Caution when interpreting value added scores in languages
Posted: Sun Jan 26, 2025 8:31 am
As well as publishing the Progress 8 measure, the Department for Education (DfE) also publishes a number of other “value added” measures[1] of attainment at Key Stage 4.
These are value added measures of each of the four “buckets” that comprise the Progress 8 (and Attainment 8) measures: English, maths, other EBacc subjects and any other subjects. These australia rcs data measures are calculated for all pupils in a school’s cohort.
In addition, separate value added scores are produced for the three EBacc slots other than English and maths: Science, humanities and languages. These are only calculated for pupils entered for those subjects.
In this blogpost we are going to take a look at the languages value added (VA) measure and make a suggestion for redefining it in future.
Data
We use Key Stage 4 pupil and exam data from the National Pupil Database from 2023. We are using the “unamended” version of the data (prior to the publication of Performance Tables) and so any differences compared to published figures arise from this.
We limit the analysis to state-funded mainstream schools.
We find that 271,500 pupils were entered for at least one GCSE in a language, 45% of the full cohort.
These are value added measures of each of the four “buckets” that comprise the Progress 8 (and Attainment 8) measures: English, maths, other EBacc subjects and any other subjects. These australia rcs data measures are calculated for all pupils in a school’s cohort.
In addition, separate value added scores are produced for the three EBacc slots other than English and maths: Science, humanities and languages. These are only calculated for pupils entered for those subjects.
In this blogpost we are going to take a look at the languages value added (VA) measure and make a suggestion for redefining it in future.
Data
We use Key Stage 4 pupil and exam data from the National Pupil Database from 2023. We are using the “unamended” version of the data (prior to the publication of Performance Tables) and so any differences compared to published figures arise from this.
We limit the analysis to state-funded mainstream schools.
We find that 271,500 pupils were entered for at least one GCSE in a language, 45% of the full cohort.