Comparisons
The comparison of pupils' attainment and progress with the expectations and estimates that we have for them and with external benchmarks is an important element of the school evaluation process. Although comparison is very much a reflective activity it leads to our identifying either pupils or areas of the curriculum we must focus upon in the future.
Select the links or scroll down for more on:
Estimates
Benchmarking
Expectations
Although comparison is very much a reflective activity it leads to our identifying either pupils or areas of the curriculum we must focus upon in the future.
In this example we can see how well pupils performed at GCSE English Language compared with how well they expected themselves to perform (based on their responses on a questionnaire).
Reproduced with permission from The CEM Centre, http://www.cemcentre.org
These show likely outcomes of pupils’ attainment and are based upon progress pupils have made in previous years. They do not normally include any added value for improvement. We have a range of models available and we should consider carefully the factors used and thus the implication for the use we make of it.
Comparison made between actual and estimated results for pupils
Reproduced with permission from The Fischer Family Trust, http://www.fischertrust.org
BenchmarkingStatistical benchmarking for schools is a process of comparing. It takes account of differences between schools and leads to fairer and more useful comparisons between schools.
When using benchmarking information we can identify best practice from the best performing schools or subject areas to raise standards, thus targeting school improvement. The focus of benchmarking should always be to identify areas for improvement rather than to grade or rank.
The greater availability of pupil level data has given us the opportunity of comparing standards attained by individual pupils with other individual pupils who have similar characteristics, for instance in a contextual value added analysis.