02:25+01:0020th April 2017|Admissions, Exams and assessment, Pupil demographics|

Are 19-year-olds really becoming less qualified?

Aficionados of DfE Statistical First Releases (SFRs) were shocked to their very core a couple of weeks ago with the revelation that the percentage of 19-year-olds qualified to Level 2 had fallen for the first time since records began. In the real world this equates to young people achieving five or more GCSEs at grades A*-C [...]

‘Ordinary working families’ won’t get access to grammar schools – and government data confirms as much

The new government consultation on ‘ordinary working families’ is being used as the latest piece of arsenal to shore up support for grammar schools among the general public (the majority of whose children will, of course, get to attend secondary moderns). From it they conclude that the children of ordinary working families stand a good [...]

By |2017-10-23T13:16:23+01:0012th April 2017|Admissions, Pupil demographics|

‘Ordinary working families’ are not educationally disadvantaged – those claiming benefits are

The Department for Education has published a consultation document on family incomes, pupil attainment and school attended that will either fascinate (if you are a data cruncher) or terrify you (if you are a privacy campaigner). For the first time, the records of pupils sitting in the National Pupil Database have been matched to parental [...]

By |2017-12-20T13:23:32+00:0012th April 2017|Admissions, Exams and assessment, Pupil demographics|
Go to Top