ABOUT THE TABLES

In all cases schools have been asked to check, and if necessary amend, the cohort of students reported as completing Key Stage 4 and their examination results. All pilot schools had the opportunity to remove students not at the end of Key Stage 4 and add in any students who were. Pilot schools were given the option of anonymising their results if they wished to do so.

National level results have not been published as part of this pilot. For Independent schools there is no reliable way of identifying which students are at the end of Key Stage 4 without checking the data with the schools concerned. We are unable to do this for the Independent schools that are not involved in the pilot. This means that it is not possible to present reliable national level results.

Final decisions on the introduction of reporting at the end of Key Stage 4 to the Achievement and Attainment Tables have not yet been made. The pilot tables will be used to continue our consultation and evaluation on the issue and to influence further decisions. We are interested to hear your views on the pilot. An evaluation questionnaire can be found on the DfES website:
http://perform.gide.net/cgi-bin/performancetables/Q/pilot_04/pilot_04.pl. We would be grateful if you could complete this.

End of Key Stage 4 Value Added Measures

Value added measures, which have been published in the Tables since 2002, measure the progress that students have made between different stages of their education. The Secondary (GCSE and Equivalent) Achievement and Attainment Tables report value added from KS2-Age 15 and from KS3-Age 15. For the Pace and Progression pilot, value added has been calculated from KS2-KS4 and from KS3-KS4. The calculation uses the same principles as the KS2-Age 15 and KS3-Age 15 value added measures, but is based on a different cohort of students.

The degree of significance that can be attached to a school's value added measure depends, among other factors, on the number of students included in the calculation. For a more detailed explanation of the value added methodology and more information on interpretation of value added measures and statistical significance figures, please refer to the Pace and Progression Value Added Annex in the 2004 Pilot section of the Achievement and Attainment Tables website:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/performancetables.

Profiles

There are different value added profiles for the Pace and Progression pilot than for the main Secondary (GCSE and Equivalent) Tables. This is because the pilot focuses on a different cohort of students. The profiles for the Pace and Progression pilot are shown below.

Three different indicators relating to the age of students at the end of Key Stage 4 have been included in the pilot publication. In the future we intend to publish some or all of these indicators in the Tables. All ages refer to the age of the student on 31 August 2003.

The first two indicators show the percentage of students at the end of Key Stage 4 who were aged 14 or less, and the percentage of students at the end of Key Stage 4 aged 15. As date of birth information for all students in the cohort is required for these calculations, it is not possible to calculate these indicators for Independent schools as we do not have access to this level of information.

The third indicator, expressed in years and months, shows the average age of students at the end of Key Stage 4. As explained above, we do not have access to valid date of birth information for all students at Independent schools. Therefore, for Independent schools, this calculation has been based only on those students for whom this information is available.

Percentage of students achieving qualifications at another institution

We are using the pilot to test whether an additional measure of the percentage of students achieving a qualification at a different institution should be included in future Achievement and Attainment Tables. The measure has been calculated by taking the number of students who achieved at least one qualification at another institution and dividing by the number of students at the end of Key Stage 4. This figure has also been calculated based upon the 15 year old cohort to enable comparisons to be made during the evaluation process, although it is not included in the main Tables.

Length of time in current school

The final column of the table shows the average number of years and months spent in the school by students at the end of Key Stage 4. The figure has been calculated using the date of entry information from the Pupil Level Annual School Census. The figure cannot be calculated for Independent schools as we do not have this level of information. Again, the figure has also been calculated based upon the 15 year old cohort to enable comparisons to be made in the evaluation of the pilot, although it is not included in the main tables. We do not propose to publish this information in the Tables in future years. However, we are exploring the option, through this pilot, of making the information available to schools for their information.

Median Lines

There are different value added median lines for the Pace and Progression pilot than for the main Secondary (GCSE and Equivalent) Tables because the pilot focuses on a different cohort of students. The national KS2-KS4 median scores for mainstream and special schools, and the national KS3-KS4 median scores for mainstream and special schools are shown in the Pace and Progression Value Added Annex in the 2004 Pilot section of the Achievement and Attainment Tables website: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/performancetables.

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