- Introduction
- About these tables
- Key Stage 2 to 4 and Key Stage 3 to 4 CVA measure
- Students and qualifications reported
- Results for students at the end of Key Stage 4
- More information
- Abbreviations and their meanings
- How the tables were compiled
- How to get more information
- Copyright
- Guide to CVA
- Ready Reckoner - Key Stage 2 to 4 Mainstream schools
- Ready Reckoner - Key Stage 2 to 4 Special schools
- Ready Reckoner - Key Stage 3 to 4 Mainstream schools
- Ready Reckoner - Key Stage 3 to 4 Special schools
- Point scores for tests and examinations
Department for children, schools and families
Achievement and attainment tables
Secondary School (GCSE and equivalent) achievement and attainment tables 2007
In addition to the Key Stage 2 to 4 CVA measure shown in last year's Key Stage 4 tables, we will be publishing a Key Stage 3 to 4 CVA measure.
We have delayed the publication of a Key Stage 3 to 4 CVA measure to coincide with the introduction of the Key Stage 2 to 3 CVA measure, which will be published later in the Key Stage 3 tables.
It is important these complementary measures are not focussed on in isolation, as to do so could give rise to misleading interpretation of a school's performance.
CVA is not published for independent schools because the Department does not collect from them the student level information needed to calculate CVA.
What is contextual value added?
The examination results attained by students provide important information about the performance of a school - for example, the amount getting five good GCSEs tells us how many are well prepared for advanced levels of study.
We know, however, that every child is different and each will have their own learning needs: some will have to do a lot of catching up to get five GCSEs, for others seven or eight good grades will be relatively easily attained, and for some (perhaps with significant special educational needs) one or two qualifications might be a huge achievement.
We therefore also measure the progress made by a student from one stage of their education to the next.
When comparing the performance of schools it is important to recognise the progress they have helped students make.
Simple Value Added (VA), which was first published in the achievement and attainment tables in 2002, did this by comparing the qualifications achieved in Year 11 against a student's starting point (or prior attainment) - the results attained in the Key Stage 2 tests in Year 6.
CVA is not very different from simple VA. The basic principle of measuring progress from the Key Stage 2 test to qualifications attained at Key Stage 4 remains the same.
However, a number of other factors which are outside a school's control, such as gender, special educational needs, movement between schools, and family circumstances, are also known to affect students' performance.
CVA therefore goes a step further than simple VA by taking these factors into account and thus gives a much fairer measure of the effectiveness of a school.
This means that comparisons against other schools are more meaningful, for example, when comparing the performance of a school in a leafy suburb against the performance of one in an inner city area - both of which might face quite different challenges.
Calculation of the contextual value added (CVA) scores
We base each student's CVA score on a comparison between their best eight results at GCSE (and equivalent) - sometimes referred to as their capped point score - and the typical performance of students with similar characteristics and similar results at Key Stage 2 for Key Stage 2 to 4 CVA and at Key Stage 3 for Key Stage 3 to 4 CVA scores.
If the student's GCSE (and equivalent) results are better than the average achieved by their peers, the CVA will be positive; if they do less well, it will be negative.
All individual student scores, positive and negative, are added together and an average produced for the school. That average is then adjusted to account for the amount of students in the year group to give the school level CVA score.
The CVA score is then presented as a number based around 1000. This indicates the value the school has added on average for its students, given what is known about the circumstances of its student intake.
A more detailed explanation of the statistical model and the calculations used to produce the CVA measures, can be found in the 'Guide to CVA' document on this website. A detailed explanation of how to work out a student's best eight results can be found in the 'Point scores for tests and examinations' document also available from this website.
Interpretation of a school's CVA score
The CVA section of this publication shows, for each school:
- both the Key Stage 2 to 4 and Key Stage 3 to 4 CVA scores
- the upper and lower limits of a 95% confidence interval
- a coverage indicator
- the average number of qualifications taken by students included in the CVA calculation.
The coverage indicator shows the percentage of students at the end of Key Stage 4 included in the CVA calculation. This might not be 100% because we do not have prior attainment for some students (e.g. the Key Stage 2 test results) - for example, because they were previously educated outside England.
If the coverage is very low (below 50 per cent) then the CVA score is not published because it does not properly represent the effectiveness of the school.
The CVA measure is shown as a score based around 1000. Scores above 1000 represent schools where students on average made more progress than similar students nationally, while scores below 1000 represent schools where students made less progress.
For both of the Key Stage 4 CVA measures, a measure of 1006 means that on average each of the school's students achieved the equivalent of one GCSE grade higher in one subject than the average attained by similar students.
A score of 1048 means that on average each student achieved one GCSE grade higher in each of their best eight subjects than the average attained by similar students.
Conversely, a score of 994 means that the school's students achieved one grade lower in one subject on average, while a score of 952 means that students achieved on average one grade lower in each of their best eight subjects.
What a school's CVA measure tells you?
The CVA measures give the best indication in these tables of schools' overall effectiveness. However, the significance that can be attached to any particular school's CVA measure depends, among other things, on the number of students included in the CVA calculation.
The smaller the number of students, the less confidence can be placed on the CVA measure as an indicator of whether the effectiveness of a school is significantly above or below average.
Confidence Intervals
The CVA measure is a statistical means of assessing the relative effectiveness of schools or student progress between Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4.
CVA is, however, based on a given set of students' results for a particular test or examination paper on a particular day.
A school could have been equally effective and yet the same set of students might have achieved different results on the day. And the school would almost certainly have shown slightly different results with a different set of students, even with the same levels of prior attainment.
Hence, although the CVA is based on all students in the school cohort, not just a sample of them, this degree of uncertainty should be taken into account if interpreting the figures as estimates of a school's effectiveness.
The uncertainty of a CVA score as a measure of school effectiveness can be presented as a confidence interval (CI). This is a range of scores within which we can be statistically confident that the "true" school effectiveness will lie.
The degree of significance that can be attached to a school's CVA measure depends, among other things, on the number of students included in the calculation.
The CVA methodology produces a 95 per cent CI to show the range within which we can be confident the CVA measure represents the overall effectiveness of a school at Key Stage 4.
If a school cohort is large the width of the CI will be small, but if a school cohort is small the CI will be wide.
A school level CVA measure must always be interpreted alongside the confidence interval.
Schools where the lower limit of the CI is above 1000 represent schools where students on average made significantly more progress than students nationally, while schools where the upper limit of the CI is below 1000 represent schools where students made significantly less progress.
Examples for Key Stage 2 to 4 CVA:
- a measure of 995.3 with a CI between 1007.5 and 983.1 means the progress made by students in the school's Key Stage 4 cohort is not significantly different from the national average.
- a measure of 1023.7 with a CI between 1032.1 and 1015.3 means the progress made by students in the school's Key Stage 4 cohort is significantly above the national average.
- a measure of 987.6 with a CI between 997.3 and 977.9 means the progress made by students in the school's Key Stage 4 cohort is significantly below the national average.
Further information on calculation and interpretation of CVA measures and confidence intervals can be found in the 'Guide to CVA' document available from this website.
CVA percentiles
The CVA percentiles give the distribution of CVA scores and show where schools are placed nationally compared to other schools, based on the CVA measure. There are three versions, which allow comparisons against: mainstream schools only; special schools only; and all schools (i.e. both mainstream and special).
| Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 4 CVA Measure (centred around 1000) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Profiles | Percentiles | ||
| All Schools | All Maintained Mainstream Schools | All Special Schools | |
| 1041.11 and above | 1029.09 and above | 1095.46 and above | Top 5% of schools nationally |
| 1013.41 to 1041.10 | 1011.16 to 1029.08 | 1041.11 to 1095.45 | Next 20% of schools nationally |
| 1006.11 to 1013.40 | 1005.01 to 1011.15 | 1023.11 to 1041.10 | Next 15% of schools nationally |
| 997.61 to 1006.10 | 997.11 to 1005.00 | 1002.31 to 1023.10 | Middle 20% of schools nationally |
| 990.66 to 997.60 | 990.91 to 997.10 | 984.86 to 1002.30 | Next 15% of schools nationally |
| 971.54 to 990.65 | 973.82 to 990.90 | 963.34 to 984.85 | Next 20% of schools nationally |
| 971.53 and below | 973.81 and below | 963.33 and below | Bottom 5% of schools nationally |
Snake plots are a useful way of presenting percentiles. The following plots simply repeat the information shown in the tables above but in a way that enable national distribution to be more easily understood.
All schools
All maintained mainstream schools
All special schools
| Key Stage 3 to Key Stage 4 CVA Measure (centred around 1000) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Profiles | Percentiles | ||
| All Schools | All Maintained Mainstream Schools | All Special Schools | |
| 1038.31 and above | 1027.11 and above | 1077.24 and above | Top 5% of schools nationally |
| 1011.91 to 1038.30 | 1009.91 to 1027.10 | 1036.71 to 1077.23 | Next 20% of schools nationally |
| 1004.71 to 1011.90 | 1003.81 to 1009.90 | 1017.91 to 1036.70 | Next 15% of schools nationally |
| 997.57 to 1004.70 | 997.41 to 1003.80 | 998.71 to 1017.90 | Middle 20% of schools nationally |
| 991.61 to 997.56 | 992.01 to 997.40 | 985.69 to 998.70 | Next 15% of schools nationally |
| 975.21 to 991.60 | 978.71 to 992.00 | 960.21 to 985.68 | Next 20% of schools nationally |
| 975.20 and below | 978.70 and below | 960.20 and below | Bottom 5% of schools nationally |
All schools
All maintained mainstream schools
All special schools
