In 2002, 50% of pupils achieved five or more A*-C grades nationally. However, at some schools this figure was less than 20%. The first “floor targets” were introduced a couple of years later, using 20% as the minimum target all schools should reach.
For this analysis, we pick out “persistently asia rcs data low attaining” schools in 2002. These are schools at which fewer than 20% of pupils achieved five or more A*-C grades at GCSE in at least three of the four years between 1999 and 2002 inclusive.
simplistic way of going about the identification of low-attaining schools. Although some rudimentary value-added measures were published back then, they predated the widescale appreciation of the impact of variations in intake on school performance measures and, alongside this, the development of contextual value added measures from Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 4, in which my late colleague Mike Treadaway played no small part. Some of these schools could have been performing well given their intakes back in 2002.
But leaving that to one side, let’s take a look at attainment in these schools alongside disadvantage, using the contemporaneous free school meal (FSM) eligibility rate for each school.