Progress 8 and Attainment 8

Progress 8 and Attainment 8 are hot topics right now.

Last Thursday, when most schools and academies were running their Census, the DfE published the national performance tables for Key Stages 4 and 5 and for the first time, these measures were published as Attainment 8 and Progress 8 (each on a scale of 1 to 9) rather than the familiar A* to G. Progress 8 aims to capture the progress a pupil makes from the end of primary school to the end of secondary school. It is a value added measure; pupils’ results are compared to the actual achievements of other pupils with the same prior attainment. Attainment 8 measures the achievement of a pupil across 8 qualifications including maths (double weighted) and English (double weighted), 3 further qualifications that count in the EBacc measure and 3 more qualifications that can be GCSEs (including EBacc subjects) or technical awards from the DfE approved list. The DfE have updated their Progress 8 and Attainment 8 Guide for maintained secondary schools, academies and free schools to explain how these measures have been calculated in 2016 (and in 2015 for schools that chose to adopt the new measures a year early). It also includes changes that will apply in 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Updates to SIMS

Last Summer, SIMS was updated to incorporate 3 new levels for GCSE qualifications which can be helpful in differentiating between GCSEs with grades of A* to G and GCSEs with grades of 9 to 1.

GCSNS	GCSE 9-1 short course
GCSNS	GCSE 9-1 full course
GCSND	GCSE 9-1 double course

These levels need to be imported into Nova T6 through Data/Refresh Basedata so that you can assign them to classes through Tools / Assign Levels. Your school will have probably already done this, but if you are in any doubt or require any assistance then please contact us either by phone on 0345 222 1551 • Option 3 or email the SIMS Service Desk.