Six Ways to Measure Pupil Progress in Primary Schools

With Ofsted putting more emphasis on the progress pupils make between key stages it’s more import than ever that schools have easy access to raw progress data. In this article we’ll have a look at the different definitions of progress and I’ll demonstrate some marksheets that help you calculate this data.

1) Progress Between KS1 and KS2

The DfE minimum target for schools is that pupil should make 2 whole levels of progress between KS1 and KS2. Most schools interpret this as 6 sublevels progress, or 12 points progress (each sublevel counts as 2 points). This progress is often referred to as ‘national expectations’. But for an increasing number of schools (perhaps the majority) 12 points is no longer seen as enough. Hence 14 points of progress and, occasionally, even 16 points of progress (where KS1 results were seen as too low) are required by some schools.

2) Progress Since Last Year

This measure is used to show senior managers how much progress a group of pupils have made since the end of the previous academic year. Typically, this information will be used during staff performance management meetings.

3) Progress to Personal End of Key Stage Target

Some schools use 12, 14 or 16 points to set targets for their pupils. Other schools might use FFT estimates to inform a target. Some schools increase a target where the pupil starts to consistently exceed expectations. Hence it is useful to know how much more progress pupils need to make to attain their end if key stage target.

4) Progress over the last 12 months

For new senior managers it can be useful to highlight the autumn to autumn, and spring to spring or summer to summer 12 month progress.

5) Progress in English and Maths

One of the measurements a school is often asked to make is “how much progress is made in English and Maths combined?” – where the English grade is a straight average of reading and writing.

6) On Track to Make Required Progress

If you want 12 points of progress by the end of year 6 how much progress should you expect by the end of year 3. Or by the spring term of year 5? Most schools have expectations of progress by the end of each year and even by the end of each term. The expectations for each term or year can be compared with the actual progress made to create traffic light indicators.

Using Assessment Manager to Show Progress

Using a well designed Assessment Manager system should make all these progress measures easy to calculate. Here’s a screenshot from one of our School Analytics marksheets:

• Column A: Indicates the progress required to reach the pupil’s target (in this example, its an end of term target)
• Column B: The progress the pupil has made since the previous keystage (in this case, since KS1)
• Column C: How much progress the pupil has made since the end of the previous academic year
• Column D: traffic lights to indicate is the pupil on track to attain their end of key stage target.

Note: Assessment manager lets right-click the column headings to get a full grade distribution so you can tell what percentage of pupils have made 2,3,4 or 5 points of progress.

Here’s an example of an ‘on track analysis‘ (click image to enlarge). This example is comparing KS1 results with the latest Year 5 autumn term teacher assessments.

• Column A: Automatically calculates the KS1 English Grade
• Column B: calculates the most recent term’s English grade
• Columns C: Calculate the points progress made since KS1
• Column D: The number ‘2’ indicates pupils who are on track to make 12 points progress in English and Maths.
• Column E: The number ‘2’ indicates pupils on track for L4+
• Column F: The number ‘2’ indicates pupils on track for L5+

Note: As before, assessment manager lets right-click the column headings to get a full grade distribution so you can tell what percentage of pupils have made 2,3,4 or 5 points of progress.